Writers in the Storm

It’s Autumn (finally) and for me, that means a time of reflecting. I like to take the first weeks of September and look back over my organizer and see where I need to make improvements in the new year. Last year it was learning to use Instagram, which I’m happy to say I’ve been doing much better at.

If you aren’t using Instagram as an author, you are missing out on what is quickly becoming the go-to social media site. Statistics tell us that not only are the users primarily women in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties (which happens to be my primary reader demographic) but that it’s growing quickly, and is now in fact the second largest social media site in terms of active users (edging out Twitter earlier this year with over 300 million users). It has a number of advantages over Facebook as well, the most profound being that it still has great organic reach, unlike Facebook who has moved toward a heavily monetized system. If you have 800 followers on Instagram, ALL 800 will see your posts in their feed, unlike Facebook who only shows your posts to a small percentage of followers. Also, Instagram has the same live chat features as Facebook, making it a wonderful platform for things like live author chats and sample chapter readings. It also gives high priority to Instagram Stories, a snapchat like option that shows your stories in the very top of every follower’s feed for 24 hours then disappears.

I’ve had an Instagram account for about two years now (maybe a little longer) and I honestly never gave much thought to whether or not I was using it to its full potential. But as a very wise friend reminded me, a writer’s time is valuable, and any time we are spending promoting and marketing online should be done with both a plan and a goal. Using Instagram is no different. Taking that advice to heart, I made it a goal to double my IG following in 2017, and I’m happy to say I did. While I still have a long way to go, I want to share the steps I took to make that happen.

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  Be constantly aware of your BRAND.

  
  

What am I offering my followers? What am I hoping to get from them?

I’m a huge believer that social media doesn’t sell books, but it’s a great resource for building brand awareness and exposure. With that in mind, how is what I’m posting relevant to, and how does it reflect me as an author and my brand as a whole?

This first step I accomplished by simply adjusting my bio. I wanted people who saw my page to immediately know three things.

• Who I am
• What to expect from my page
• What is in it for them

Who am I? Sherry Ficklin, Author, book lover, history nerd.

What can they expect from my page? I chose to use #LifeBetweenThePages because it’s an underutilized hashtag that both gives me a lot of content control and also immediately tells the reader what sort of posts to expect from me.

And finally, what’s in it for them? This is the carrot I offer to get them to follow me, visit my website, and my ultimate goal of getting them to sign up for my newsletter, putting them in my sales funnel. Get 5 free books… not a bad offer, right?

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  Keep your content on target.

  
  

Yes, I will occasionally post personal photos, quick snaps of odds and ends. Some fans what to see those things, but they should not be part of your static page. Remember, Instagram is basically a one page magazine of your brand. Cluttering it with cat pictures and such isn’t really delivering an on-brand message. Save those things for your IG Stories, since they vanish after 24 hours. Or, post in your feed and then after a day, archive them. But strive to keep your page as relevant as possible to you and your work. That doesn’t mean only post book covers and BUY ME ads. It does mean that readers aren’t looking for what you ate today when they are searching for new authors to follow. People who are already fans will see your IG stories and your one day posts in your feed, people not yet following you will only see your static page, the bio and magic 9. Which brings me to step 3.

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  Be Visual.

  
  

Instagram is a visual medium, and in today’s 30 second world, visual is prefered over any other form of communication. Look at your magic 9, that is the nine images that appear on your page when you open your instagram (they will be the most recent 9 posts). Does the composition look balanced? Do you have lots of images that look the same or similar or do you have varriation? Do your images tell a story, and are they indicative of you and the online presence you want to convey? Would someone looking at them know who you are and what you do? When you post, take a moment to go back and look at your magic 9. If the post doesn’t work within the storyboard you’ve created, consider archiving it or post it as an IG story instead. Remember, instagrammers want ART. It’s your job to give them ART WITH INTENTION.

If you’re unsure what message you want to send with your Instagram account, consider this; what are 5 things your brand represents? For me, those are:

Books/Reading

Writing

Entertainment

Escape/Travel

Romance

If I’m conveying any of these things with my images and the text I assoiate with it, then I am doing my job.

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  Cultivate New Fans.

