Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Writing Sprints - What and How

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Today's post is informational. If you already know what writing sprints are and how to do them, then feel free to scroll on down to the bottom for the 411 part. For those of you that aren't familiar with sprints, let's get going!


With NaNoWriMo only a month and a half away, authors are gearing up to write furiously for the thirty days of November by plotting their novels and planning how to write 50k words.

Writing sprints are a solution! What's a writing sprint? Well, let's go into that.

A writing sprint is when you write as many words as you can in a set amount of time. Usually, they're set up like so and are done on some form of social media so everyone can comment their word count:
  1. You find a group of authors willing to sprint.
  2. Someone volunteers to be timekeeper.
  3. You set an amount of time (usually 15-30 minutes).
  4. Whoever the timekeeper is tells everyone to GO and starts the timer.
  5. Everyone writes like crazy people.
  6. Timekeeper posts STOP and requests word counts from participants (and posts their own).
  7. There's a five to ten minute resting period, and it happens again.
  8. Whoever has the most words gets a huge thumbs up (there are no prizes usually).
  9. It repeats for one to two hours (usually--I've seen folks do three or four).
That's it. So easy, right? I've seen people log upwards of 6k words during these sprints, so I know they work. Your word count isn't really the target. This is to get you writing, to get words on the page. Progress is progress.

So, to make it a little easier to sprint, I created a group over on FB. It's kinda quiet, but I'm hoping that will change--I have big plans for that group!

If you'd like to join up, here's the linky: Writing Sprints Group on Facebook

I hope to see you there!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Facebook Page Basics - Getting Ready for Likes

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Today is a post for the newer authors, those who don't have a Facebook page or those who are thinking about starting one. If you're an old hand, feel free to skip this one. For all of you sticking around, grab a pen and notebook and let's get going!

Okay, in order to have a Facebook page, one must first have a Facebook account. If you don't have one, go to Facebook.com now and sign up.

Done? Good. Now, look on the left hand side of the screen. You'll see this:


Click it.

Here's where the fun begins! When you click Create a Page, you'll be taken to a screen like this:


Each of the squares you click on will open a dropdown with a number of choices. Because we're focused on author pages, you want to click the bottom left box (Artist, Band, or Public Figure) and choose Author. Type in your name and click Get Started.


I'm going to pause here for a moment and talk with you about your name choice. There are a ton of first time authors who create a page for their book or series rather than their author name. This is amazing if you only plan to write one book or one series of books, but what happens when you have fifty or more books out? Are you going to have fifty pages? Why not keep all those fans in one place and just have one page to keep up with?

Now that you've thought about it, let's move on.

I typed in Forexampleonly as my name, because I plan to delete this page once we're done here.

Now you'll see this:


This first tab is the basic stuff you'd expect. You add a description of what your page is about (don't use your author bio, please) in about 200 characters, and what fans can expect to find there. Add your website address, too.

I know you "can" skip it, but please don't. Let's just get it done and over with, okay?

VERY IMPORTANT: Once you SET your PAGE URL, it can only be changed ONE time. People will be notified if you ever do--that screams, "I had no idea what I was doing when I set this up." Choose this wisely (should usually be your author name, as simply as possible), so you won't have to deal with all that.

Here's mine:


Now, click Save Info and let's move to step 2:



Ideally, your profile photo should be square (1:1 ratio) and around 200dpi. As you can see, you can either upload one from your computer or grab one from the web. Do that now. Mine is 6" X 6" at 200dpi in RGB colorspace. I added some graphics around the edge so you can see how nicely it fits.


See? No crop!

Click Next and go to step 3:



Yes, add it to your favorites. That way, it'll show up on the left side of your main feed at the top rather than under the word Pages.

Click Next and go to step 4:


This is where you define your target audience. Hint: "everyone" is not a target audience. Be specific. These are the folks who will be shown your page most often.

Age range goes from 13 to 65+. Choose their location(s). Add their interests. Be specific! I know I said that already, but it bears repeating. For this one, I'll do age 18-35, men and women, with interests in publishing, who live in the US, UK, and Australia.



Click Save and admire your new page!



Facebook will walk you through looking around at all the "stuff" you now have to play with. Go ahead and get clicky with it, and then come on back here and I'll show you a couple more things.

You back? Okay, cool! Now, on to your banner! Here's the size requirement: 851px wide X 315px tall at 72dpi. If you make the resolution any higher, Facebook will resize it, and it'll look janky. If you need a template, you can use this one:



Once you get your banner made, click Add a Cover and upload!

Before I go, I want to show you Settings and how to schedule a post to publish in the future. Click Settings.



Be sure you go through every single tab and set your page up exactly the way you want it. This is also where you can add other people to your page as admins, block specific keywords, and turn on profanity blocker. Yes, it's a lot, but it's worth it.

This page's URL is: https://www.facebook.com/forexampleonly/

That's it. No string of numbers or all that other shizz. Why? Because we took the time to set it when we created it.

To create a post that'll publish on a future date, click in the box that's ghosted Write Something... and type in what you want to share. DON'T CLICK PUBLISH. Instead, click the arrow next to publish and get the dropdown menu. Looks like this:


Click on Schedule.


