How Important Is An Author's Online Presence?

photo by Marek via Dollar Photo Club

All the publishing pros will tell you that having an active online presence is an author's most important asset. How else will readers discover your work? How will those interested in what you have to offer locate you? How else will you stand out from the rest of the crowd? I recently experienced firsthand how imperative it is for an author to be available to an audience online. I consider myself to have a solid online presence and what I saw when I researched other authors baffled me.

A few weeks ago while at work at a community college in upstate New York, I got a call from Dorene who works in our continuing adult education program. She asked me to help her locate the author of a book she wanted to purchase for a class. She wanted to buy the books directly from him. I teach a few classes in self-publishing at the college, so although I am officially a campus nurse Dorene figured I'd be able to help.

"Did you look him up on LinkedIn?" I asked.

"No," she said. "Great idea."

We looked for him on the site and came up with nothing. We checked his Amazon page, but there was no author profile and no contact information listed. We looked for him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, all the usual places authors set up an online presence, but did not find him. We did a Google search and came full circle back to the Amazon page with no info.

Stumped, I apologized and said, "I guess he doesn't want to be found."

She was disappointed. "We're looking at another book, and that author is approachable, so I guess we'll go with him."

I felt bad for the author who lost the opportunity to put his book into the hands of a classroom of students. If he had simply set up an author profile on his Amazon page with contact info, he would have made a nice sale.

Not long after that I was talking to Gail, my contact at Thrall Library who works with me to coordinate the library’s Local Authors & Illustrators Showcase, coming in September. She had an author she wanted me to invite to the event. She gave me a slip of paper with his name and phone number. 

Before I contact an author for this event, I check him out online to make sure he fits with the program and to see what he can offer to our patrons and the other authors attending. And although I had a phone number for this guy, I wanted an email address, my preferred method of communication for this event. As you can imagine, coordinating 20+ authors can become confusing and overwhelming. An email trail keeps me organized and sane. 

So I did my research on all the usual sites and discovered this author had no online presence other than his Amazon page with no author profile. Bummer. I resorted to calling him, and after we played some telephone tag he agreed to participate. He gave me an email address, and we are now communicating online, although he says he does not have internet service at home and visits his local library once a week to take care of his email. 

After our initial conversation, I shook my head, amazed that the author of five print books would opt out of an online presence. We live and work in a global market. There's no telling who might be interested in what this author has published or who might want to invite him to an event where he can share his work with an audience and perhaps sell a few copies. Again, a profile on his Amazon page including contact info is all he needs to avail himself of opportunities.

A year ago, I attended a local author event at another library (it's where I got the idea for the event in my hometown). I met a few authors of children's books. I'm in need of these authors to round out my program so I thought I'd invite them to join us. I had the event program and lots of info I'd collected (bookmarks and postcards) from these authors and sat down to do some investigating. 

I was shocked to find that although many of them had some online presence - a Facebook or Twitter page,  a website -  many of them were inactive and had not posted or updated their sites in months. What was going on? Were they interested in getting out there with their books? None of them had listed an email address. Of the five I checked out, two looked promising, so I reached out to them via their Facebook accounts, but we are not friends, and such messages get sent to a secondary inbox. I learned this when I reached out to a blogger for a possible interview and didn't get a reply for months because she didn't realize she had mail waiting for her in this box. I imagine my messages to these authors will lie undiscovered, and they will miss out on an opportunity to connect with readers and other authors, and sell books.

One more story regarding my locating authors for this event: I learned of a local guy with a new book and decided to invite him. He had a great online presence - Amazon profile, and Facebook, Twitter, and About Me pages - but I couldn't find an email address. I decided to contact him via Twitter and he responded! Happy ending! But I shouldn't have to work so hard to get in touch with someone who has recently published a book. 

What's the moral of these stories? If you're serious about your career as an author, indie or otherwise, it's imperative you establish an online presence. You can do this for free. At the very least, build an Amazon author profile. Then start a Facebook, Twitter,  Pinterest, LinkedIn, About Me, or Google+ page (one or all, your choice, but at least one.) Create a webpage, your home on the web. On every site, include an email address. If you don't want to use your personal email address establish a new account specifically for your author activities. Remember to check it daily. Update your Amazon page and social media pages frequently. It's important to look active and engaged to potential readers and those looking to establish a relationship.

