by Theresa Garee | Nov 12, 2020 | Blog
You Made the News! Now What?
A media outlet interviewed you. Congratulations!!
Contributing to articles is a fabulous way to become a well-respected expert in your field!
But once the article goes live, your work isn’t over.
First, share it all around.
I’m so grateful to have landed with Mango Publishing Group. My editor and their social media coordinator share pretty much anything I send their way. So my first step is to send a link to any new piece to them.
Tweet the link and tag anyone else in the piece, including the publication and especially the journalist who wrote it.
Post on Facebook. If you have a business page, start there, but there’s rarely harm in sharing to your personal page at a different time for more visibility. If your friends won’t celebrate your success, why are they your friends? Don’t overdo the promo, of course. But people want to know what’s going on and might be interested enough to share the article.
Also post in any Facebook groups that allow promotional links. Find ones that are the right fit for you and your topic. I belong to many groups but also started my own wellness group where I share relevant information.
Are you on LinkedIn? That’s where the biz folks are. If there’s any business angle post it there.
Pin to a board on Pinterest. Create a board for a specific topic or a “Where I’m Quoted” or “Featured Ins” or some other catchy title related to your topic. Things pinned on Pinterest have a very long shelf-life.
Instagram allows you to use Link Tree to create a link in your bio where you can add articles, social media platforms, and your website since Instagram only allows one link. Post a photo from the article, preferably the one closest to your quote, then say the link to the article is in your bio.
Don’t forget other relevant organizations. Would the piece interest your high school, college, or professional association? Send it all around.
Hashtags
Be sure to find relevant hashtags because that’s how strangers find articles on social media. Check out Frances Caballo’s excellent post on hashtags for authors. Sometimes that’s what you’ll want, but if your feature covers more than writing, use a hashtag appropriate for your topic. Tons of articles cover hashtags. Here’s one I like. Choose hashtags for the correct social media channel. Popular Twitter hashtags may not trend on Instagram.
Blog It
If you’re new to this process, you could blog about the experience of pitching to a journalist and doing the interview. Write about moving forward with a more involved marketing strategy. Or blog about your topic and link to the piece. Be sure to use the WordPress plugin Yoast or another search engine optimization (SE)) tool. I love Yoast because it removes the guesswork.
Email It
Do you have an email newsletter? It’s lovely to include a link to this new “featured in” with your next newsletter. If you were quoted at length, send the whole quote as the newsletter content with a quick “Not sure you saw this” note. People subscribed to your newsletter because they want to stay in touch.
In the News Page
If it’s your first interview, now’s the time to start an “In the News” page on your website where you collect these things. Leave it as a draft at first, until you collect a few, but have them all in one place on your site.
Save It
And do save a pdf of it. In Chrome you can “print” to “save as pdf.” I do that with every article. Sometimes articles disappear and you want to save it for posterity.
Go you!
by Theresa Garee | Aug 22, 2018 | Blog
When I first began blogging in April of 2006, I thought of each title the way a poet might. The title didn’t so much introduce the “poem” (blog article) as enhance it. It was its own “line” in the poem.
I was idealistic and much younger then. I was still in MFA school.
And, I hadn’t read this stack of books on using social media effectively.
In the age of Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Facebook business pages, a title must do more than entertain. A title must make a promise. The article must fulfill it.
With overburdened schedules and a flood of information, readers scan titles for the helpful or entertaining. It is the age of the micro-blog, the mini-article, the itsy bitsy essay. If the title doesn’t catch a reader’s attention, it is lost.
You’ve probably already noticed a change here. What I might have previously titled, “The Farmer” became “Good? Bad? How Can You Tell?” and what I contemplated calling, “The Introvert’s Dilemma” was posted as “Twitter for Introverts.” These are still creative, I hope, but more informative. They promise information.
Don’t worry. I’ll still post photos of #Scarlet the #ninetyninepercentgooddog with silly titles.
Those promise to entertain!
And now I shall go enter “Effective Blog Titles” into the google machine and see if the experts agree.
by Theresa Garee | Aug 16, 2018 | Blog
Platform. Platform. Platform.
