My Problem With Social Networking

I've been self-publishing for quite a few years now - probably too many to count seeing how I was dipping my toes in the self-publishing field and the ebook market before digital readers were even around and everyone read digital files on their computers in PDF format. And over the course of this long while, I've come to the stark and disappointing realization that I STILL struggle with marketing and social networking. It's probably my very least favorite part of self-publishing, and I cringe every time I have to delve into either of those two fields.

That being said, I wouldn't trade the ability to self-publish for anything in the world. The fact that I have control over my written and graphical content is a power I will not easily - if ever - give up, especially considering I write in the niche genre of edgy Christian speculative fiction - a crossover of mainstream and Christian fiction that has fans and haters on both sides of the fences.

Now that we've entered 2013, I've decided to sit down and take serious stock of where I want my energies to be placed over the next year. Being a self-published author in combination with being a work-from-home dad doesn't allow me ample amounts of luxury time to just throw to the wind - even if that's what I've been doing these past few years. Case in point, why in the world do I have so many social networking connections to other authors? Authors aren't going to buy my books. And to be honest, reviews from other authors aren't always all that objective. This isn't to say that self-published authors shouldn't read/review other self-published author's books, but is that really the best use of an author's time?

I remember when I first started out on this self-publishing journey, I had many other self-published authors clamoring my email inbox and my social networking feeds with requests to read/review their work. I said yes at first to a few of them, realizing later that it was a mistake to commit to such a task. It left me no time to write, no time to promote my own work, no time to read for leisure - which isn't to say that the work I read from those authors was sub-par, it just took up the time I should have been spending getting through my own to-read shelf which has been lingering here in my office for a few years now. In fact, I'm almost certain my to-read stack has grown legs and is now hiding in my office closet, waiting to strike when I least expect it.

So for 2013 I decided to be more vigilante in streamlining my efforts. Instead of shoving my face out there and focusing all my efforts on reaching other authors, my goal will be to reach readers. READERS! I've decided to stop lurking in Red Room - not because there aren't readers over there, but because in order to get decent exposure for my books there, it seems I have to pay a membership fee. I've decided to stop messing around on Writing.com - which is a great site, by the way, but I find it hard to navigate sometimes, and in order to secure the storage space there necessary to promote all of my writing, I would have to have a membership as well. I used to be on AuthorNation, but for some strange reason, the site has undergone some serious problems over the last year or so and now no longer exists. At least, I can't find it. And my profile there is gone. So, that problem took care of itself.

One of the biggest changes I made was to my Facebook profile - my personal one, not my author page. I had over 1500 friends in a mixture of unknown authors (most self-published like me), friends, and family. It became quite difficult discerning what I should or should not be posting on there - such as pics of my one year old son, status updates on what coffee shop I was hanging out in on a certain day, or what was going on in my life on a personal level. It was even difficult to post about my novels because most of my messages in that regard were being repeated on my FB pages anyway, so some people were seeing shout-outs about my books two or three times in their newsfeeds.

To this end, I took a few days and purged all but 115 of those friends. 1500 to 115. And that 115 is a mixture of friends, family, and authors who I truly respect and have had great interaction with over the past year or so. It's been quite liberating, to be honest, and now I can focus my writing announcements and whatnot over on my FB pages. I also made the decision to stick with Goodreads, and make my presence more prominent in the Kindle and Nook forums, where readers who own Nooks and Kindles go to find great books - especially by self-published authors. I'm also going to be posting/interacting more at Self Publishing Review. And, of course, you'll be able to find me at The Crossover Alliance, which I'll be working on building up more this next year.

I feel much better now that I streamlined things. Sometimes you just have to cut the fat, and with the way things are on the internet nowadays it's becoming difficult to find the will power to step out of certain circles because many of us are being taught that the more exposure we have the better. I disagree. I think we need to be more focused on the exposure we actually want, and take steps to enter into that, and step out of the exposure that is only going to waste our valuable time.