Publishing is a competitive business. Discoverability in a field of millions is difficult. Don't make it hard for people to find you. Not everyone will be as patient and determined to track down an author as I am.

Find me on Amazon! 

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IndieRecon 2015 - A Not to Be Missed Online Writers Conference For Authors By Authors

Novice or pro, we can all benefit from advice and insight about indie publishing from those who have bravely gone before us and paved the way. This is the best time to be an author, and with the proper tools and training those of us with the talent and commitment to bring our work to the next level may well realize our indie author dreams. IndieReCon 2015 is one awesome tool that can put you on the path to success without having to leave your home or adjust your schedule.

IndieReCon runs April 15-17. It’s a free, three-day, 24-hour online publishing conference whose goal is to “make indie publishing a mission possible” for any writer who wants to embark on the journey. Run for authors by authors, IndieReCon meets the needs of authors in all stages and levels of self-publishing. Co-founders Ali Cross and SR Johannes started it in 2013 with the ambition to change the stigma associated with self-publishing.

“Self-publishing is hard!” says Johannes, author of the award-winning and bestselling YA thriller “Nature of Grace” series. “And many people don’t know how to get started. Ali and I decided to help the indie community learn more about how to create outstanding, high-quality books.”

They struck a nerve: More than 10,000 authors attended the first conference. In 2014, IndieReCon had 25,000 visitors.

In 2015, IndieReCon will be presented by the Alliance of Independent Authors.

“To be honest, we never expected IndieReCon to get this big, and we are thrilled that the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI) have joined forces to help grow the conference even more,” says co-founder Cross, founder of Novel Ninjitsu and author of angsty young adult fantasies and middle-grade adventures.

ALLi Director and Founder Orna Ross says,“The indie author movement is the most important development in publishing today, and IndieRecon and ALLi are right at its heart, providing the support and information authors need to decide what’s best for them — and do it.”

The conference features an unprecedented number of the world’s most famous and best-selling independent authors and publishing professionals presenting content via blog posts, seminars, workshops, Twitter chats, Google Hangouts, and master classes. Estimated attendance is 50,000 authors from all over the globe. The conference also includes live streaming of the Indie Author Fringe Fest from The London Book Fair’s Book and Screen Week on Friday.

Here are some highlights:

Over 30 bestselling indie authors and experts covering topics that span the entire process of indie publishing, including: Porter Anderson, Futurebook; Joanna Penn, Author; Bella Andre, Author; CJ Lyons, Author; Joel Friedlander, The Book Designer; Mark Coker, Smashwords; Jane Friedman, Digital Media & Publishing; and more. A full list of speakers is available here.

Sessions: Common Mistakes New Indie Authors Make, Ali Cross; Basics of Online Retailers: Where Do You Go to Sell and Why?, Miral Sattar; How to Make a Living with Your Writing, Joanna Penn; Book Design For Authors – The Basics, Joel Friedlander; How to Approach Ad Sites & Make Your Book Desirable, Neil Baptista; The Importance of Reviews, Seth Dellon. A full schedule is available here.

Contests:

Grand Prize Giveaway - Indie authors from all over the world have donated e-books for one purpose: to be used in a library or school. With the generosity of KOBO, an e-reader will be packed full of these indie titles and one lucky library or school will win that e-reader!

A Book Cover Contest to recognize indie book covers, authors, artists, photographers and designers that have raised the bar for the rest of us. My upcoming YA novel Swim Season is one of them!

And a Book Description Contest to recognize those indie books that best capture a reader’s attention, including Swim Season. 

Sponsors: Ingram Spark, Bublish, Books Go Social, Bibliocrunch, Draft2Digital, FicShelf, Mereo, Reedsy, Rethink, Kobo

I attended last year's conference, and it was three days packed with information on all things indie. The best part is that the content remained online long after the conference ended so I could access it when it was convenient and take advantage of everything offered. There’s no need to stress out over how you’re going to manage the sessions you don’t want to miss while balancing your writing, blogging, marketing, day job, and other responsibilities. It's all online, available 24/7, and waiting for you.

To register visit indierecon.org.

