You Like Me! You Really Like Me!
August 24, 2013
Okay, so I’m not Sally Field. I’m a writer. But her famous line does apply to my latest “event”—August LIKE Month. What exactly is August LIKE Month? I’m glad you asked. Let me explain.
In this day and age, the biggest key to success for any author is networking. It doesn’t matter if you’re an independent or traditionally published author, getting the word out means the difference between reveling in success or wallowing in the lonely pit of anonymity. In simpler terms it means selling books or not, receiving royalty checks or having to rob the piggy bank for enough change to buy coffee.
I’ll be the first to admit I don’t write for the money. I write for two reasons. First, I write for the pure joy of writing. It’s my escape from the mundane. Writing allows me to enter worlds where anything is possible with a thought and the clickety-clack of the keyboard. Second, I like to make people smile. There is no greater joy than when a reader tells me they enjoyed my story. If my words made you forget your sorrows, your surroundings, your pain, your stress or your whatever, even if only for a brief time, then I’ve accomplished my goal. Your joy is my inspiration, my payment as it were. However, you won’t know I exist and I’ll never get the chance to hear your words of encouragement without networking. And that brings us back to the topic at hand.
For most of us, there are four major network resources: Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and a personal website. If used correctly, these social sites can be an instrumental part of a writer’s success. In many cases, they are intertwined and any one of them can be used to help promote you on the other sites. Obviously, you’ve found my website or you wouldn’t be reading this blog right now. But how did you get here? Maybe you already knew about my website and just happened to be checking in, or maybe you saw one of my promotions on Twitter or Facebook that linked you here. Either way, welcome to the world of networking.
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On Facebook, I have an Author Fan Page. I use this page to inform my readers, fans, and friends about…well, about me! And, of course, my writing, I can relay information about new releases, give progress reports, talk about upcoming book signings, promote fellow writers, and post whimsical musings, pictures and sayings about writing in general. But unless you go to my Author Fan Page and “LIKE” the page (click the little button where it says “LIKE”), you won’t always be kept up to date. So, August LIKE Month is simply a “push” to get as many new “LIKES” as possible. As a little incentive, and a small token of my appreciation, if we reach my goal of new “LIKES” I’ll have a contest and give away some signed trade paperbacks and Amazon.com gift cards. If you haven’t already done so, please go to my Facebook Fan Page and “LIKE” the page. I’ve made it real easy for you. There’s a dark blue banner at the top of this page with an “f” on it. Click that banner and it will take you directly to my Facebook Fan Page and once there, please click the “LIKE” button. It’s that simple! For those of you who are about to push the “LIKE” button, I salute you! Welcome to the fold.
Before I sign off I’d like to tell you about a couple of things that happened to me recently. First, one of the greatest things in my reading/writing career happened. Raymond E. Feist is now following me on Twitter! I’m not going to go into the details of how this came about, but suffice it to say that I was shocked, amazed, and down right tickled to death. “I’m not worthy!” A big “Thank You” to Mr. Feist for a wonderful “random act of kindness.” He knows what I mean.
Finally, my youngest daughter and her newlywed spouse (thank you – yes, I’m very proud) were in town for a visit a couple of weeks ago. We went to a local, prestigious outdoor theater to see the play Hair. The play was advertised to contain nudity, but we didn’t think too much about it really since one of the main characters took their pants off at the beginning and had on a jockstrap. No biggie. It looked a bit stormy that night, and the first half of the play seemed to be going on for a long time, so we thought maybe they were dispensing with the intermission and doing the entire play to get it finished due to the weather. My wife needed to use the ladies room, but waited as long as she could hoping for intermission, but since it seemed like there would be no intermission, she finally gave up and made her way through the weeds and the dark to use the facilities. Remember, this was outdoors in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere. As it turned out, while my wife was away, the entire cast gathered around and sang a song. The lights were dim (a soft dark blue glow) and while the cast sang, most of them stripped down to nothing! As I said, the lights were dim, but not so much that you couldn’t tell the exact anatomy of each of the cast members. As it turned out, the song ended with the long-anticipated intermission. The cast members grabbed their clothes and ran off down the same weedy path my wife had taken to find the local outdoor facilities. No sooner had they left when she returned by the same path with an odd look on her face. She said it was a good thing she had been using the light on her phone to navigate because she nearly got run over by a group of naked actors running by. We laughed until we had tears in our eyes. I could see the local headlines: Local woman trampled to death by a group of naked actors. Some memories will never be forgotten.
I would be honored if you checked out my Facebook Author Fan Page and all “LIKES” are appreciated. Until next time, my friends, thanks for believing.