For a very long time I avoided any form of social media except for my blog. This was largely because I didn't understand Twitter and Facebook and how they could help me to reach out and make new connections. Only once the publishing company was formed did I begin to accept that Twitter and Facebook were going to be an essential part of our marketing strategy.

An increasing number of authors use Twitter, but many abandon the practice because the results have been poor, and I think that is largely due to the way in which they use Twitter. Over the course of the last twelve months, I have learned some lessons that I want to share. I'm no expert, and I'm learning stuff about Twitter all of the time.

Basic Lessons Learned

No one single social media platform will, by itself, bring about the result I/we am/are looking for - it has to be integrated. Currently, the Project has a website/blog (as do the authors who are part of the Project), a Twitter account, and a Facebook page. Each author has an Amazon Author Page and a Goodreads Author Page, and the Project has profiles on Smashwords (and it's premium partner sites) and on All Romance eBooks. The information is consistent and, where possible, linked.

We link the Twitter feed to Facebook and have the Twitter timeline displayed on our websites' front pages. Goodreads is linked to Facebook. Each time we blog, the blog post is shared with Twitter and Facebook - belt and braces stuff, you might say. We say - open all the doors and windows. Every post is a portal to the brand and our output.

Fundamentally, social media exists for us to

a) communicate what is going on in our author and project worlds
b) connect with other authors, other indie artists, and readers
c) grow our readership, fans and supporters

Twitter - the basics

1. Don't use it as a sales platform - limit self-promo tweets to 10% of the total number of tweets - that can vary day to day but it's a good rule of thumb. If all you tweet is self-promos then expect to lose followers.
2. Use the re-tweet group hashtags - I am currently using #IARTG #EARTG #LPRTG, #tw4rw, #bookbangs, #booklovers, #GTWO, #supportindieauthors, and #IndieBooksBeSeen. Use no more than three retweet hashtags per tweet and vary them. And remember, retweet groups are reciprocal - if you don't retweet another user's content, don't expect anyone to retweet yours.
3. Avoid posting tweets that have no image - a tweet without an image has a 0 to 20% chance of being looked at.
4. If you include a link in a tweet, make sure the link works!!
5. Use lists to make reviewing your timeline that much easier - have public lists so that other Twitter users (not necessarily a follower of yours) can subscribe to that list - this I am beginning to understand better myself and it appears to be a good way to attract the followers you want. It also makes reviewing my timeline very efficient. It's a good policy to add the accounts that you follow to the right list/s at the time of following.
6. Post original content as well as retweeting - I aim for 50:50 but it takes time to find good original content. For example, I watch a lot of stuff on Youtube and listen to a lot of stuff on Soundcloud - anything I like, I tweet - it's just one way of putting stuff out there. What are you interested in? Tweet what interests you.
7. Don't abandon your blog - keep up the blog - and it's easy to share blog posts on Twitter and Facebook, which avoids having to double and triple key everything.
8. Expect to spend a couple of hours a day on Twitter - that's realistic at the beginning as you build your followers and learn more.
9. Tweet every single day.
10. Have an auto thank you set up to thank followers - mine is managed through unfollower.com.
11. Either reply to direct messages or state 'no DMs' in your profile.
12. Do not simply follow back when you get a follower - who/what are they posting, and are you interested in their content? Be judicious in who you follow. Following to get followers is ultimately a waste of time because you'll drown in a ocean of tweets that you have no interest in.
13. Work hard to get followers; that is achieved by tweeting good quality content - my first 1000 followers took months to acquire - I now have 13000, and roughly 10 to 20 new followers each day. I follow 3000ish, arranged in 17 lists - and spend up to 5 hours everyday curating and posting content/retweeting content, and managing the account.
14. Update regularly the pinned tweet at the top of your timeline, which is seen first when someone clicks on your account profile - I will tweet the pinned tweet when I follow a new account whenever possible.
15. If I follow someone on Twitter, I also follow/like them on Facebook (if they have FB), and vice versa. I will also subscribe to the Youtube channel or follow on Soundcloud (as applicable).
16. Regularly tweet a thankyou to all followers, retweeters, favouriteers and DM'ers
17. If someone unfollows me, I unfollow them - regardless. I use unfollow.com (the free plan).
18. Regularly review who you follow - I will unfollow accounts that have not posted for 3 months or more, and, my interests change, so who I follow today will not necessarily be the same next week.
19. Include your Twitter address in everything and everywhere you can.
20. If you primarily expect Twitter to help you sell more books - think again.