IndieReCon Links:

Website: indierecon.org

Twitter: @Indie_Reon

Official hashtag: #IndieReCon2015

Media Contact: Miral Sattar miral@bibliocrunch.com

ALLi Contact: Orna Ross orna@allianceind

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Fresh Fiction: My Short Story "Collection" is Now Available on Kindle

I published a new story on Kindle! In "Collection," young Daisy and her family accompany their housepainter father on a trip to collect wages from a slow-paying customer, and encounter surprising consequences. This is the first in a series of stories involving Daisy and her large family growing up in the 1970's.  I wrote it about ten years ago, and have wanted to publish in ebook for quite a while but needed a cover. I asked my talented intern Jorge Vidals to come up with something and he made this beautiful cover. This story won Honorable Mention in the 2007 Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest.  A Kindle Select title, it's free for Kindle Unlimited users. Otherwise 0.99. Enjoy! Reviews welcome! Available on Amazon only.

Excerpt: The lady eyeballed Mama, stared at her swollen belly, and then at the ragtag collection of children lined up behind her. I held onto Sadie, patting at the wrinkles in her tattered blouse. It was once mine and had seen better days. The lady's gaze settled on me, and she shook her head. I moved behind Mama, my face flushed, and focused on the ground, on my soiled canvas sneakers. My big toe poked out of a hole in one of them, revealing chipped nail polish. I stepped on my foot, covering it up.
The lady pointed at Mama's belly. "You're about near your time," she said.
"That's right, Ma'am," Mama said. "Two weeks."
"Oh, my," the lady said. "And how old is your baby?"
"Seventeen months.” Mama pulled Joe tight against her and kissed the top of his head. He studied the lady with big brown eyes and smiled, his two front teeth gleaming.
"Good heavens," the lady said, fanning herself.

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New Release Spotlight: YA Author Krysten Lindsay Hager's Best Friends...Forever?

Good friends have your back, but some go behind it. 

 
Today's guest is Krysten Lindsay Hager, a Clean Indie Reads author who calls herself a book addict who's never met a bookstore she didn’t like. She’s worked as a journalist and writes middle grade, YA, humor essays, and adult fiction. She's originally from Michigan and has lived in Portugal, South Dakota, and currently resides in southern Ohio where you can find her reading and writing when she’s not catching up on her favorite shows. She received her master’s degree from the University of Michigan-Flint. Welcome to Adventures in Publishing  Krysten! Please tell us about your new book and what motivated you to revisit middle school, a time most of us would prefer to forget.

KLH: Hi everyone and thanks for inviting me to visit your readers, Marianne.   I've always loved reading books that use humor and have realistic (and relatable) characters. I decided to write the book I wanted to read when I was reading YA and I’m overjoyed it’s now a series where people can follow along on Landry’s journey through dealing with friendships, the ups and downs of school, crushes, and insecurities. Sure, going back to that time in my own life was a little crazy, but lucky for me there weren’t camera phones to capture me dancing in the school talent show…while wearing jean shorts. If you’re not cringing yet, let’s just say I also had a moment of “genius” where I thought my super dark brown hair would look amazing with “Sun-In” highlights that actually turned my hair a lovely shade of copper. Sigh...

The Landry’s True Colors Series is a clean reads young adult series about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, middle school and high school, frenemies, modeling, crushes, values, and self-image. Best Friends…Forever? was ranked at #1 on Amazon’s Hot New Releases in Teen & Young Adult Values & Virtues Fiction and #1 on Amazon’s Hot New Releases in Children's Books on Values. True Colors is an international bestselling book.

MS: Best Friends...Forever? was a trip back in time, dragging me back to the halls of South Junior High School where I encountered so many of the issues Landry faces. I thought it was  a great read that portrays the early teen years with painful accuracy. Kids today have a lot to deal with and live their lives much more publicly than my generation ever did.  Can you tell us more about Landry and her story?

KLH: Landry Albright hopes the new year will start off in an amazing way—instead she has to deal with more frenemy issues, boy drama, and having most of her best friends make the cheerleading squad without her. Suddenly, it seems like all anyone can talk about is starting high school next year—something she finds terrifying. Landry gets her first boyfriend, but he dumps her just as things come to a head with her friends. She feels lost and left out, but finds good advice about dealing with frenemies from what she considers an unlikely source. Landry faces having to speak up for what’s right, tell the truth (even when it hurts), and how to get past the fear of failure as she gets another shot at competing in the American Ingénue modeling competition. 

MS: How about an Excerpt?

“Landry, it’s gotta be so awkward for you to be going to Vladi’s school next year,” Tori said. “I mean, what if you run into him during the tour?"

