The Perils of Social Media

A few weeks ago I did a blog about professionalism and I thought it was a good time to discuss social media.

I didn't create a Facebook account until after I sold my first book, knowing it was a good tool to showcase myself as an author and for some promotion. I don't post very much only when I have news to share. It's quite all right that I have family members who have friended me on Facebook, because they know this is for my writing and that is about all I post from my Facebook account. My writing, I keep it professional. That doesn't mean I won't post a "what am I doing" type of status, readers want to know more about me.

I didn't join twitter until about a month ago when I bought a smart phone. My account again is for my writing. Because I was twitter phobic, I started following people and reading what they tweeted to get a better understand of this form of social media.

I didn't think I'd like twitter, but I do. I'm learning more about other writers and the publishing industry than I thought I would. And I'm enjoying myself.

Yet, there are a few things that have turned me off and that has to do with what authors are posting. Here are a few things to think about before you post:

• Never tweet or Facebook anything you don't want to be in the digital cloud forever

You're tweets and FB posts don't disappear they stay out there

• Think before you tweet or FB post

Is this something you really want to say to 5,000 people or more who in turn tell everyone they know (especially if its negative).

• If you can't say something nice don't say anything at all

Remember your followers on twitter and FB don't necessarily know the publishing world, they may complain about how your books are released, the prices, both print and e-books, etc. Be gracious and let them know you share their concerns but you have little control. Do not get upset at them for complaining to you, they have no other outlet. Offer to email them a more detailed explanation, but don't tell them that complaining to you as the author is the equivalent of complaining to the moon because it's full tonight.

• Always remember you may have followers who will talk about what you tweeted or FB

One of the things I learned in my years in customer service is that an unhappy customer will tell 5 people they were unhappy, and then they will tell 5 people, and so on. A happy customer is more than likely to tell 10 people they are happy, and recommend your book or your facebook page or website or whatever.

As authors we are in the public's eye more than ever with social media. And as professionals we need to make sure we stay professional.

Being Professional

This comes with being a business person. You need to be professional.

Over the weekend, I was reminded again of how some writers lack being professional.

It came up when a group of us were talking about reviews, and how we like to thank the reviewer for reading our books, even if the review is not a good one.

Some said they never respond to reviews, other say they do sometimes. I've been trying to respond to reviews only because I think of it as a professional courtesy, like thank yous to judges in a contest.

Then someone pointed out how not to respond to a bad review and gave us a link. I went an read what this writer had done.

Let me say, is this writer certainly burned her bridges to not only publishing, but to even trying to sell a book. She took the review to task for saying her book was riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, and that the reviewer downloaded the wrong copy of the book, not the newer version.

This was a self-published book. The reviewer replied back telling the writer, that the reviewer stands by the review, in which the reviewer said it was a good book with a good plot, but difficult to read due to the typo's and grammatical errors. And even gave the version and date they downloaded the book.

The author came back defending herself, and called the reviewer a liar that the reviewer couldn't have possibly download the correct book. The others began to get into the act. Especially because the author said to the reviewer "You can't click through the book to the end, so you obviously haven't read it."

Several pointed out on a Kindle you do click to the end (just about every e-reader you either touch the screen or a button to go to the next page), and they too had read this writers book and agree with the reviewer.

This went on with the author continually coming back telling people they were out of their minds, posting reviews from Amazon, claiming everyone was out of their mind. More comments made by readers, all civil and pointing out the flaws in the authors replies, the author finally just posted an expletive.

Right there I stopped reading and said to myself "this author just ruined her career."

In the writing business, word gets out very quickly if you're not professional. With the Internet editors and agents can search on an author's name to see who they are, where they've posted, etc.

My Mom always said "If you can't say something nice don't say anything at all." Holds true. To be a professional writer means being able to take criticism, to see reviews you don't agree with and to know that not everyone is going to love or even like your book.

As a professional writer, I live with that.

Have a great week.