It is not news that editors and agents want a writer to have a following. And it shouldn’t be news that they expect that writer to have those potential readers in place BEFORE the book is published. But I’m often late to the party.
Oh, I’ve had a platform for years. I’ve been publishing Write Now Newsletter, my monthly writing email, since 2003. I’ve been writing this blog for nearly that long. You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn. But in the current market, publishers favor authors who have a platform ON STEROIDS!
When I received a reminder of this truth, I did what I always do. I went to the library. The stack of books in the photo is just the beginning of my research. And, honestly, I already know much of what they are suggesting.
I also asked my friends, especially the younger ones, for advice. Last night, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to post something on Instagram. A friend sent this helpful photo:
Literally, I just didn’t know what button to push!
But once I’ve figured out the mechanics of these sites, there are bigger challenges. Yes I had a presence on these platforms, but I wasn’t engaging on social media often enough and I wasn’t doing it the most effective way. I’m still reading and consulting friends, but as I make changes, my numbers are climbing.
Stay tuned. Give me a few more weeks and I’ll write about what I’ve learned.
by Theresa Garee | Feb 4, 2018 | Blog
“As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.” – Henry David Thoreau
I don’t usually plug products in my newsletter essay or blog posts, but this month, Freedom saved my bacon so I will make an exception. Like many folks I know, I spend way too much time on social media and possibly on the Internet in general. I find myself on Facebook before I realize I’m there. And wow does time fly while I’m “like-ing” all the cute animal videos and making angry faces on political posts that upset me.
Technically, I have to be on Facebook sometimes since I have an author page. But I don’t have to be there all day. I can schedule my author posts so they appear throughout the day even though I’ve created them all in the same hour.
So how do I tame my desire to see every running photo any of my friends or their friends or anyone in the world anywhere posts on social media? Enter Freedom. I love it so much that I wrote about it back in 2014. I’d forgotten to use it for a while, but recently, with deadlines looming, I went back to it like an old friend.
Freedom is software that limits access to certain websites. It works both on a computer or your phone. I use it to block Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Yes. I’m the kind of woman who, if Facebook isn’t available, will spend inordinate amounts of time making LinkedIn connections under the guise of marketing. For shame!
With Freedom, I can start a blocking session immediately or schedule one for later. The scheduled blocks work well to remind me to go to bed. If it’s 10:30PM and both Ed and the puppy are snoring, perhaps I don’t need to read one more post about how to use the Insta Pot. I don’t even cook!
No, I am not being paid for this. I am not an affiliate or linked to Freedom in any way. I just know, as writers and human beings, our time is limited. We need to use it wisely. I’m not very good at that. So I let Freedom do for me what I can’t do for myself.
Do you have distractions that keep you from writing? How do you manage them? I’d love to hear more about it.
by Theresa Garee | Apr 9, 2009 | Blog
You on Facebook yet? Do you Tweet? How about LinkedIn? MySpace? There are many good reasons for authors to have a presence on social networking sites. Some literary agents also Tweet and spend time on Facebook, and there’s been a lot of kvetching around the ‘net about that issue. I’m sidestepping that landmine. I think it’s more important for writers to remember that befriending an agent on a social networking site is very different from being on-line friends with the folks you go out with on Friday nights. As a writer, it benefits you to make a multitude of friends and keep them up-to-date on your latest writing projects. Social networking sites are a great way to do that. But it behooves us to remember who’s watching those sites before we post photos of last weekend’s debacle.
Agents feel the same way. They are careful who they choose to friend on Facebook and other sites. Twitter is a little different because agents can choose who to follow while anyone can follow them. But don’t be surprised if an agent ignores your request to friend them on MySpace or Facebook. And, in general, agents don’t want to be queried on these sites. Follow the submission guidelines on the agent’s website instead.
Chuck Sambuchino covers this nicely in a post at the Guide to Literary Agents Blog.
I’m on most of the social networking sites. I tend to keep my Facebook page for friends, family and a few others, but I’m happy to be followed on Twitter. I most often Tweet about procrastination, walking my dog, and procrastinating by walking my dog. I don’t Tweet about weekend debacles. Feel free to follow me if you wish.