"It’s a huge place,ʺ Ashanti said. “People break up all the time. It’s not a big deal.ʺ

Tori raised her eyebrows as if to say, “Yeah, right,” and went back to her sandwich. Meanwhile my delicious homemade soup was no longer sitting well. It never occurred to me Vladi might be around during the first pre‑freshman tour. I would be mortified if I ran into him and he was with a girl. Or worse yet, running into him, and he was with Yasmin. Plus, I hadn’t told my mom about the breakup, so if she saw him, she’d probably go over to talk to him. I could already imagine it: “Landry, Vladi’s here! Hon? Why are you hiding behind the garbage can? Your boyfriend, Vladi, is here. Come say, ‘hello.’ Stop trying to run away. Why is everyone laughing and pointing at you and calling you a ‘loser dumpee?’ What does that mean?”

Well, maybe the world would end and I wouldn’t have to deal with high school or Vladi and my mother running into each other.

Sadly, the world did not end, and on Thursday, we all had to go to the high school for a freshman information night from 6 to 9 p.m.

View the Book Trailer

What people are saying about True Colors (Landry’s True Colors Series Book One):

From Teenage Book Recommendations in the UK: "This is a fantastically relatable and real book which I feel captures all of the insecurities and troubles which haunt the modern teenage girl. It is about a young model who has to go through tough times when she is torn between a life as a model and managing her friendships. You learn which friends she can most trust and which will create the drama typical of teenage life. Follow the life of Landry and try to see if you can find out which are her true friends before their true colours are revealed. This book is all about relationships, hopes and truth. I loved this book!"

From Books & Authors Spot: “This book is such an inspiration for those who just care about their looks and are tensed about them. This thing is looks aren't everything. This book is related to every teen's problem. Hager has written a very inspiring novel.”

Buy Links:

Amazon

Amazon international

Barnes & Noble

iBooks

Kobo

Connect with Krysten:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

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Blog Tour: Well Kept Secrets, by Liza O'Connor

The telephone may be the most popular and beloved product ever built.

The need for a telephone was so vast, that an amazing amount of inventors set about inventing it. Beginning in 1854, the telephone existed in some form and was re-invented over and over for the next twenty to thirty years. Actually, we are still reinventing it…

Here are some of the inventors of phones: Charles Bourseul, Johanne Phillipe Reis, Antonio Meucci, Elisha Grey, and Alexander Graham Bell. All these men invented phones, but most didn’t have the ability to market and gain financial supporters, nevertheless pay the patent fees.

The need for instantaneous communication between people at a distance from one another was fully recognized. It’s why we had telegraphs. But if we could actually send words over the line, and actually speak to the person we wished…That would be a huge improvement. A change-the-world improvement.

In the worlds of patents, only one person or company could be declared the owner of a specific device. By that I don’t mean ‘the telephone’ but all the components of a particular telephone and how they work together to transmit voice. And not surprising, there are hundreds of ways to reach the same end results. Thus, explaining the myriad of inventors of the telephone.

If Alex’s domineering father-in-law had been hit by a newly invented automobile and died, Alexander Bell would NOT have been the father of telephony.  But the bullying-father-in law lived, so Alexander Bell and Elisha Grey submitted patents on the same day. Elisha’s arrived first, so it was further down in the pile and thus Alexander’s patent was read first and granted. Yes, Fate is that fickle. Elisha Grey, by all rights, should have been awarded the patent.

That’s how important telephones were to the survival of humans. Fate chose the most likely to succeed, but still it had a backup ready, in case Alexander failed to get the job done. Fate had done everything it could to ensure Alexander created the phone, specifically giving him the meanest-father-in-law ever, who stopped him from working on other inventions and focus on the phone. I think Fate favored Alexander because his father-in-law had the money, connections, and forcefulness to make telephones become a reality. And given the lawsuits on patent infringement that followed, without said father-in-law (who was a lawyer), Alexander would have probably given up and worked on other inventions, like his compost toilet instead.

So who actually invented the telephone? Maybe Fate deserves the credit. It had to manipulate a great deal to ensure Bell came through.

In England, the telegraph authorities insisted a telephone was technically a telegraph and thus under their purview. They then set about to slow its growth with onerous regulations. By 1894, when Well Kept Secrets takes place, the regulations had changed and the telephone business was finally able to grow. Not surprisingly, the parliament and its members and other related buildings, such as Scotland Yard, acquired telephones first, along with many of the upper class.

