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Mar
08
2011

Social Media

Ever feel like you’re drowning in social media?

It seems like there’s so many things you have to figure out as a writer—or well, inspiring writing in my case. One of those things is social media. But there’s so much of it. How do you know what to be a part of and what to ignore? Do I need to have a blog, website, twitter, and facebook account? Really? All of them?

I think the short answer is yes. Now the real question is when. When do you need to have all of these pieces in place?

Obviously, I’m still new to all of this. I’m still unpublished although I hope that this is the last year I say that. I have a blog that I try to maintain and use regularly. *Hi blog visitors!* Blogging is something that I’ve been comfortable with. I like sharing stories about things I learn or what I’m going through at any particular moment—case in point.

Twitter. Ah, twitter. I never ‘got’ twitter before I started using it. It just didn’t make sense to me. I didn’t know how to use it or why I would need to use it instead of facebook. Well, I have completely changed my mind now that I have started using it! Twitter is the best! I don’t really use it for friends, that I keep on facebook mostly. But for industry news, it’s invaluable! I follow writers (some new, some established, some best sellers!), publishers, editor, and agents. Every single day I learn some kind of little tidbit about what an agent/editor is looking for specifically. Sometimes I learn what publishers want or don’t want to see in submissions. And everyday I connect with awesome writers to share in their successes and set-backs. If you are not on twitter and you want to be privilege to insightful industry news, you need to get yourself on there pronto.

That leaves me with facebook. <sigh> It’s my newest concern. I have always used facebook as a way to connect with friends and family far away. But now that I’m trying to create a name for myself (to grow into at this point) I’m having more and more trouble keeping my private life separated from my writing life. So I created a ‘fan’ page. Ugh. That feels *so* weird. I have a fan page, yet I am not offering anything for people to be a fan of. Yet. To me it seems to be the best solution for right now. It allows me to connect with new friends on facebook while still maintaining my other account to stay in touch with my friends and family. Good, right? Ugh. Right?

Figuring out the right decisions to make for all things concerning trying to become a writer and using social media is causing me sleepless nights. How do you all manage it?

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About the author

Heather

4 pings

  1. Shoshanna Evers says:

    I have a Twitter account (and I agree, it’s awesome and so very different from Facebook that people are missing out by avoiding either network), I have a private FB page for my personal friends and family and acquaintances, and an author Facebook page (not a fan page, bc it feels weird to me), and a blog http://www.TheWritersChallenge.com and an author website http://www.ShoshannaEvers.com.

    Yes, it’s hard to keep up with everything. Yes, I’d have more time to write if I didn’t have such an online presence, but that’s how it is – and I admit I do like the camaraderie amongst authors online.

    I also pop into various Yahoo loops to say hi.

    I think your Facebook problem would be solved if you created another FB profile under the name HeatherThurmeierAuthor. That way you can “friend” people instead of asking them to be your “fan”, which personally I think is way cooler. The only way I’d have a fan page is if I had over 5000 friends and had no choice, but that’s just me. Plenty of people have fan pages I suppose. Then your private FB and your Author FB will be differentiated.

  2. jennifer121 says:

    HI Heather, I too did not want to twitter and am now ready to dive in. I may be asking you for advice! I am also overwhelmed by blogging, guest blogging, facebook, twitter, websites, etc. I know it is essential to making your presence known but my actual writing is suffering. I am still trying to find balance! Oh, and more time…always more time!! I think you’ve been doing great and I always enjoy your blog!

  3. Joy N. Hensley says:

    Heather, I felt the same way about Twitter for a long time. But now that I’ve got queries out and am actually getting some pretty impressive nibbles (although no bites agent-wise so far) it’s time for me to gear things up. I’m along with you on this ride!

  4. Taryn Kincaid says:

    For me, right now, FB is nonsense. It is linked to my Twitter account, as are the Twitter accounts of most of the people I follow, so it’s the same information, just doubled.

    I find FB pretty much a waste of time. I am not interested in comments from other people’s sisters-in-law and high school cafeteria matrons. Just. Not. It is only of use for the few people I know who are not on Twitter, or if I want to write something a little longer or, mainly, publicize my blog or a blog I’m guest posting on.

    Otherwise…I just don’t care.

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