The website, Social Media Just for Writers is a treasure trove of helpful information directed at writers in particular. The website is concerned with how writers can use social media more effectively to market themselves and their books. The website's tag line is that it contains online book marketing solutions for writers.
This review will give you some insight into the contents of this site and the blog post included there.
When you first open the site, you are greeted with an advertisement for an e-mail course for authors. This free course covers how to get started and succeed using social media, blogging tips, and free image sources for authors. If you sign up for the course, they even include a free book called Twitter Just for Writers.
About Frances Caballo
In the about section of the website, we gain some insight into Caballo's experience. She describes herself as a reporter who got into public relations work. This work led her to become what she describes as a social media manager and strategist. Her goal is to get authors past the barriers to success with their online presence so that they can achieve the goal of selling more books. Her services include providing training, setting up and maintaining social media profiles, and even writing blogs for authors.
She says she can provide a bit of training or handle all social media responsibilities for authors in all genres including romance, literary fiction, or YA to name a few. The next part of this section is a long list of her experience in this endeavor such as the guest blogs and posts that she has written. She has also taught classes on social media for authors through Stanford University Extension, UC Berkeley Extension and others. What follows is an explanation of the importance of social media for authors (to sell books, expand readership and find publishers). Finally, this section includes more personal information about Caballo: she likes to hike, cycle, dance, and volunteer for a dog rescue when she's not helping authors with social media.
Services provided
This section of the site provides us with specific information about the services that Caballo can help with. She offers a variety of options that range from one-hour consultations to share her best practices to handling all of an author's social media duties.
For $297, she will analyze all of an author's social media pages, review them, and give a detailed assessment about how these pages can be improved. Starting with a three-month trial, she offers a package to create social media networks, find followers, manage all social media, and employ a strategy for author and book promotion. She does not list the price here for these services. Laced throughout this section of the site are snippets of testimonies from authors she has helped.
Testimonials
There are about thirty testimonials describing how Caballo's services have helped various authors. All of them describe various ways in which these services helped increase a given author's followers or readership. Author Carol A. Lambert claims that Caballo increased an author's Twitter following from forty to over fifteen thousand. Another author, Madelon Phillips states that Caballo's tweets about her novels are so effective, they make Phillips want to read them herself.
Many of them describe how Caballo's assistance has freed them up to do more of the writing they love and how it has reduced the amount of stress in their lives. Author Bill Percy claims that he was skeptical at first, but was soon impressed at the amount of in-depth analysis and insight Caballo provided him. All in all, Caballo has assembled a convincing group of authors to sing her praises as a consultant and social media guru.
Books on social media advice
To lend credibility to Caballo's expertise and experience, she has included a section on eight different books that she has written about social media advice for authors. The first book she wrote is entitled Social Media Just for Writers. This book offers advice for authors on their use Instagram, Snapchat, and Tumblr. In her description of Pinterest Just for Writers, she makes a case for how the use of Pinterest can increase traffic to a writer's websites and blogs. Twitter Just for Writers offers guidelines, tailored specifically to Twitter, including advice about writing bios, selecting secure passwords, a list of popular hashtags, and guidelines for more advanced users.
Her book, The Author's Guide to Goodreads focuses on special features of the website, descriptions on how to set up dashboards and use the site's tabs, how to set up book giveaways, how to add friends strategically, and how to use it to market one's books. Social Media Primer with Advanced Guidelines offers essential guidelines and tips for on-line success. Avoid Social Media Time Suck is described as a book that helps authors to create/maintain a media platform and to promote the author's brand within a specific genre.
Author's blog
The blog section contains a blog of the month concerning tips that can help authors in their use of social media such as How Not to Market Your Book - Twelve Rookie Mistakes. The featured blog is about how to avoid mistakes that new authors often make when trying to market their books.
The first mistake discussed is about waiting too late to start the marketing process. Caballo states that authors should begin marketing their book as soon as they begin writing it, rather than waiting until they are finished. Secondly, Caballo says that writers don't blog when they should. Even when a book is still being finished, she says that writers can still find topics to blog about, even if it's just about their writing processes or about characters they've created. With the next tip, Caballo says that authors need to take the time to find out which social media networks the author's audience is likely to use. This is something they can do by using the Pew Research Center. The author should then begin using at least one type of social media and begin using another in six months' time.
Caballo goes on to state that authors need to publish their book in many forms such as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook to increase their readership. The fifth tip advises authors to use only Amazon to publish their first couple of books. This way they can be eligible for KDP select, which allows writers to discount their books. KDP select will also allow authors to make their books available with Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owner's Lending Library. According to Caballo's sixth tip, authors should not be opposed to giving books away for free to establish an audience when they first publish. She advises them to use free promotional days using KDP select on Amazon, to send free copies to bloggers, do book giveaways on Goodreads, and send copies of the book to leaders in their genre.
For her seventh tip, Caballo says that authors should find out more about keyword phrases and categories when using Kindle Direct Publishing so that their audience can easily find the book the author is promoting. Caballo advises writers to use Goodreads to network with readers and other writers. She says authors should write reviews of books, build a list of books they have read, and give copies of books away. Caballo's ninth tip is that writers need to promote other authors in their genre by meeting them and sharing their tweets and blog posts.
For her tenth tip, Caballo says that writers all too often use social media just to promote themselves and their books. Instead, they should also be using social media to engage with their audience by asking and answering questions and sharing useful information. Caballo also advises authors to include a letter in their book addressed to the reader requesting that they write a review of the book. Lastly, Caballo describes the need for authors to develop a 'street team' of devoted readers who can help promote an author's books. This street team can help promotion through social media posts. Once this street team is established, authors should give them free books and gift certificates.
Summary
As a whole, Caballo's site has a wealth of resources for the author looking to increase their involvement with social media. The site includes a wealth of useful blogs and links to articles on the subject that are insightful, clear, and concise. If an author is looking to hire Caballo as a consultant or to handle their entire social media presence, she lays out their options clearly and specifically. The list of books that she has written and the testimonials that authors have written give Caballo credibility as a social media guru. Overall, SocialMediaJustForWriters.com is a helpful tool for authors looking to expand their readership and use social media as an effective marketing tool.
