Facebook

[Heather B]

I recently made myself an author page to start building a 'web presence'. My personal page isn't as professional as it could be with the amount of friends I have spamming my page each day but I have run into a bit of a problem. I'm not sure whether I should keep the page 'writerly-related people/pages only' or accept the hordes of friends adding me as they think I have simply made a new page and not bothered to add any of them.

Do you think it is better to have a strictly professional page with not many followers or is it a case of the more followers the better?

Also does anyone else have a facebook page just for their writing? I'm still experimenting with things for mine but it would be interesting to see what others are doing. Maybe you could include a link to your page?

Lastly, do you think there is any benefit to this? I know social media is a widely debated topic and though I've jumped on board I'm yet to see its advantages. Do you think facebook is going to help chances or are there better ways of going about it?

[Guardian]

Also does anyone else have a facebook page just for their writing?

Yep. If everything goes fine, I'm going to reveal it tomorrow along with the new website and the release date. I'm going to make an annoucement about it here, then if you'd like we can exchange Facebook links.

Lastly, do you think there is any benefit to this?

We shall see, but I believe yes. But I also believe in the power of websites, while others used to say it's useless.

[Sommer Leigh]

I think it depends on how much time you have and are willing to devote to it whether there is any benefit to it.

Also, re-ask the question whether it is beneficial to YOU or to your READERS. What you put into it to make it beneficial for your readers will eventually, and inevitablly, make it beneficial to you. I think the secret to really positive, successful social media is that your focus and intent has little to do with what you need and want out of it, but it fulfills what others might need and want out of you. Of course, if it works out, you are propelled forward and become more accessible to more people. It is very give and take.

Unfortunately I'm not much help with author pages on facebook as I'm not there yet. I blog and use twitter, but I'm a lot less in love with Facebook. That being said, with regards to your question about letting people who know you friend you, I have two answers.

1) This is going to sound kind of sleazy and I apologize for that, but people are more likely to follow you/friend you if you already have people following/friending you. It's a psychological issue. If you have no followers/friends, then to others you look like maybe you're not worth following, like you don't have any content worth reading, and if you have some followers/friends, it looks like they all must have a good reason for doing so. I actually learned this trick a long time ago when I lived in Boston and had an interesting conversation with someone who panhandled for change in the subway station. He told me that he starts his day by adding change to his own cup because people were more likely to give him something if someone else already had.

2) Your friends probably want to support you, so let them! There's nothing wrong with that, and if you are worried about their behavior or what they think this author page is for, send them a private message first. Let them know what the page is for and what they can expect and ask them if they still want to follow. That way you can accept those who really want to support you from those who just didn't understand. Also, you can adjust a lot of the preferences so that they can't spam your page so much.

Hope that helps a little? Again, Facebook isn't my forte. I have a personal page that I read, but rarely update. Also, please share with us your author page when you feel comfortable so we can come support you!

[Guardian]

Heather. My new site is up (Link in my signature) and the Facebook link is also up and running (Also in my signature). Please give me yours and we can make an exchange.

[Heather B]

Hey Guardian, I've added you. Your page looks awesome by the way. I'm a little jealous.

Now, when I made the page for some reason it just didn't click to make it a fan page. Aw well.

This is the link if anyone is interested:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/prof ... 2312446681

Feel free to dish out feedback :)

[Amanda Elizabeth]

As an unpublished author, I don't feel as though making a FB page is all that necessary. I live in L.A. where every "actor" "writer" and "director" I know has their own "page" and really, as lovely as these people are, I'm not going to like all of their pages because I don't want to know how every script or audition is going and their newest head shots. My cousin got cast in as big lead and suddenly his FB requests blew up. He didn't know all of the people and that is when he made a page. I'm going to wait to that point to make one.

Facebook makes the "subscribe" feature for this reason. People can subscribe to your public updates on your personal page and only are able to see the pictures, links, and statuses you choose to be public. This way you can make your public persona and hide your personal stuff from those people.

TBH, I think twitter is the best form of social media at this stage. I follow a ton of agents and authors and I've chatted back and forth with several of them. Some up and coming authors are following me now too, which is good networking. I post all of my blog posts there and S.J. Kincaid who wrote Insignia tweeted me thanking me for reviewing her book. You really can get recognized on there (if your twitter handle is your name/pen name as mine is).