Shamelessly Plagiarizing (Plugging) Kristen Lamb

Not that she needs it…

Kristen Lamb is my new hero. I heard about her and her social marketing book for writers, We Are Not Alone (WANA) on a Bob Mayer online course I recently took (Bob is not too shabby either).

As soon as I bought the book, the buzz started. Or maybe it had already started and I just noticed it. Kristen Lamb this, Kristen Lamb that. Suddenly everyone was talking about Kristen Lamb. And it's no wonder. We Are Not Alone is awesome.

For maybe a year or two (or three) now, I've been baffled by Facebook and Twitter, wondering what I was supposed to do with them and how they could possibly help me my writing career. In WANA, Kristen explains everything I needed to know in an entertaining style that makes it painless and fun.

I was so taken by her approach to social networking, that when Tamara LeBlanc mentioned Kristen's blog, I had to stop by.

So much good stuff!

One of the funniest articles Kristen has written is called, Twitter Tuesday–Twintroverts & Twextroverts.

In this article (as elsewhere), Kristen declares herself to be an ENFP (Extroverted Intuitive Feeling Perceiver). Maybe that's why I connect with her. I am an INFP (Introverted Intuitive Feeling Perceiver). So close and yet so far.

I won't go into the NFP part, but I must say that I am most definitely a Twintorvert and have been mystwified and even twerrified of Twitter (sorry, Kristen’s post does that to you) for a long time.

Kristen claims, “The beauty of Twitter is that human interaction is on YOUR terms, and I find that often transforms the shyest introvert into a wild Twitter party animal.” I don't know about that.

Remembered the beast in the old Bugs Bunny cartoons? You know, the hairy monster that was so scary until he looked into the camera and said, "People? Awwwww!” And then he ran away and hid?

That's me. Well, I hope not the hairy monster part.

And yet, I need human interaction. Don't we all? The good part is that I've always been better at expressing myself in written form than face-to-face.

So after reading WANA, I held my breath, signed up, logged in, and began socializing with my new friends. And it wasn't that bad. In fact, it was downright fun. It's great reading about everyone's doings, giving encouragement, drooling over pictures of the cutest pets in the world.

And now? I've fallen in love with Facebook, and often get sucked into its time warp. I've even done a bit of Twittering. But I find it hard to keep up both every day, what with writing projects, contests to enter, Petit Fours and Hot Tamales (my wonderful group blog) to keep up with, etc. etc. It isn't easy to carve out the time from the little slice of time I have.

In a recent post, Bob Mayer said the number one key to self publishing success is consistency. Thanks, Bob. Well, I guess he's right. But persistence can lead to consistency, can't it?

One thing we can all be consistent about is getting back up on our horse when we fall off. Whether that's the  social networking horse, or the writing every day horse, or the exercising horse, or any other personal or professional horse, uh, goal, we may have. It doesn't matter if we blunder once in awhile as long as we keep getting back in the game.

Kristen has convinced me that reaching out to others and building a community is well worth the time and effort.

Are you with me? If you are, take the social networking pledge.
Stand up, hold your hands in front of your heart and the sign of the hash tag (#), and repeat after me.

I solemnly swear to do my best to Tweet and Facebook and blog every day without fail. And if I miss a day, I will Tweet and Facebook and blog the next day. And the next after that. And the next after that. So help me, Google.

There's no going back now. Are you ready? Then get ready, get set, network!

Viral Excerpts - Make your first words a free gift

In getting this blog up and running, I've been doing some research on viral marketing. It's an interesting topic.

Viral marketing is marketing that spreads like a virus (a good one) via social networks and blogs. As webopedia states it, viral marketing is "positive word-of-mouth brand awareness."

Sounds, well, infectious, doesn't it? Wouldn't we all love to have Facebook's 300 million users reading our books?

What does this mean for writers?

There are a lot of ways to apply viral marketing to a writing career. One of the strategies that caught my eye is a free giveaway of a product.

The trick is not to give away something equivalent to the clothes you toss out when cleaning your closet, but to give away something of value. In marketing this idea is called WIIFM. (What's in it for me?) In other words, don't just focus on what your website will do for you. Focus on what it will do for your readers.

For example, we see giveaways on published author sites, especially on blogs in exchange for comments:

• Anna DeStephano gives away a Dream Flutters necklace for posting on her blog, if your comment is chosen.

• Margie Lawson often gives away her coveted lecture packets when she guest blogs to the winning commenter.

• On Petit Fours and Hot Tamales, we gave a $25 gift certificate to the winning commenter of our online book Aspen Expose.

There is also information that's just plain free:

• Dianna Love and Mary Buckham offer free articles on their Break Into Fiction website.

• My blog sister Tammy Schubert gives away free technical information on her website.

• Here on Linsey's Diary, I've created a list of Cool Links of important information for the writer who wants to become or to stay published. I hope to add to this list as time goes by. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment.

But I'd like to apply the idea to something else

Someone mentioned to me recently that more and more, editors and agents are looking for online excerpts of your writing. For the not-yet-published, this usually means the first 500 to 1,000 words of a manuscript.

We all know how important the first chapter, the first paragraph, even the first line of your manuscript is. If you haven't grabbed most editors by the first page, many of them stop reading.

So how can you make your excerpts worthy of an editor's or agent's attention?

Think of them as a free giveaway.

And now for the hard questions to ask yourself:

• Is my excerpt something a reader would think valuable? Or is it the equivalent of a cheap party favor?

• Is my excerpt something that could start a viral wave of fury? Would people be blogging about it? Twittering their friends about it?

• If my excerpt were the last thing I ever wrote, would I want to be remembered for it?

Tough, huh?

Yes, but no tougher than the demands of editors, agents, and your future readers.

How do you make your excerpt that good? Hmm. Sounds like a topic for another post. Stay tuned...

I'm really preaching to myself in this article. I intend to greatly increase my submission rate in 2010 and over the years I've learned beginnings are my biggest weakness. This year, I'm going to work on that and make my openings shine. How about you?