  
  

Instagram is one place where finding new fans can be as easy as effectively using hashtags. When you begin a hashtag in your post, IG will automatically open up a suggested list based on the first few letters you type, and more than that it will tell you how many others are also using that hashtag. You want a good combination of very popular hashtags and smaller more specific ones. #Bookish may have 300K users, and #HistoricalFiction may only have 3K. Those hashtags show your post to everyone else looking at those hashtag feeds. Consider also using a few what I call ‘discovery hashtags’ like #BookClub and #NewReads. Use genre and theme specific hashtags as well.

Another way to find new followers is to search those hashtags yourself and interact with others using them. Cross networking is always a great tool for building followers. Also, be sure you have a way for people who visit your website to easily follow you on Instagram (and all your social media pages, for that matter).

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  Post Often.

  
  

Like any social media site, it’s all about using it often and effectively. If you are only posting once a week, it’s going to take you a very long time to gain new followers. Post on your IG stories daily, to keep those already following you engaged, and drop a post at least a few times a week to draw in those new followers. It seems like a lot of work, but remember that IG will allow you to cross post to your other social media sites with each post, so save some time and dedicate a few days a week to really targeting your IG account. I promise it will be well worth your time!

I hope this is helpful to anyone who (like me) struggles with new social media.

I’m curious how you plan to improve your IG usage and if you found these tips helpful, let me know in the comments!

 

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Sherry is a full-time writer from Colorado and the author of over a dozen novels for teens and young adults including the best-selling Stolen Empire series. She can often be found browsing her local bookstore with a large white hot chocolate in one hand and a towering stack of books in the other. That is, unless she’s on deadline at which time she, like the Loch Ness monster, is only seen in blurry photographs. She is also the managing editor at Changing Tides Publishing and works as an author consultant with Author branding Essentials.

Her newest novel, THE CANARY CLUB, releases 10/16 from Crimson Tree Publishing.

We can all remember that first moment we felt like we might understand "how to write a story." The excitement, and the thirst to know more more more. The writing advice moment that turned the key for me came from the late, great mystery and TV writer, Stephen J. Cannell.

Trust me, most of you have heard of his shows: The A Team, The Rockford Files, 21 Jump Street, and a dozens of others. More than a decade ago, Stephen J. Cannell spoke at my writing chapter's monthly event and there was a huge flurry of excitement. At the time, I hadn’t a clue who he was, but I still got caught up in the buzz.

So he gets up to talk and he just looks like a Hollywood guy: sexy in a lanky way, salt and pepper hair, snappy dresser. His easy smile and raspy voice commanded attention. He was mesmerizing.

Here’s what I know now that I didn’t know when I arrived at the meeting that day:

• Cannell created or co-created nearly 40 television series, mostly crime dramas, and more than 300 scripts. If you look at his IMDb Bio, you won’t believe it.
• He was dyslexic and overcame huge hurdles to be a writer.
  
  Example: he frequently had to dictate ideas or even complete scripts to a personal secretary and typed on an IBM Selectric typewriter unless he was doing research.
• He would unlock the mystery of 3-Act structure for me. 
  
  This man had an enormous impact on me as a writer, and has shared the wealth with thousands more through his free video series.

Anyone who has hung around WITS for a while knows I'm a scene writer, a story quilter who can't write linear. I have to put the story in order separately from the writing process, which means...

When it comes to my stories, 3-Act structure is everything.

I never really understood what the heck it was until that first day Stephen spoke. I’ll never forget that moment. He stood at a podium in front of 100 writers and broke down When Harry Met Sally in easy 3-Act detail.

A paraphrase of Cannell’s description of When Harry Met Sally:

When I ask young writers what 3-Act Structure is, they say it has a beginning, middle and an end. This is not the answer. A lunch line has a beginning, a middle and an end. The 3-Act structure is critical to good dramatic writing, and each act has specific story moves.

Take the movie, When Harry Met Sally. The First Act is all about the hook, or the premise. In this case, it’s that “men and women cannot be friends.” So you’ve got the set-up where they meet and then decide they’re not going to be friends.

Act Two opens with Harry and Sally meeting up again in the bookstore and slowly becoming good friends. Their friendship becomes the single most important thing in their lives and the worst thing in the world would be to lose it. The scene in the wedding is the dark moment climax of Act 2 because it is the end of their friendship as we know it.

