Personally, I don’t think I look it, but the truth of the matter is, I’m old. At the time of this blog, I’m more than half of a century old (where did the time go?). Social media wasn’t around when I grew up. In fact, one of my graduation presents from high school was a typewriter (It was electric and high tech for its time)
, which I took to college and used for my four-years at Northwestern University (Go Cats!).
When I started as a Freshman in 1983, I was an engineering major. My dream (back in the day) was to be a biomedical engineer. I was going to create bionic limbs like The Six Million Dollar Man (if you’re not old, like me, you may need to Google it). My life as an engineering student didn’t last long. By the end of my sophomore year, I realized, nothing in life was worth having to take physics to achieve, and I switched my major to Political Science and Urban Studies. I knew I didn’t want to be a lawyer, but I found the study of politics fascinating, and frankly, it has served me well. Politics are everywhere, not just in government. Understanding who wields power and how to navigate in that world has helped throughout my career. But the world wide web and social media wasn’t something I grew up using.
Fast forward to the twenty-first century. I’ve found my passion…writing. So, what’s the first thing agents/publishers/editors want you to do? Get on social media and connect with readers. Yep, not my wheel house. Fortunately, I’m teachable. I bought books (because….books are my happy place). I google (not my happy place, but useful) and I torment my social media savvy friends (sorry). Facebook took me awhile to get up to speed, but I’m cruising along now (although, I’m sure I’m not using it as effectively as I could to reach and engage with readers). I have a personal Facebook page (trust me, there is nothing there because…well, I have no life). I also have an author page which I strive to keep current (unless I’m behind on my writing and have to avoid the poodle memes, quizzes and recipes). If you really want to know what’s going on with me, I recommend you check out my author Facebook page at vmburnsbooks.
Twitter and Instagram had me stumped. I get the premise and I have managed to tweet a bit and post a couple of pics on Instagram. But, there are people out there with millions of followers. Tweets, Retweets, and Hashtags are not only a bizarre language, but its another world. My first foray into Twitter came while I was looking for an agent or publisher (or anyone willing to look at my manuscripts). I learned about #MSWL (Manuscript Wish List). Agents/publishers/editors tweet what manuscripts they’re looking for and if you have that cowboy, noir unreliable narrator middle grade cozy, (yep, I promise you there are things like this) then you know where to send it. It’s like online dating for authors. One of my staff actually had to help me setup my twitter account (thanks Derrick). It forced me to use Twitter at least once per week (at the time, MSWL was updated on Wednesdays). Of course, once I found a match, I didn’t have the foggiest clue how to approach them (you don’t send it via Twitter – usually its an email referencing their MSWL), but it was a start. Now, I use Twitter about once or twice per week (I force myself). I mostly tweet about book stuff, because…well, I have no life outside of book stuff. I retweet when I remember to do it (so don’t get frustrated if I haven’t retweeted you – just give me a gentle nudge and I’ll retweet). However, I’m trying to get more active, so if you want to connect with me on twitter, look for @vmburns. Instagram…well, I’ve got an account, but it isn’t exactly a bustling hub of activity. Still, I’d appreciate a follow Vmburnsbooks.
The biggest social media win for me, has been Pinterest. It may not be the hippest social media site out there, but I can spend hours looking for recipes and pictures of kitchens, landscaping and pretty much anything. From a writing perspective, I’ve used Pinterest to pin pictures which help me visualize characters, places, and things in my books. I’m just starting using this for book stuff, but here’s a link to the board I created for my Dog Club Mystery Series. Most of the pins are for the second book, The Puppy Who Knew Too Much. Pinterest Board.
Social media has its positives and negatives. The distance and anonymity of social media has allowed people to be cruel without a great deal of repercussions. It’s really easy to write a horrible review of a book or leave mean hurtful comments on a post to someone. People post/tweet and comment things they would never say to anyone face to face (at least I hope not). However, social media has so many benefits that outweigh the negatives. I’m constantly amazed when I hear from readers from Iowa, Wisconsin, Canada and the United Kingdom (especially if they like my books). One tweet or Facebook share has the power to reach a vast amount of people far beyond anything I could do on my own. So, it’s time to expand my horizons and boldly go where no man (well, okay maybe its just me) has dared to go before. I doubt that social media is the final frontier, but its definitely a new place for this cozy mystery writer.
