Marketing and Social Media

Sorry I'm late.  I was posting marketing things to social media for my book sale.  (A Model Curse - get the whole trilogy now for less than $2.)  And I woke up late.  Derp.

I usually like to get that sort of stuff done before 6, but that wasn't happening.  Kind of puts me off schedule for the rest of the week - since I only post once to each group within a 24 hour period.  So, tomorrow, I can't post until after 6;45 and then the next day after 7... and so on.  Until I skip a day and reset.  Which loses me a day of selling.  Marketing... what a pain in the ass.  

Unfortunately, it's a necessary evil.  No marketing = no sales.  No sales gives me a sad.  So a-marketing I will go.  Heigh ho the derry-o and whatnot.

Adding to the PITA factor, Facebook has decided to make all my posts 'sale posts' - whether I want them to or not - which must be then authorized by the FB gods before they'll post.  Unless I catch it and click the dot-dot-dot thing and then click 'Turn off sale format'.  Stupid.  And they won't authorize my posts as sale posts because of reasons and insanity.  :shakes it off:

I like MeWe so much better.  I just wish it had the reach FB has.  I'd market all day at MeWe.  It's easy, like FB used to be before they got they're heads jammed up their a... armpits.   I also have accounts at several other social media sites, but those just don't seem geared for selling books.  More's the pity.

Anyway, I wish I had some way of knowing exactly where the sales were coming from.  It would help me target where I spent my time, if not my money.  I mean, I wish I could get away from FB, but I suspect that's where the majority of my visibility comes from, so I'm stuck.  Blerg.

What social media do you use?  Not just for selling stuff, but for personal use?  Is there some place I should be trying?  (Not Instagram.  They require an app and a device upon which to use an app, neither of which I have.)

Alternatives

I read something about a new place (new to me anyway) to find audio books - Chirp.  I don't do audio books, but I know some of you do, so there ya are.

Using Brave as a browser instead of Firefox is going okay.  For some reason, it won't let me comment on Blogger blogs - including my own - so I still have FF on my computer for that.

Using DuckDuckGo as a search engine instead of Google is going okay, too.  I learned this morning that if you don't like the search results, you can riff off of the Big G by type !G (that's exclamation point and the letter G) then your search terms.  Haven't tried it yet because like I said, DDG is doing fine.  

As more people switch to MeWe, it's becoming better.  I'm splitting my time about 75/25 between FB and MW now.  I heard about another alternative to FB called Minds.  I haven't looked at that at all yet.  We'll see.

Whether any of this makes any difference remains to be seen.  I did hear that Twitter usage dropped.  (I haven't actually logged into Twitter in a couple years.)  And FB is taking a hit in the bank account, which is where it counts.  Vote with your dollars and if it's free, vote with your patronage because that means money to them in advertising revenue and stocks.  I know I'll never pay for another ad on FB.  Not a big hit for me since I never actually tied any sales to any money I paid FB for ads.

There are no viable alternatives to Amazon.  Not for me, anyway.  Not for shopping and definitely not for selling.  

Also, no viable alternative for me with regard to Gmail and Blogger.  I have Yahoo Mail for work and it blows.  And I have heard horror stories about switching blogs from one place to another.  

Little things are all I'm able to do.  I joked with a friend that perhaps we should jump in a car and roadtrip to DC - old lady rebels, I guess.  It'll never happen.  I have no interest in traveling anywhere.  Soon, if they push through the virus passport thing, I may not be allowed to travel anywhere anyway.  

Hang in there, folks.  Maybe this will all pass.  Maybe it's a tempest in a teapot.  No, I don't actually believe that, but I'm hoping.  Prepare for the worst and hope for the best, that's my motto.

If you're anywhere alternative, leave your info in the comments so we can hook up - if we haven't already.

Social Media - The Options

With the big options in social media showing themselves to be buttwarts, people are scrambling for another option.  So in addition to the FB, you can find me at MeWe and Parler. 

MeWe - seems like it's going to be a good alternative to FB.  I mean, once more people migrate over and I find my base.  I have around 200 followers on FB, and not nearly that many yet on MW (I'm sitting at 14 as of yesterday morning).  But there's hope.  MeWe promises to not censor stuff or block stuff or impede your reach.  So basically, I hope it'll actually show my posts to people who follow me and actually show me posts of the people I follow.

