Sites & Blogs I Social Media I Book Sites I Video Sites

 

Welcome to Simon & Schuster’s Author Guides for the web.  This central site will be the place to learn about getting started with a website or blog; finessing the nuances of social media; and receiving updates on new sites and technologies that can help you, the author, connect with your fans in a meaningful and engaging way.  All of this will help grow your audience online, build relationships with more readers, and make new fans in the digital age.

Read Sites & Blogs for information on what is needed for your author or book site.  Our Social Media area discusses how to get started on sites like Twitter and Facebook, and includes demo videos, and recommendations for getting the most out of your social connections on the web.  Book Sites includes a listing of book focused social networking sites like GoodReads and Visual Bookshelf, and details on how you can build a presence there.  And our Video Sites section includes details on YouTube and other popular video sharing portals, along with the latest links to new live streaming video sites.

A website is a great tool for promoting yourself and your work.   Your website should be well organized, free of clutter, and informative.  Remember: this is another link to your readers.   Starting with the homepage you should make sure to have images of your new book, yourself, and any previous titles - but make sure to weight your new book the heaviest!   Provide background info about you and your work: this may include author biography, prior publications, CV, articles, associations, etc.  And be sure to link your books for purchase at online retailers.
 
Create pages for different parts of your site.  Do you have a blog?  Include the blog on a separate page within your website.  Consider a separate page for any backlist title you may have.   Devoting a page to each title will help with SEO (search engine optimization).  Create a page for reviews, praise, and blurbs.  Consider also creating a page to list your tour stops or lecture schedule.  Make sure to include some sort of contact information for the fans, whether it is an email address, Twitter account, or Facebook -  stay connected with your readers!

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, perhaps you’re wondering – “What’s a blog?”  “Blog,” short for “Web log,” is basically a place on the internet where you can post your own journal entries.  People create blogs about everything and blogging is a great way to connect with your readers.  You can blog about what’s happening in your life, what’s inspiring you, what book you’re working on, etc.  It’s easy to blog, and if you keep it up, you’ll start to build a following of readers who will come back frequently to see what you’re blogging about.  Eventually, you can cross-blog – guest blog on your author-friends' blogs and have them guest-blog on yours to cross-promote your followers and build each others' audiences!

Blogs can be incorporated into your website, but blogs can also basically be websites in themselves.  Plus, they’re often free!  Here are 5 great blogging platforms you can use to easily create your own free blog - you’ll be up and blogging within minutes!

www.wordpress.org  /  www.blogger.com  /  www.posterous.com  /  www.tumblr.com  /  www.livejournal.com



More helpful resources:

Here are some videos on how to blog, and a few videos in particular dealing directly with wordpress.com and blogs that we mentioned above.  Aside from these, howcast.com has a lot of blog videos that may be of use.  

 

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Social media gives authors the ability to connect with fans in a way never before possible.  When using these sites, it’s important to remember to:

LISTEN / To your fans, to the community.
PARTICIPATE / Seek out like-minded people, join the discussion; don’t talk at people, talk with them.
CONTENT / Create content that is relevent to your audience.  Content can be a Twitter post, Facebook Message, blog post, or video.

Included here are details on some of the biggest social networking sites, how you can use them to boost your brand, connect with fans, and spread your message.


 
Facebook.com is the largest U.S. based social networking site with over 350 million active members with more than 175 million logging on at least once a day.   The fastest growing demographic on the site are those 35 years and older.  Members have the ability to create, post, or share personal profiles, status updates, photos, groups, and more. 

WHAT CAN AUTHORS DO?
• Join and create a profile or fan page
• Populate the profile with photos, video, blogs, and widgets
• Reach out to others on the site through groups and other forums

Some more resources:
http://mashable.com/guidebook/facebook/

MySpace.com has over 100 million members in the United States.   MySpace is a social networking site with the capabilities for its members to post or create personal profiles, community network, blogs, groups, photos, and music.

WHAT CAN AUTHORS DO?
•Join and create a profile
•Populate the profile with photos, video, blogs, and widgets
•Reach out to others on the site through groups and other forums

Some more resources:
   

WHAT IS IT?
Twitter.com, the fastest growing of all social networking websites, is an exciting way to reach out to the masses.  Essentially, Twitter is short-form blogging or micro-blogging.  A person posts “tweets” that are 140 characters or less which can be read by anyone who is “following” that person.  Twitter has over 16 million users.

WHAT CAN AUTHORS DO?
• Join twitter and TWEET!
• Follow Simon & Schuster on Twitter (@SimonSchuster) and all our imprints’ Twitter feeds.
• Grow your following by following others!
Find out more about Twitter with “Twitter 101”
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/ and Mashable’s Twitter Guide Book http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

Some more resources:



WHAT IS IT?
LinkedIn is a networking tool to find connections to recommended job candidates, industry experts, and business partners. The site allows registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business.

WHAT CAN AUTHORS DO?
• Join and create a profile
• Reach out and link to colleagues, alumni, friends, and other trusted peer groups
• Post messages to your groups

Some more resources:

MANY MORE...   