2013 - A New Season

Well, 2012 is finally behind us. I can't say it was my favorite year, but it certainly wasn't a bad one. Challenging, yes, but not bad.There were many highlights to the year that made those challenges worthwhile. I published two novels - Black Earth: Dark Masquerade and Black Earth: Exodus. My wife and I celebrated our seven year wedding anniversary. My son turned one. It was a great year.

I learned a lot of things by the end of 2012, especially in terms of being a self-published author. I learned that edgy Christian speculative fiction can be a viable genre. I learned that FB can be a minefield of timesuck. I learned that all the rules that other authors give for self-published authors to follow aren't always the right ones for me - such as getting myself plugged into as many social networking outlets as possible, and taking five years to write a book. I learned that I am unique - both as an individual and as an author - and that I need to utilize this uniqueness in the public field.

2013 brings with it a slew of new challenges for me, both personally and professionally. My wife and I have plans to move to San Francisco early in the year to take part in a church plant called Canvas. I will resume writing in my young adult series, Expired Reality, and FINALLY get the third book in that series finished and published. Our son will turn two, and my wife and I will celebrate eight years of wedded bliss. This will be a fantastic year. I'm sure there will be ups and downs, I'm sure I'll laugh and cry, hurt and heal. But that is life.

Most of all, I will write. I have never been one to actually stick to a writing regime. I usually write when I 'feel like it', and a majority of my writing frenzy occurs during National Novel Writing Month. This year though I am committing to an hour of writing each day. This commitment will help me learn to separate my writing time from my editing time. Editing is not writing - necessarily.

I am also making a commitment to cut out a good portion of my social networking pursuits. I've already purged my FB friend list on my personal profile from over 1500 friends to 115. I'll use my actual author page to promote my work and interact with my fans, and my personal profile to interact with friends and family. I've also cut out Red Room, Writing.com, and some other sites, simply because I don't have to the time to dip my foot in all these swimming pools, and because I don't have a lot of time to interact with other authors. Readers are who I need to be interacting with, so I'll be spending some more time over in the Kindle and Nook forums, Goodreads, and my FB pages.

Another place I'll be spending more time in is The Crossover Alliance, an online community I built for readers/writers of edgy Christian speculative fiction. I have some more content I want to add to the site - reviewers/readers who enjoy this type of fiction, some giveaways, and more resources for those wishing to self-publish in this particular genre.

I will also be taking a serious look at what I want to accomplish with my blogging habits in this new year. I've had a difficult time coming up with new content for this blog simply because I've tried multiple times to streamline the content I put up here to topics relevant to self-publishing or my own writing experience. This strategy has hindered me in regards to being more 'unique', in that I haven't really delved too deeply into showing the world a lot about me per say. I have written posts regarding my hobbies or the things I like, but those posts have been few and far between. And they are probably some of my favorite posts to write.

2013 will be great! Not just good, but great! So as we venture into this new year together, keep your eyes peeled on this blog for a few minor changes in content, and look for me at the streamlined list of social networking hubs I'll be visiting from time to time.

Onward into 2013 I venture!

Photo Copyright Michal C. Alderman

October Update

So, for the past couple weeks, I've been working on a number of different projects, all of which have been taking up the majority of my 'work' time so I haven't had too much time to network socially. My plan is to get a lot of these things off my plate in the next week so I can get back into the swing of things and start getting more activity rolling in my social networking and on The Crossover Alliance community.

First, I've been completing edits to and reading through Black Earth: Bridge to Anaisha - the fourth and final full-length novel in my Black Earth series. My hope is to release the book next month. This weekend my wife and I will be working on some of the cover design. And, there's a small chance I may change the name of the novel - not sure about that yet, but I'm definitely giving it some serious thought for reasons I may get into if I do decide to change it.

I've also been tinkering with the design of my website and attempting to clean it up a bit, make the Compendium entries a little easier to read and just make it easier to see a lot of my content at a glance. The new and improved site should be up next week - along with Heather Rhodes' profile, which I wanted to put up this week but couldn't because of the design delay.

