More than 1.7 billion people are active on Facebook. Fifty-three percent of them are female. The average Facebook user in the U.S. was 40.5 years old. These statistics help explain why it is one of the most popular social media platforms used by authors to engage with readers. But what happens when Facebook explodes with news about political scandals, natural disasters, celebrity deaths, or sports? Cutting through the noise with a status update about your new book isn’t easy. And sometimes you need to recognize it isn’t the time to even try. Knowing when it’s the wrong time is as important as knowing when is the right time to use Facebook for building your audience platform. Having a strategy for your social media efforts as an author will get you a greater return on your investment of time and energy. When is the best time to post a status update on Facebook? It’s helpful to know 50% of the U.S. population is in the Eastern Time Zone. Eastern and Central time zones combined represent almost 80% of the U.S. population. It might surprise you, but you will find most people online during business hours, 9 am – 7 pm ET. The best time to post is Saturday and Sunday at the noon hour. You will get 32% higher engagement than any other time online, according to 16 studies. Thursday and Friday afternoons are the next best time with 18% higher engagement. And Friday afternoons post funny or upbeat content for…
Your Facebook timeline is about to look different for spring 2013 – changes to profile pages are happening now, so don’t be surprised if next time you log in you see something a little different! The updated timeline layout banishes separate boxes for friends, maps, photos and applications and replaces them with text tabs. The entire look is more minimalist and shifts ‘activity’ to one… [Read More]
Filed Under: Facebook, Facebook apps, Privacy Settings
No Comments
Since Lance Armstrong’s confession of blood doping and use of other performance-enhancing substances, the publishing industry finds itself tripping over the distinction between fiction and non-fiction. In January a lawsuit filed by two California men claims Armstrong’s two books, It’s Not About the Bike (2000) and Every Second Counts (2003) were categorically dishonest: marketed as non-fiction when they were fiction. Jonah Lehrer published How We… [Read More]
Filed Under: Ben Greenman, James Frey, Jonah Lerner, Lance Armstrong, New York Review of Books, New Yorker, True Lies
Some professional writers have a Facebook Page. Others use Twitter or Tumblr. Many non-fiction authors have a profile on LinkedIn. But every author needs a website under their own domain name. “Why, oh why, must I also build a website and blog, too?” I often get this question from clients who seek publication of their book manuscripts. Here’s why. You don’t own your own real… [Read More]
You’ve heard about the mechanic who never has time to change the oil, bang out the dings, clean out the pop cans or repair the ripped upholstery in her own car? I’m behind the dashboard seven days a week. I drive at high speeds and over rough terrain on the electronic byways of the internet. I keep clients’ motors running smooth and fix them when… [Read More]
Filed Under: Blog, Cadillac, Car Talk, maintenance, makeover, oil changes, redesign, social media metrics, updates, Website
Memoir is not fiction, yet some of the literary conventions used in the genre of memoir are the same as those used in novels. Plot, dialogue, and character are three shared devices. Fiction and memoir share a structural emphasis on narrative arc. In fiction, this is called a plot line. After setting the scene and introducing the characters through some dialogue and action, there is… [Read More]