There are a lot more social networking sites out there, each with their own unique angle.  Here are a few more to explore:
 
• www.stumbleupon.com
• www.librarything.com
• http://www.anobii.com
• http://digg.com
• http://delicious.com
• http://www.fark.com

And just for fun, here’s a list on Wikipedia of currently active social networking sites.

 This is useful in that  it includes an approximate number of users for each –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

KEEP IT SIMPLE & SYNCHRONIZE

Now that you’re getting an idea of just how many social networking sites are out there, you might be feeling overwhelmed that you need to continuously check out each one every day.  HOWEVER - There are new websites being created every day that pull together all of the various blogs and social websites (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc) to which you subscribe into one convenient place! 


               


Some examples of these types of sites are:

http://lifestream.aol.com/
http://seesmic.com
www.tweetdeck.com
www.friendfeed.com
www.posterous.com
www.ping.fm

 

 
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Goodreads.com is a place for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike. Goodreads members recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they’ve read and would like to read, form book clubs, and much more.

WHAT CAN AUTHORS DO?

• Participate in the Goodreads Authors Program (a free feature designed to help authors reach their target audience — passionate readers)
• Create/Update author bio and member page
• List published books
• Spread the word about their books
• Publicize upcoming events, such as book signings and speaking engagements.
• Share a list of favorite books and recent reads with your fans.

HOW TO GET STARTED

• Get Details and sign up at:www.goodreads.com/author/program



Shelfari.com is a gathering place for authors, aspiring authors, publishers, and readers, and has many tools and features to help these groups connect with each other in a fun and engaging way. Their mission is to enhance the experience of reading by connecting readers in meaningful conversations about the published word.

WHAT CAN AUTHORS DO?

• Create a member profile
• Build virtual bookshelves to express personalities and book interest to readers, fellow authors, etc.
• Participate in online book groups to further explore and share their books

HOW TO GET STARTED

• Visit www.shelfari.com/register.aspx and create a member profile.



weRead.com is a community for book lovers. It is a place where readers can find others who share similar reading tastes and discover new books. With weRead readers can list, rate, and write reviews about the books, browse what other readers are reading and what they are saying about other books, and take the bookshelf to several social networking sites, blogs, etc.

WHAT CAN AUTHORS DO?
• Create an author profile
• Chat about their books with other authors

HOW TO GET STARTED
• Visit http://weread.com/ and sign up for a profile



LivingSocial.com is a social discovery and cataloging network that allows people to review and share their favorite movies, books, games, music, restaurants, and beer. Visual Bookshelf is LivingSocial’s Facebook application – an online bookshelf similar to weRead.

WHAT CAN AUTHORS DO?
• Create an author profile
• Chat about their books with other authors



RedRoom.com provides authors and members with free, easy-to-use, elegant online homes. It’s a place for the literary community to promote their work, express themselves, and connect with their favorite authors. Red Room also provides you with a quality of life as a writer whereby you focus on writing and the website takes care of the technology.

WHAT CAN AUTHORS DO?
• Create a Member Page and add their bio, blog, and post videos and image galleries
• Showcase their writing with excerpts and more
• Interact with literary icons and other authors
• Build your fan base, communicate with friends and colleagues, promote your work

HOW TO GET STARTED
• Get Details and sign up at: http://www.redroom.com/become-red-room-author

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YouTube.com is currently one of the most popular websites in the world.  There are more than 70 million videos watched daily through the site.
 
WHAT CAN AUTHORS DO?

First, if you do not have one already you need to create a YouTube account at www.youtube.com.  A membership profile allows you to upload videos, create playlists, comment on other videos, and more!  Once you have a membership to YouTube you can begin to upload videos to the site for public viewing.  YouTube allows you to tag your videos so that they can be found by others.  Also authors can join or create groups around particular interests creating a following.  Members can also create playlists, subscribe to other member’s videos or select favorite videos.  You can also embed your YouTube videos to others site using the special video embed code provided to you. 

Also check out this tutorial which fully introduces you to YouTube step-by-step:
http://www.webvideozone.com/public/308.cfm

Some more resources:
www.howcast.com/videos/59452-How-To-Upload-a-Video-YouTube-Help-Center
www.howcast.com/videos/104799-How-To-Upload-HD-720p-Widescreen-Videos-To-Youtube
www.howcast.com/videos/49594-FlashLearnercom-How-To-Upload-Flash-Movies-To-YouTube
www.howcast.com/videos/155595-How-To-Upload-a-Video-To-YouTube

MORE VIDEO SITES

There are a plethora of video sites where you can upload video, join the community conversation, and make new fans.  Check out: www.Vimeo.com, www.Veoh.com, www.Metacafe.com.

Have a video you’d like to upload to all your accounts?  Check out www.TubeMogul.com - a free site that will syndicate your video to all your video and social media accounts.

LIVE VIDEO SITES

Live streaming video is becoming a popular way to connect with fans, chat live, and access classrooms, libraries, and book clubs - in a way that was never before possible.  Check out these top sites for live streaming video - sign up, enable your web cam, and get to connecting live!


     

www.ustream.tv
www.justin.tv
www.skype.com

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