Social Media Workshop - Sheryl Gwyther on Blogs and Facebook

SCBWI's roving reporter, Alison Peters sat in on ......

Sheryl Gwyther- Social Media Workshop- Blogging and Facebook

Some points from Sheryl's workshop:


Sheryl uses:

- Writer's blog via Wordpress
- Facebook 
 -Twitter

BLOGGING

 -       blog should be attractive

 -       it should be appealing

 -       consider how easy navigation around your blog is

 -       regular posting? Comment?

 -       Subscribe?

 -       Have you got something to say?

 -       Swap links to blogs by like minded bloggers

 -       be a regular blogger- don't set it up then leave it dormant

 -       respond to others

 -       follow useful and inspiring sites like:

 http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com

 http://blog.janicehardy.com

SHERYL'S AUTHOR BLOG is:

 -       a forum to put talk about her passion for writing and art
 -       a way to connect with other writers
 -       she guest blogs with other writers/illustrators

 -       to show what her books are and their covers and where to buy them

 -       stuff about her writing life

 -       about writing for children in Australia

 -       writing tips for others interested in writing

An example of a successful blog: THE SAVING AUSSIE BOOKS BLOG site:

 - Sheryl Gwyther, Dee White and a small group of passionate authors and illustrators set up this blog for a specific purpose: as a support and information site during the fight against the lifting of restrictions against the Parallel Importation of Books into Australia (especially for children's picture books and novels)

 -       the site has had over 21,000 hits, and resulted in a sucessful collection of Petitions and letters to politicians etc by many concerned Australians from all walks of life.

-       this month, the SAVING AUSSIE BOOKS BLOG has just been selected to be included in the PANDORA archives, at the National Library of Australia for posterity.

FACEBOOK- Tool: to connect with friends/colleagues/other professionals and writing organisations

 -       Your personal (profile) FB page: Connecting with friends/fun/photos/ this can be a time-waster/or incredibly useful

-        Your author (fan) page: more professional/about work/gigs/book covers

 -       BE PROFESSIONAL. Social networking can be like quicksand! Put the wrong thing out there and it could end up in places you do not want it to go.
 -       Post photos VERY CAREFULLY

 -       Go beyond your friends to the publishing world- keep them up to date with what you are up to- if you are going to schools etc

 -       give your website address

 -       it's may not be as useful a great forum for readers and fans - but they can be directed to yourwebsite

Because Facebook mixes your personal and professional life, it requires more careful attention:

You might like  to  set up a separate book page for  your books but it all takes time and you may be better directing  outside (readers, librarian and teachers, people other than personal contacts to a webpage.

Dos and Don'ts

- Profile- depends on whether it's personal or professional.

- Use a good profile picture - bit hard to see who you are with only a photo of your cat as your profile picture

 - biography- don't put your birth year (for security reasons). Put your day and month but not year

 - check your default settings. FB changes them regularly and your status can be changes and these sites swap info

 - avoid bragging too much - a bit of a no-no with Australians.

 - be thoughtful about the content on your blog

 - spamming people on twitter and facebook is a no-no- choose the people you want to connect with.

 - watch your tone

 - never bad mouth anyone particularly professional contacts (common sense, but you'd be surprised...)

WEBPAGES

- A must have. Even if it is very simple.

- There are free sites that are simple to use but don't have all the features you might need