They’re off to the side of the reception, speaking in furious whispers about why they’ve been at odds since the night they had sex. (See the video clip if you don't remember.)

The scene ends with her slapping him across the face, saying, “F*ck you, Harry!” and storming away. The curtain closes on Act Two because the WORST thing has happened…the two of them are no longer friends.

Act Three is the “clean up” act, the resolution to your story. In this case, it’s all about Harry trying to get back into Sally’s good graces so the two of them can be friends again, just as they were. Sally’s having none of it.

Finally, on New Year’s Eve, Harry has his turning point and we get the final scene of the movie where he runs through New York City to get to Sally before midnight. When he sees her at the party, he gives his now famous "I love you" speech.

This scene is full of awesome. If you want to wallow in the brilliance of When Harry Met Sally dialogue, click here.

I don’t know if this quick breakdown turned the lightbulb on for you, but it sure did for me the first time I heard it. To see Stephen Cannell’s “official description” of 3-Act structure click this post.

More Stephen Cannell Trade Secrets:

Cannell discusses a myriad of “trade secrets” in this entire series on writing that he did on WritersWrite.com. But the main bit I remember, besides my 3-Act Epiphany, was the way he’d refer to the villains in a story.

He called his bad guys “the Heavies” and he was brilliant with them. It’s no surprise to me why his television shows were so wonderful. Whenever, he’d get stuck in a story, he’d ask himself, “What are ‘the Heavies’ doing?” Once he wrote the story from their angle for a while, he’d get back on track.

On WritersWrite:

Once we get past the complication and are into Act Two, we sometimes get stuck. "What do I do now?" "Where does this protagonist go from here?" The plotting in Act Two often starts to get linear (a writer's expression meaning the character is following a string, knocking on doors, just getting information). This is the dullest kind of material. We get frustrated and want to quit. 

Here's a great trick: When you get to this place, go around and become the antagonist. You probably haven't been paying much attention to him or her. Now you get in the antagonist's head and you're looking back at the story to date from that point of view. 

If you’d like to hear his voice too, he’s got dozens of videos on his site. Here’s some simple, yet sage advice from the man himself. 

Advice for Aspiring Writers by Stephen J. Cannell

If Stephen Cannell is a new discovery for you, enjoy! He’s awesome. His mantra was: “be honest, be sensitive, be reasonable, be fair and you can succeed marvelously in business and in life.” Go, Steve.

Who has made the biggest impact on your writing life? (It's okay, you can share more than one.) Do you have any other 3-Act or story planning tips to share with the rest of us?

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By day, Jenny provides training and social media marketing for an accounting firm. By night she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction and short stories. After 18+ years as a corporate software trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

When she’s not at her personal blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, or here at Writers In The Storm.

Aimie K. Runyan

It’s true, the vast majority of us writers are introverts. Interactions with strangers are uncomfortable at best… and when you have to ask for a favor? Fuggedaboudit. But the truth is that writers must also advocate for themselves in various ways if they want to succeed both artistically and commercially.

We can’t all hide away in our little utopian writing sanctuaries click-clacking away at the book of our hearts all day, every day. It would be bliss, but none of us—not even the big dogs—get away with this delicious reclusive lifestyle all the time.

We have to ask people for things, and it’s scary.

One thing we have to ask for frequently is knowledge. For nearly every book on the planet, be it an epic biography of the entire Plantagenet family or a dystopian Sci-Fi set in the distant future on Xerse, the homeworld of the Zarnak, you have to do at least a small measure of research. Sometimes a lot. Not all answers are going to be available online, or even *gasp* at your nearest major research library. You may need to experience what it feels like to be squeezed into an Elizabethan-era corset (much different from a Victorian one, I can assure you) or fly in a real honest-to-goodness fighter plane. Maybe, like me, you have to track down the personal diaries of a historical figure and hope they’re available through some sort of archive.

All of these things, unless you happen to have the money and experience to buy and fly your own jet, require you to ask people for things. Maybe reaching out to a theater troupe for a tutorial may not be daunting for you. Maybe you can find pilots who sell “flight experience” packages. That’s not a scary ask at all.