In the world of writing, I've been working on the daily NaNo Prep activities over at Writing.com to get myself prepped for a November full of writing for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

I also have a new email newsletter to go out, which will match the design of the improved website. The newsletter should be going out toward the end of next week.

Next week I plan to do a small series of posts on the 7 years I've done NaNoWriMo, with a spotlight on each year's novel that I worked on with some details as to the future of those projects - the ones that haven't already become published novels.

All in all, October has been hecka' busy, but productive. Have a great weekend everyone!

New Blog Design

This week I've been working diligently on some new design aspects to almost all of my social networking hubs. This blog was the first to get a makeover. For a while now I've had my sights set on Blogger's new dynamic templates, and so I decided to give it a shot.

So far, I like how the daily posts are set up so you can see the last week at a glance, and then scroll down to see older posts. That's in the Magazine view, and if you want to change how you view the blog, you can click on the drop down menu near the top left of the blog and change it to something else. I have it set at Magazine by default though. You can hover over the right side of the blog to bring out tabs that show info about me, my blog followers, the post archive, and other things. The only drawback to using the dynamic template is that I'm limited in the number of Blogger gadgets I can use, but I like this new design enough to put up with it for now. And you can still access my pages at the top of the blog to find out more about me, my books, and the genre I write in.

The next design element I'll be rolling out is a new logo - for my writing empire as a whole, and for me as an author. I know it's usually frowned upon for authors to brand themselves with a logo, but I've never been good at following the status quot. Besides, I sort of already have a logo - the white oak tree - at my main website, I'm just sprucing it up a bit and putting some more meaning behind it.

After the logo, I'll be cleaning up my main website a bit - making things easier to read, polishing up the format of the Compendium entries, and cleaning up the book pages to be more informative. That will probably take me a few days to a week. In the midst of doing that, I'll also be creating some nifty cover images for my FB pages, and finishing up October's email newsletter to go out in the next week.

The Crossover Alliance

When I first started down the road of labeling my Black Earth series as edgy Christian speculative fiction, I wasn't sure what to expect. The label came out of a discussion I had with a good friend of mine when we were on the topic of ways to market my unique blend of Christian themes and edgy, gritty writing. Themes like violence, sexual content, cursing and the like haven't been widely accepted in Christian fiction, so it almost felt like my writing actually sealed its own fate just by being in existence.

I came up with the term edgy Christian speculative fiction because it seems to sum up EXACTLY what it is my writing encompasses. Michelle Sutton spearheaded the term edgy Christian fiction a while back when she created her Ning community, Edgy Christian Fiction Lovers. And as great as that community is, it seems to be steeped in a female demographic and seems to lean more toward edgy Christian romance - which is what a good amount of Christian fiction in general seems to lean toward. There's nothing wrong with any of that, of course. It's just left me to pursue a slightly different path through the marketing forest.

So for the past few months I've been trying to get this label of edgy Christian speculative fiction out there. Some have argued that labels don't matter. I disagree with this, especially since self-publishing has taken off so rapidly and people want to know exactly what they're investing their time and money into. Some have argued that the term 'edgy' has already been beaten to death by the edgy romance writing community. And some have tried to come up with their own labels, like alternative or inspirational. Inspirational was taken a long time ago, and alternative makes it sound almost New Age in comparison.

On the other side of the coin, though, I've had certain individuals crawling up out of the woodwork to tell me they have either been looking for fiction in this type of genre to read, or that they write this same type of fiction and haven't had much luck marketing it. This has in turn created a need. A need for a community of readers/writers of this type of fiction, where both camps can come together and help support each other and bring more exposure to this genre.

So I've taken it upon myself to see what I can do. Using a community builder called Social Go, I've created The Crossover Alliance. Anyone can join the Alliance and post their edgy Christian speculative work, start topics in the forum in regards to this type of fiction, and invite other members to come support their work. I've also started an ever-growing resources tab in the site which will contain lists of online reviewers willing to read/review this type of work, and links to great self-publishing tools to get newbies just jumping into the fray some tips on starting into the world of self-publishing.