Many of these points could be expanded and I'm happy to do that if I get comments back. I'll be blogging other pointers as and when.

I hope this was a useful starting point for getting to grips with Twitter.

​Our twitter handle is @carterseagrove

Thank you,
​
Alp

As an author, I'm used to the myriad of voices inside my head, and for a long time, there was a voice that was louder than the rest - the voice of the inner critic.

I suspect that the voice, most often characterised by my mother and elder brothers, was simply perpetuating the 'myth' that I was only good for technical accounting, and anything creative was well beyond my kenning. It took years to quieten that voice to the point where it now remains almost silent.

I am my own worst critic when it comes to the issue of whether a story that I am working on is good enough to be published. I certainly don't need any help from anyone else in that regard. What I have learned over the course of the last seven years are the following habits (call them that) which have helped me enormously in gaining the confidence to put my work 'out there'. I hope very much that these pointers will assist you if you are suffering from the same sort of doubts that plagued my early attempts (and to some extent, still plague my efforts to excite and entertain).

1). I read as much and as widely as possible. I set myself the goal to read something every day - usually just before I go to bed. I read extensively in my own genre of #LGBT fiction, and specifically in the sub-genre of male contemporary romance. I also read poetry by the bucket load - it assists with imagery and the tempo of a scene - my favourite poets/playwrights are long since dead but still pack a powerful punch - John Donne, Andrew Marvel, Richard Fanshawe and of course, Shakespeare and Marlowe. I also read a lot of 19th century and early twentieth century literature, notably - Charles Dickens, Emile Zola, Agatha Christie, Joseph Conrad, Edgar Allen Poe, H G Wells, Camus and Edgar Rice Burroughs. I have studied the classics - old and new.

The principal reason (beyond the sheer enjoyment) is to acquire an appreciation of what is a 'good story'.

2). I have never studied, formally, writing technique, but in reading extensively, I feel much more confident in, for example, tackling a story in the first person (or from any perspective), using flashbacks, cutting in sub-stories, managing multiple timelines, etc. I would suggest a brief refresher in grammar and punctuation - if only to resolve, once and for all, the use of 'passed' and 'past' - I still get it wrong.

Being able to convert an idea into some written words, and entertain and excite someone else has been the joy, and the driving force, of my life for more than 6 years now. Long may it continue.

3). I take my inspiration from literally everywhere and everything - if the name of a brand of harissa paste can ignite a steampunk series then there is hope. I will sometimes make up a story out of the most innocuous of things and circumstances just to see where it goes - most of my stories are actually ignited by a line of dialogue - real or imaginary.

4). But, knowing what you enjoy the most is probably the key - I love romance - all of my stories have a central romantic relationship - every story is a human story, and almost every human story is born out of love, the search for it, and the end of it. It resonates with most people. I find I write the best romances when they are based, at least in part, on my own experiences - it adds a degree/level of realism.

So write what you enjoy writing not what you think will sell. I haven't written a vampire story, a shifter story or a full-blooded BDSM story ... and probably won't. I have read a few good ones, but generally, I prefer intrigue, suspense, crime and action thrillers.

5). Write more and talk less. The best advice I have been given, and give out frequently, is to write and don't edit as you go - leave the editing to the editing phase. Just write, take turns, go up blind alleys, jump canyons, dive over waterfalls - just write. Writing is a muscle that gets stronger with use.

6). Establish a routine for writing - a daily routine. I write mostly in the evening between 8 and 11pm - it's the quietest time of the day.

7). I do not use beta readers - I find their inputs too confusing and often conflicting. I do have a superlative editor. These days we have a pretty sound process for checking and preparing a manuscript for publishing - whatever your process, stick with it as consistency is more effective than constantly changing up the regime.