Parler - this seems like it's an alternative to Twitter - with parlays instead of tweets and echoes instead of shares.  It's open to everyone, but it seems like a conservative safe-haven at the moment.  Not sure how much marketing I'll be able to do there.  It doesn't seem like the place to do that right now.  It seems very serious.  Might be a good place to market Blink and Unequal. 

I've also heard of something called Gab, which I'm looking into.  Of course, the main stream media complex has deemed that one a place for all the bad white people to hang out.  We'll see.

Like I said, I'm still on Facebook.  Unless I want to shoot myself in the ass with regard to my publishing career, I have to have a presence there.  But from what I've seen over the past week, the exodus is on.

That said, I also still have a Pinterest account and I have one on Instagram that I can't use because I don't have a smartphone.  I still have a Twitter account, but only so no one else can claim besanderson as their twitter handle.  And, as always, you can reach me here and via email.  Like FB, I can't give up all the Google-based stuff without hurting myself.  Although I am trying to shift my internet searches over to Duck Duck Go.  

Anyway, that's me.  There are options out there, if you're so inclined.  See ya around the webz!

Sunday Update - Week 30

Mornin', Folks.  I totally forgot to write this up last night and schedule it, so you're getting 'first thing in the morning, not enough coffee to think or type' me.  Hi.

I already said I started Cinder Ugly.  And I did write some more words on it this week.  But it was kind of patheticful.  I need to stop thinking about whether the beginning works and just keep forging ahead.  I can fix the beginning later, but I can't fix blank pages.

I'm marketing my little fingers off.  Today and tomorrow are the final days of July Sales Month and AD and NC are still on sale.  There'll be some kind of sale next month, but I'm not sure what.  A 4th anniversary of Wish in One Hand maybe.  As for how this all went, I'll be doing a post on OTB about it - maybe Wednesday, but probably Friday.

As for reading, I read two books and DNF'd three.  Then I spent the rest of the week reading a paperback thriller by a well known SF author.  I decided this morning to DNF that.  I can't tell where it's going and I don't have any characters I care enough about to keep reading.  200+ pages in and all that time wasted, but I guess it better than wasting time reading the other 300+ pages.

I tried Pinterest this week and I've been pinning like crazy.  But I have no followers, so basically I'm amusing myself.  I also tried Parler.  Meh.  And I've been more active on MeWe, which may be the way to go once I gain followers there.  I'm working on it.

On the baking front, I went a little crazy.  I made oatmeal cookies, oatmeal muffins, and granola bars.  All winners.  The granola bar recipe is below - underneath the asterisks.  I'd post the muffin recipe, but I haven't typed it up yet and it's too early to do it now.

In activity news, I did 5 our of 7 days.  Four days of 'hard target walk*' in a row and then the fifth day I did the loop+ walk.  Last Sunday and yesterday were days off.  The weight didn't change, of course, because I still am not decreasing my food intake.  Food is so good, though.  Wah.

I can't think of anything else to say about last week.  How did your week go?

* Hard target walk - wherein I walk straight out on the paved road at the same pace regardless of incline until I can't walk any farther, then I walk back at the same pace.  Each time, I try to go a bit farther than the last.  I did 1.4 miles in 25 minutes the last time.  The goal is to reach the farm - .8 miles away - and then make that a regular walk.  Hubs goes all the way out to the highway, which is 1.2 miles out, 2.4 round trip.  I'm not that ambitious.  Oh, and the walk I call loop+ is 1.1 miles during which I have an approx. 100 foot change in elevation** - up and down and up again.  It's a corker and I can't do that at one pace.

** Just discovered that by using Google Maps, and their walking direction thingie, you can see both distance and elevation changes of the walk you're taking.

Recipe:

Yummy and Easy Chewy Granola Bars

3 cups quick oats

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup dried fruit (cranberries, cherries, golden raisins, etc.)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 T butter (melted)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 9x13" pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, stir together oats, coconut, walnuts, and fruit until well combined. Stir in melted butter. add condensed milk and stir (with your hands works best) until thoroughly combined. Dump into prepared pan. Wash hands and spray them with cooking spray. Press mixture evenly in pan until flat. Bake 20-25 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars. Cool until you can safely handle them, then move to cooling rack or paper towels and cool completely before serving or storing.