As additions to the social community, I have also created a Twitter account - crossoverally - and a Facebook page - The Crossover Alliance.

I invite you to check it out. And if you like it, please invite your friends/family/pets to join in!

My Experience with Pinterest...So Far

I read an online article a couple weeks ago (I would link it here but I can't for the life of me find the bookmark) which gave ways that authors could use Pinterest to promote themselves and their books. Not really needing ANOTHER social networking outlet, I was hesitant to jump into the Pinterest craze, but I figured I'd at least give it a shot. As a side note, I'm already tired of Twitter and am probably going to move away from using it in any kind of decent capacity. Most of my time is spent on Facebook, this blog, or at other random spots around the web, but I just can't seem to keep interest in or understand Twitter's purpose.

So, I signed up for Pinterest. That in itself was a strange process. You first have to request an invitation FROM Pinterest, wait for them to invite you, then go through the process of accepting the invite and setting up your profile. Seems unnecessarily difficult and time-consuming, not to mention just a bit pretentious. It's sort of like requesting to be invited to a party I wasn't initially invited to. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

That irritation aside, I signed up and started creating boards. The main boards I have at this moment are: Books I've Written,  Guild Wars 2, Black Earth: Dark Masquerade Cover Design, and Geektastic. I've managed to get a few images pinned in each and even had one of my followers repin the cover to one of my books into her own board, Books Worth Reading, proving to me that Pinterest does have some potential for self-published authors.

For the most part, the process of pinning and re-pinning and whatnot is all fairly fast and easy, making this a user-friendly networking platform for people like me who don't really have time to spend hours online trying to convince people I have something important to say. An image IS worth a thousand words, right?

If you want to follow me on Pinterest, here's a link to my profile -http://pinterest.com/davidnalderman.

The Best Way to Embrace a Negative Review

Now that self-publishing has taken off like the California Gold Rush, the internet - and bookstores - are booming with self-made creations of literary wonder. Because of this, it's tougher for the readers out there to sift through the mess to find the gems that they will eventually fall in love with.

What is a self-published author to do? How do we rise above the crowd and make ourselves - and our books - stand out? One way is by reputation. Reputation encompasses many different aspects: our attitude toward others online, our involvement in social networking, the quality and content of our books. Reputation is important because without it, people don't know who we are or sometimes even what we do.

One way we establish reputation for our work is through reviews. Reviews are like gold to a self-published author. They give our work weight and legitimacy, and they give the readers out there a - hopefully - honest opinion about our work.

Good reviews are always desired, but what do we do when we get a negative review? How do we react when someone digs into our work with a diamond-plated shovel and pulls everything out only to tear it to pieces in front of you and the watching public?

We take it in stride.

As authors, our online - albeit public - presence is our reputation and our platform. Meaning anything we say or do, any way in which we react with others, adds to the whole definition of who we are to others. Because of this, we can't afford to explode or throw a temper tantrum when someone says something critical - or even outright negative - about our work.

I'll give a very clear example - which most of you might have already seen - of how not to handle a book review. Below the review is a string of comments from the author, blowing up and defending her work, claiming the review was unfair and unjust...

http://booksandpals.blogspot.com/2011/03/greek-seaman-jacqueline-howett.html

The author of the book reviewed had a complete meltdown when she found out here book was only reviewed with 2/5 stars. I'm not implying her actions should be mocked, but simply used as an example of how not to react to an honest review.

On the other hand, I recently received a 2-star review for my novel Black Earth: End of the Innocence.

http://topublishornotto.blogspot.com/2011/06/indie-book-review-black-earth-end-of.html

Did I blow up at the reviewer? No. Did I argue with the reviewer, citing defenses to shield my work from negative opinions? No. I graciously sent her an email, thanking her for her time. You know why? Because it was her time that was spent reading and reviewing my book. Do I agree with the 2-star review I received? Doesn't really matter. The review isn't for me, it's for the readers.