8). When it's done, it's done ... fear of putting a title out there is an all too present one - and this is where the critic usually has a field day. If I have followed my process, the story is ready, and after that, I get on with writing the next one. But first I celebrate (remember what James Caan's character Paul Sheldon in Misery does after he finishes a story?) It doesn't have to be a bottle of champagne and a cigarette ... it could be anything, but it marks the end and creates the space within which to give thanks for the story, the energy to write it and the assistance received to get it out - beta readers, editors, cover designers, publicists and marketeers also appreciate both a) knowing it is done, and b) thanks.

9). And get on with the next one - there is nothing an inner critic hates more than to be swamped by another and yet another story.

10). I am a heretic - do not read your good and/or bad reviews - there is nothing more toxic and nothing more likely to blow my creative candle out. Fundamentally, you cannot mandate what a reader is going to think about a story once it is out there - and think about it, what if you get a bad review; are you going to rewrite the story based on one person's opinion? And if you get a good review, are you going to be able to replicate that success without the risk of producing just a facsimile of the first - which will be panned by the critics.

11). Devote your energy to writing, reading and connecting with authors and readers.

12). Sometimes it can help to switch genres/sub-genres, write some poetry, write a play - throw everything up in the air and see what lands where.

13). Study other forms of art - I study all art forms, especially, film/photography, dance and animation.

14). Every inner critic has a source - find the source and cut it off. I showed my worst (real) critic the stack of 50+ titles I have so far published in my name and the 40+ more that I have been involved with as either translator, co-writer, editor/co-editor ... they don't question what I do and how well I do it any more. Most inner (and real) critics are fundamentally ignorant and jealous.

I cannot guarantee that you will silence your inner critic - I have silenced mine by adopting the habits described above. Does that mean that I sell more books? No. Does it mean that I get accolades? No. It means I don't doubt myself or distract myself from the highly enjoyable business of writing to excite and entertain a reader (in some place at some time - hopefully).

​Alp

The awesome Charles Raines, author of Stranger in Translation, Falling Forever, The Man with the Mandolin, and Dicing with Danger is my latest spotlight author - to discover Charles CLICK HERE

And if you're a fan not just of Charles but also French, Stranger in Translation has now been translated into French - obtainable here

Amazon
Kobo

Alp
​xx

I don;t often share the specifics of my WIPs because, to be honest, with so many, where the fuck would I start? But something weird happened that I want to share with you.

Having travelled back home to France on 16th December, I was really struggling with what I was writing, and nothing I had started was inspiring me at all - a rare moment of terror that 'block' had finally found me. I needn't have worried - and if it has happened to you then you know not to worry because that is the worst thing to do. I turned to the kitchen. I'm a vegan, so I cook a lot for myself. A curry I thought.

Reaching up to the shelf to get the harissa paste, I was physically struck by a story that was ignited by the brand name of the paste I habitually use, and find easily here in France - Le Phare Du Cap Bon (a name I have always found intriguing and slightly romantic - authors!!).

Thus the story - The Adventures of Captain Du Bon Le Phare was born - and the fucker hasn't given me a moment of peace since!

It's a kind of steampunkish chronicle of an anti-hero - I can describe it no more accurately than that. The curry was fucking amazing.

I'd love to hear your tales of how stories/titles came to you - and if you're suffering from block, my advice is to -:

1. Don't panic
2. Start a new story (I have 12 manuscripts open at any one time)
3. Cook, eat and wash-up
4. Watch weird shit on Youtube
5. Walk the dog
6. Listen to some new music
7. Catch the latest episode of The Tonight Show, Ellen, or The Big Bang Theory
8. Try calling the Orange.fr call centre
9. Sleep
10. Go shopping
11. Take a break and spend the afternoon with your French only speaking friends
12. Dig someone out of a ditch - you're welcome UPS cute delivery man
13. Contemplate why the cat shits next to the litter box
14. Have a cup of green tea
15. Read
16. Meditate
17. Listen to the CD you found in the glove box of the car
18. Watch a favourite movie, eat chocolate
19. Smoke a cigarette
20. Get a proper job

Happy 2016; may all of your dreams come true - but you know what? If you do the work, you get paid.

Best,
Alp
​x