However, Xavier Thorn refuses to have a phone in his place of business. He finds clients lie enough when they sit before him, where he can catch their lies by their ‘tells.’ If he had a phone, he’d never be able to bully a single true word out of any of them.

The great Victorian sleuth Xavier Thorn and his partner Vic Hamilton take a case close to home. Their youngest staff member, L’il Pete, discovers his mother murdered in the alley. Jacko is called up from the country to assist in solving the crime. The good woman’s murder proves to be tangled up with a much larger and shocking list of crimes perpetrated by a powerful man who may truly be above the law. Making matters more complex: Vic discovers her recent weight gain may be the result of a condition that could destroy her life and everything she loves.

(To set the scene: Xavier sent Tubs to kidnap the butler of a Minister of Parliament, so he could ask the fellow why he had tried to kill him earlier in the day. A perfectly reasonable thing to do, yet the Parliament Minister and his wife show up at six in the morning, demanding the return of their butler.)

Catherine held her ground. “I can read my servant like a book. I wish to observe the interrogation to make up my own mind to his guilt or innocence.”

“Fine, I’m going to call Scotland Yard!” Meridan replied.

Xavier gave Catherine instructions to the basement. “Please don’t scream upon sight of Tubs. It hurts his feelings.”

With a soft snort, she hurried from the room.

Meridan was a bit slower, this early in the morning, but eventually Xavier’s words sunk in. “Tubs? You’re sending my wife into the company of a mass murdering giant?”

“I didn’t send her. She demanded to go, and you let her. But for the record, Tubs only does what he’s told, so he rarely murders now that he works for me.” Xavier pasted a smile on his face.

“And he’s questioning my butler?”

“Yes, he’s very good at getting information out of people. Most start talking upon sight of him, or once they regain use of their vocal chords.”

Humor was completely wasted on Meridan. Xavier didn’t know why he bothered.

“Where is your phone?” the minister demanded.

“Are you serious? If I had a phone, I’d never get a moment’s peace. People would be calling me day and night asking me to find their missing pets, or worse yet, their errant butlers.”

Book 4

Well Kept Secrets

AMAZON

Free with Amazon Kindle Unlimited

Need to catch up?

Book 1

The Troublesome Apprentice

Book 2

The Missing Partner

Book 2.5

A Right to Love

Book 3

The Mesmerist

All Xavier books Free with Amazon Unlimited

About the Author

Liza O’Connor was raised badly by feral cats, left the South/Midwest and wandered off to find nicer people on the east coast. There she worked for the meanest man on Wall Street, while her psychotic husband tried to kill her three times. (So much for finding nicer people.) Then one day she declared enough, got a better job, divorced her husband, and fell in love with her new life where people behaved normally. But all those bad behaviors have given her lots of fodder for her humorous romances. Please buy these books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels instead. They will likely traumatize you.

You have been warned.

Mostly humorous books by Liza:

Ghost Lover—Two British brothers fall in love with the same young woman. Ancestral ghost is called in to fix the situation. And there’s a ghost cat that roams about the book as well. (Humorous Contemporary Romance)

Untamed & Unabashed—The youngest of the Bennet sisters, Lydia, tells her story. A faithful spinoff from Pride & Prejudice.

A Long Road to Love Series: (Humorous Contemporary odd Romance)

Worst Week Ever — Laugh out loud week of disasters of Epic proportions.

Oh Stupid Heart — The heart wants what it wants, even if it’s impossible.

Coming to Reason — There is a breaking point when even a saint comes to reason.

Climbing out of Hell — The reconstruction of a terrible man into a great one.

The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Sleuth series: (Late Victorian/Mystery/Romance)

The Troublesome Apprentice — The greatest sleuth in Victorian England hires a young man who turns out to be a young woman.

The Missing Partner — Opps! The greatest sleuth in Victorian England goes missing, leaving Vic to rescue him, a suffragette, and about 100 servants. Not to mention an eviscerating cat. Yes, let’s not mention the cat.

A Right to Love — A romantic detour for Jacko. Want to see how amply rewarded Jacko was when he & Vic save an old woman from Bedlam?

The Mesmerist — The Mesmerist can control people from afar and make them murder for her. Worse yet, Xavier Thorn has fallen under her spell.

Well Kept Secrets — L’il Pete’s mum is murdered, and discovering who & why reveals a great many secrets. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT

LIZA O'CONNOR

Investigate these sites:

Liza's Blog and Website   Facebook   Twitter