In that regard, I have a few tips on how to handle a bad review, if you happen to be one of the lucky few who get one. ;) I am by no means an expert, but I think holding your head high and being respectful of everyone online can go a long ways in this business.

First -  Understand that a review is simply an opinion. Everyone in this world has opinions, and reviewers are expected to proclaim theirs. That's the point of their position. If a reviewer hates your novel, so what? Others may enjoy it. Maybe your book just isn't someone's cup of tea, and that's fine.

Second - Did you request the review? And if so, did you request the review from someone who enjoys books in your genre? I've seen it happen - an author requests a review for their sci-fi/fantasy novel from someone who usually reviews romance books. Odds are, you're not going to get a lot of interest for your material from that reviewer, so make sure to search out reviewers who review in or at least close to your genre.

Third - Every review is a potential opportunity to grow. As much as reviews are people's opinions, they may very well hold learning merit. If a reviewer is complaining about your bad grammar or inconsistent dialogue, then take a moment to look over those items in your work - especially if others have pointed out the same things.

Fourth - Understand that reviewers are taking their time out to not just review your book, but to read it. There are thousands upon thousands of self-published books out there now, and sorting through them to find ones of interest to read is a task unto itself. Those readers then take the time to actually read said book and then to write an in-depth, detailed review. All of that takes time out of a reviewers personal life and time away from others who are waiting in line to be reviewed next.

Fifth - Any news can sometimes be great news. What do I mean by that? Sometimes even a bad review can garner the same - if not more - attention to your work than a good review. I know there are many readers out there that actually skip over purchasing a book on Amazon because the book has numerous 5-star reviews attached to it. The reader wants honest reviews, and even a critical 1 or 2-star review can really build your book into something that is going to catch a reader's eye.

Always remember these simple principles when getting a review, good or bad:

• Always thank the reviewer for their time.
• Never defend the review, no matter how harsh it is. The review isn't for your ego, it's for the readers out there.
• Promote the review to gain attention for your book. This includes asking the reviewer to post his/her's review in as many online locations as they can. Including Goodreads, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Library Thing, etc.
• Don't request a review from someone if you're not willing to have that review posted everywhere. There are authors who ask to have reviews taken down because they are just too ashamed of them. Don't do that. It's immature and it makes the reviewer not want to deal with you - or self-published authors - in the future.

There are still remnants of a negative stigma attached to self-publishing that many of us are trying to hurdle over. Don't make things worse by blowing up or tearing a reviewer apart just because they were critical of your work. Be mature. Be an author worth checking out, not one that readers want to run from because of your bad attitude. Give the reviewers who are taking their time to read your stuff a pat on the back so they'll continue to read and review self-published work.

Photo credit - Creative Donkey

Staying Focused As A Self-Published Writer

"The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places." - Author Unknown

If anyone has noticed lately, my blog posts have fallen sort of flat over the last few weeks. It's not because I haven't had interesting things to talk about. Part of it is just that I've been busy with writing and trying to get the first three books of my upcoming young adult series finished and out the door. The other part...well...it's a combination of complacency, procrastination and a tad bit of laziness.

Being my own boss, I fall victim to many different things. It's easy to procrastinate - to put things off that don't need to be done right away. Sometimes, this causes me to put things off indefinitely. It's never my intention to do that, it just...well...happens. I also tend to hyper focus on one thing and neglect the others. For example, I'll get so focused on writing, that I'll completely ignore my marketing efforts for that day, or vice versa.

I'm not a lazy person by nature. If anything, I am known as a workaholic and I tend to push my own limits sometimes when I try to get projects done in a timely manner. But lately I've just been under a spell, not really caring if anything gets done and just feeling fatigued and worn out for who knows what reasons. I think it may just be lack of structure that's bringing all these things to my daily routine.

See, being a self-published, full-time writer is hard. I know some people think I'm living the dream by making my own hours and getting to do what I love - which is to write - full time. But there's so much more to this profession than just writing. There's marketing, there's cover design, there's marketing, there's blogging, there's marketing, there's social networking, there's...you get the point. Add in the fact that this can be a very lonely job, and you have the makings of a challenging career.

I'm sure many other writers, both who are doing this full time and who are doing it aside from a typical 9-5, experience some of these same issues I have been plagued with. And since this is my career, and not just my hobby, I've been forced to create a set of remedies to try and counteract some of these vices. I figured I'd share them with my fellow writers who are struggling to stay focused on their daily tasks, and hopefully help them accomplish their short term and long term goals.

First, I make a daily list of what needs to be done. I make this list the night before and have it sitting on my desk/computer desktop first thing when I wake up in the morning. The list details everything I need to get done during the day and the order which those things need to be done.

I for one find myself more disciplined in my writing efforts in the morning, so I make writing one of my first tasks each day. This includes blog post writing, working on my novel projects, even interviews or guest posts.

I tend to market and social network better later in the day, after I am completely awake and alert to the world. So I set most of my marketing tasks such as trolling the forums, emailing people, and commenting on fellow authors' blog posts for the afternoons.

Second, I am learning the value of getting out of my environment for a while and cutting out distractions. Sitting at my desk, in my apartment, for 10-12 hours a day can drive one insane. Granted, I love having a sanctuary of sorts to get away from the world so I can focus, but working in an area where the television, the internet, and the phone are so easily accessible makes getting things done a bit of a challenge sometimes.

Lately I've been trying to make it a point to head for library for a few hours in the morning to concentrate on writing. Cutting off all internet, I take a seat at one of the large tables overlooking the man-made lake behind our local library, pop in my headphones, crank up the beats, and write for a few hours. During the evenings of certain nights of the week, I meet up at the coffee shop with a friend of mine and we focus solely on writing.  

Third, I set up a system of discipline. Having a wife has it's benefits in terms of a writer's career. She helps keep me on track. I have it set up where if I don't complete certain goals on time or if I don't keep myself disciplined and do what I need to do, my wife can ground me from certain things that I like to do in my spare time. I have a gamer's heart and denying me a bit of R and R on the Xbox 360 is enough motivation for me to work hard to get done what I've set out to get done. I know it may seem a bit childish, but it works. If I was in a typical work environment and I didn't get requested projects finished, there would be consequences, so why shouldn't the same apply in my writing career?

On the flip side, if I accomplish my projects on time, I usually give myself a half day/full day off to veg. This usually comes after I've worked a 50+ hour workweek to get my projects done, so the rest and relaxation is refreshing, and the satisfaction that comes with finishing a project is great too.

Fourth and final, I make sure to keep up the boundaries between my personal time and work time. Being a full time writer, it's easy to say you have time for lunch with a friend or to help a friend or relative with a task they need a hand with. But this writing career should be treated like any other. You wouldn't be able to just leave when you want from a typical job.

I'm not saying we have to go to extremes here. I believe there is a time for everything. But I've had major issues in the past where people I know don't really think of what I'm doing as a full time job and constantly contact me for favors or to hang out even though I have projects that desperately need to get done. In the past I've given in out of guilt, but more recently I've put my foot down and treated my writing as the business it is. As an alternative, I'll sometimes offer a time that works with my schedule to help/hang out with my friends and family.

As a self-published writer, my livelihood is resting on my ability to stay focused, to put aside distractions, and to resist the lure of laziness. Bringing balance to your self-imposed work day can be a real challenge, but one must understand that writing full time is more than just writing. It's running a business. You're the manager, you're the marketing department, you're the one who fails or succeeds. It's okay to draw up some boundaries to make it easier for yourself, even if others may or may not understand.

When a year passes by, are you going to be happy with what you've accomplished, or are you going to regret all the time you spent on X or Y, things that didn't really bring you closer to your goals?

Photo Credit -boboroshi