But when you find yourself having to ask a top mind in your field for assistance in finding how to access some key document or information, all the while hoping your project doesn’t infringe on their turf, it’s another ballgame. A bungled e-mail request could lead to a missed opportunity at a really important connection. It’s right to take these requests seriously. But the worst thing you can do for your writing career is not ask.

I had to do this very thing recently—and guess what? The person in question responded with the warmth and grace befitting a professional. I may not end up with the information I’m after, but at least I’ve made a connection that could prove very useful in the future.

We also have to ask our peers for help in various ways. We all know that in this day and age, all writers must work the sales angle as well as wield the pen. It’s easy to be intimidated by successful authors, bloggers, and other people in the field, but many are happy to lend a hand.

Don’t be afraid to ask that big-shot writer in your genre to do some cross-promotion with you. Don’t be afraid to ask some big wig blogger to read an ARC of your book in exchange for a review. You can convince yourself how unlikely they are to have time to read your work, but yours may be just the book they’re looking for.

For those of you in the traditionally published world, we have to learn to ask things of our editors and publicists. You may want them to put you up for a specific promotional opportunity, front table bookstore positioning, or more books on a contract. Those are only the tiniest sampling of the things you have to advocate for.

It’s hard. You know the squeaky wheel gets the grease, but you don’t to squeak so loudly they just decide to trade in the whole dang car. The nice thing here, is that many of these things may go through your agent if you have one. She will likely have a better idea of how much squeak power you have than you do. But again? You have to start by asking your agent to go to bat for you.

Will your publisher put you up for those key advertising opportunities? You won’t know unless you ask. And repeat after me: no is never the end of the world. And yes, my gentle wordsmith, a truth you need to get comfortable with is that noes will happen. But so long as you keep your requests reasonable, people are apt to respect you for trying. And you may learn some valuable things in the process.

Case in point. I asked one of my literary heroes for a blurb on my first book. Hero, as in, “one of the people I attribute as the reason I became a writer”-level hero. I got a lovely personalized “there is no way on earth I have time to read your book, but it sounds great. Good luck kiddo” less than 24 hours later. She was far more gracious and eloquent than that, but you get the idea.

It was an important lesson to me in several ways: I learned I had the courage to ask for the things I want, which is a huge first step toward success in anything. I learned that while “no” is never the answer we want to hear, it isn’t fatal (at least, you know, in most things publishing-related).

Perhaps most importantly, I learned from that lovely e-mail how vital it is to say no tactfully when the tables are turned. I’ve published two books and have another two coming down the chute in ’18. It’s fair to say, I get more requests for my time than I could possibly honor while maintaining my career, family, and the thin shard of my sanity I have left. (My husband keeps it safe in his wallet so I don’t lose it.) I endeavor to pay it forward as much as I possibly can, but even if someone asks for the ridiculous or impossible, I respond with grace. Yes, I’m kind even to the sweet, clueless writer newbie who begs me (usually while in an adjacent bathroom stall at a conference) to beta read a full manuscript on a moment’s notice. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, you can tell people to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.

So go forth and ask. Stop thinking of all the reasons someone will refuse your request—there will always be reasons to say no. If you don’t take a chance and put yourself out there, that no is guaranteed like death and taxes. Only in movies will opportunities come hunting for you.

But do remember, time and resources are valuable. If someone is kind enough to offer their time to critique your book, help with research, or share their expertise, be effusive with your thanks. Most experts in a field will be happy to share their knowledge with someone so keenly interested, but don’t take that for granted. At least offer to compensate them for their time in whatever way feels appropriate.

And when the time comes that your fellow scribblers ask you for a service, don’t forget that you are part of the writing community. Part of that privilege and responsibility is helping others up the ladder with you. There’s room for plenty of us at the top.

Your turn! What was the scariest thing you’ve had to ask for in the writing world, and how did it turn out?

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About Aimie

Aimie K. Runyan is a historian and author who writes to celebrate history’s unsung heroines. She is the author of two previous historical novels: Promised to the Crown and Duty to the Crown. She is active as an educator and a speaker in the writing community and beyond. She lives in Colorado with her wonderful husband and two (usually) adorable children. To learn more about Aimie and her work, please visit www.aimiekrunyan.com.