Choose the date and time you want the post to go up. You have to actually click on the boxes and type in the time manually, but the calendar is a dropdown select.

Guess what? You're done!

You're now ready to share your page with the world. Get out there and get busy. Don't forget to invite your friends to like your page!

Once you have a handle on how all the basic tabs work, take a look at the Insights. Here's a post I wrote that'll walk you through all those cool features.

Did that help? Any of this you didn't know?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Monday, January 11, 2016

News Post #1 - 2016

Happy Monday, everyone! Well, here we are with my new schedule. Guess we'll see how it works out, eh? *grin* Let's get to it!

First up, there are some awesome events getting ready to happen on Facebook this week. Here they are in order of date scheduled (the ones in RED are the ones yours truly will be at with a takeover):

WHEN SORROWS COME - Hosted by Katie M. John
When: Jan 14 & 15
Time: 2:30PM to 7:30PM
Go here to join up.

Lineup of authors:
THURSDAY 14th JANUARY
2:30-3:00pm est - Katie M. John
3:00-3:30pm est - Tricia Copeland
3:30-4:00pm est - J.N. Sheats
4:00-4:30pm est - Katie M. John
4:30-5:00pm est - Susan Burdorf
5:00-5:30pm est - Christina Benjamin
5:30-6:00pm est - Mary J. Williams
6:00-6:30pm est - Elle Henry
6:30-7:00pm est - Katie M. John

FRIDAY 15th JANUARY
2.30- 3.00pm est - Katie M John
3.00- 3.30pm est - Carlyle Labuschagne
3.30- 4.00pm est - Mercedes Prunty
4.30 -5.00pm est - Joanna Slingo Morris
5.00 - 5.30pm est -C.M. McCoy
5.30- 6.00pm est - Hazel Robinson
6.00 - 6.30pm est - KD Wood
6.30-7 .00pm est - Katie M John


FLESH AND STONE RELEASE DAY PARTY - Hosted by P. M. Hernandez
When: Jan 15
Time: NOON - Whenever
Go here and join the fun!

No author takeovers, but there are daily prizes and games.

RAVEN, PA 1 - YEAR ANNIVERSARY - Hosted by Raven PA
When: Jan 16 - 17
Time:  6AM on the 16th to 9AM on the 17th
Join in here.

There's a Kindle Fire giveaway going that has 2 days left to enter. Up at the top of the event page.


BOOKSMACKED - 1000 LIKES CELEBRATION - Hosted by BookSmacked
When: Jan 16
Time: 2-9PM
Join all the craziness here.

Author Lineup:
3:00 PM - Author Eleanor Lloyd-Jones
3:30 PM
4:00 PM - Sahara Foley
4:30 PM
5:00 PM
5:30 PM
6:00 PM
6:30 PM Author Jade Shaw
7:00 PM
7:30 PM
8:00 PM
8:30 PM
9:00 PM
9:30 PM
10:00 PM


Interested in a slot? Fill out this form.

Here's some news with a Kindle giveaway attached:


If you aren't already familiar with Free Kindle Giveaway, they are a company that promotes books AND their authors! Readers join their list for great deals as well as opportunities to connect with amazing authors...while also having the chance to participate in monthly giveaways! There are a variety prizes, but most often the winner has a choice between $100 PayPal Cash or a Kindle Fire! But for this special giveaway, Free Kindle Giveaway is giving away 100 dollars (or a Kindle Fire) AND 100 ebooks while telling you about 100 special ebook deals. It's the 100/100/100 Giveaway! Learn More About the Prizes Below, or Go Here to Enter to win:

The Prizes: 1 Kindle/$100 + 100 Books!

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Check Out The Books You Can Win!

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a4a10A19a2A22
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A14A13A12a7a
A20A11A8a6b3
B9A21b2A17b4
B17B6B7B5B14
C14A16B13a9C8
B22C3B23B8C15
B21B19C4bB24
B20C2B18B11B15
D14D3B16B10D15
CD12D19C18C13
C7C10C16C19C11
C12D11C6D20C17
C9D18D10D6C5
D9D8DD17D16
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Check Out these Book Deals from Our Participating Authors!

Click any image to learn more! Lots of free and bargain titles here!
A6 A9 YA Boxed Set PNG
A12 A2 A10 A8 A3
A15 A13 A14 A17 A11
A5 A16 A7 A4
C15 51+bboTMHiL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_ A C2
B5 B2 B6 B4 B9
B3 B24 B23 B7 B13
B14 B12 B18 B21 B22
B15 B16 B8 B20 B19
C6 C12 C18 61c2womRqxL._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_ C21
B11 B10 B17 C5 C
C9 C19 C16 C8 C7
B C20 D15 D18 C4
C13 D20 D16 C22 D19
C10 C3 C14 C11 D9
D8 D2 D3 D4 D11
D5 D10 D17 D6 D7
D12 D14 F F2 F3
F4 D F6 F10 F13
F7 F12 F5 F11 C17
F8 D13 F14 F9

I hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know in the comments.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo