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My mentor, Edie Melson

By Laurie Epps

Sorry about the long break in my posts. But as the cooler temps, and autumn air is sinking in, we're all adjusting to our new schedules. Routines are being established, and I'm adjusting to life without school. 

Now, it's back to work. Be sure to check back on our new day, Tuesday. This will just help me tremendously with my schedule. We're still working in my mentor Edie Melson's book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers.

Monday Morning Book Club, Revision

By Laurie Epps

I don't know what it is, but I just love old worn books. I always have. Even their musty book smell is intoxicating to me.

So Monday Morning Book Club, is going to dormant for a little while. For those of you who were enjoying learning about Social Media and Writing Techniques that has been moved to Tuesdays.

So join me now on Tuesdays to learn about Social Media using Edie Melson's book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers.

Edie Melson and I

I hope you'll join Edie and I now on Tuesdays with your morning coffee or tea.

Blessings,
Laurie

What is Hootsuite?

Barn Owl

By Laurie Epps

What is Hootsuite? In my opinion, it's the most valuable tool in your social media tool box. But, to understand how valuable it can be, you've already established yourself at least on Facebook and Twitter. Hootsuite's a valuable tool that keeps you from making social media a part-time job. Hootsuite can free up your time to do more writing.

To learn the basics, we'll continue to work with my mentor, Edie Melson in her book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. We're focusing on pages 119-120. 

Owl taking a look at Hootsuite

Copyright Law

By Laurie Epps

Hi everyone. It's good to be back. We're still working from Edie's book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. Today's topic is very sensitive, and there's a lot of layers to learning all the different copyright laws. Instead of trying to give you every copyright law ever written, this blog will focus on the basics for most writers. If you want to go more in-depth, look at pages 109-114 of our text.

****Disclaimer: Edie Melson and I aren't attorneys, and this isn't meant to be a source of legal counsel. Instead, it's meant to be an introduction to Copyright Law.

What is Klout?

Courtesy of Edie Melson

By Laurie Epps

Are you having trouble managing your social media? Do you wonder what agents and publishers are looking at when they decide your "relevance"? Here to help us along the way is social media expert, Edie Melson.

Edie Melson is my beloved mentor, former boss, and friend. She tours the country extensively, and encourages folks on the writers path who are often afraid of social media. To see her current schedule, click here.

Edie's book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers has been the topic for my Monday Morning Book Club since September of 2013, and I highly recommend it as a reference book to get you in the trenches to best display your work on the Internet stage.

Google Plus 101: The Basics

Photo courtesy of Edie Melson

By Laurie Epps

There are so many social media forums, but how do I know which one's the most beneficial? For me, I follow writers such as Edie Melson, but I also follow trends. There's a few websites that I like to do that with, but I just googled it when I was starting out. You'll see if you do this, that the trends are pretty much the same no matter which one you choose.

So, to guide us through the pro's and con's is my mentor Edie Melson. We're continuing with our reading in her book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. The publisher, My Book Therapy is a great resource to learn writing techniques, enter contests, and learn how to create your fiction novel. It's a tireless resource that chalk full of industry insight.

Do You Pinterest?

By Laurie Epps

Although I've got a Pinterest, I know it's grossly underused. As a writer, I only saw it's application to post book covers. My main line is feature writing, so it's first impression lost my interest. That's changing now.

We're continuing with our book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. Authored by my mentor, Edie Melson, she breaks down the good, the bad, and the ugly of social media, and explains it in very easy to read terms. If you don't know where to start with your branding, or a blog, this will be a great addition to your resource library.

Pictured with Edie Melson, my first day as an intern

Headline Techniques

By Laurie Epps

You've only got 140 characters, so how do you grab your readers attention? That's not a lot of time. Edie Melson teaches us that by knowing some basic headlining techniques, we'll grab the attention of our readers in our Tweet blasts.

We're continuing with our book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. Everybody's busy nowadays, and so most consider their time to be valuable. As writers, it's our job to pull them away from their every day tasks, and spend a few minutes thinking about our products, services, or simply read our blog. Just like novelists have one page to grip the reader, a blogger has only one Tweet. 

Six Twitter Taboo's

By Laurie Epps

There's a lot to remember when you're first getting started on any social media site, but here to play watchdog for you is Edie Melson. Not only was Edie a pleasure to work for and with, in her book Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers Edie breaks it down in simple and manageable pieces for us.

I confess, I'm learning right along with you! But that's part of the whole purpose of this column, to share experiences with one another. We're all in this together. What's wonderful about being a writer is that we're all so different, that we can all just make a little room for each other.

Today, we're going to talk about all the things we're doing wrong so that we can fix them. There's a double edged sword with social media, but there's also a little bit of grace. So let's get serious, and stop doing the six little faux-pas on Twitter.

Making Every Tweet Count

Western Bluebird

By Laurie Epps

Twitter has become more and more popular. This is both good and bad. Here to guide us through the gauntlet is my mentor in her book, 
Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. 


The popularity of Twitter is:

• good, because it's easier than ever to connect with other people.
• bad, because it keeps getting increasingly harder to stand out.

Hyperlinks

By Laurie Epps

When you first start blogging, it can be an overwhelming experience. Everyone seems to know the lingo except you. This is one of those discussions that should clear up at least one more vocabulary word for you.

Just follow along with us in Edie Melson's book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. Her book will break down for you all the terms you need to know in very simple terms.

A Bit About Analytics

By Laurie Epps

Everyone has statistics on their blog, but what do they mean? How do they translate into positive changes on our blog or website? Today we'll talk about using those demographics to help tailor your blog to the mission of what you hope to accomplish.

Here to show us the ropes, is my mentor Edie Melson with her book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers.

Using Keywords Effectively on the Internet

By Laurie Epps

Back in the old days, the best form of publicity was the phone book. To have your company at the top of the list, you simply had to begin your company name with the letter A. That would ensure your company would be called first in your type of business.

But today, when you need a plumber, or a math tutor for your kid, you reach for your computer and search for what you need using a phrase and the name of your town for results. All of this is determined using keywords and SEO. We'll tell you what this means for you with the helpful advice of Edie Melson in her book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers.

Building Your Blog's Subscriber List in 2014

By Laurie Epps

Every writer becomes aware that if their writing doesn't reach anyone, it's not filling it's purpose. So how 'bout we make a revolutionary new years resolution and grow the audience of our blogs?

Thoughtfully, our book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers by Edie Melson, outlines for us the differences this week between a Follower and Subscriber. This is directly proportional to our effective interaction with our readers and can affect whether people will follow us or not.

Perfectionism: Does It Have Place With Your Blog?

Photos Courtesy of Edie Melson

By Laurie Epps

There is so much pressure we put on ourselves this time of year. It's not right. We strive to have that "perfect Christmas" but expecting that is unrealistic. Not only is this undue pressure undermining our Christmas joy, it also undermines our writing.

Your "diva" mode may be counteracting the whole point of your blog to begin with. We can be unrealistic by thinking that every blog post must be perfect, or even worse, that every blog post IS a masterpiece.

Let's get back to basics with Edie's book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. She'll show us our pitfalls, and how to fix them. We're in this together.

Photos Courtesy of Edie Melson

Five Reasons Your Blog Isn't Growing

By Laurie Epps

It's easy to get discouraged when you're blogging. This is for a lot of reasons. I, too, have often felt discouraged about it. 

A big de-motivator for me early on was, "Nobody's reading it, what's the point?" But your blog is like a little seedling, it's not going to be a big tree just a month after planting, and neither will your blog.

Let Edie Melson give you some helpful tips with her book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. We're continuing to learn the nuts and bolts of building your blog.

What Defines the Success of Your Blog?

By Laurie Epps

Working with Edie is the experience of a lifetime. Always encouraging, she weaves in her book those moments that we realize, every writer is different, and every blog is different.

We can't expect the same results as everyone else. So I challenge you to ask yourself: how are you going to measure the success of your blog?

Common Blogging Mistakes

By Laurie Epps

My mentor, Edie Melson, has written a fabulous book that simplifies was does, and doesn't work with social media and blogging.

A public speaker, and author Edie speaks all over the country recognized as an authority about social media.

So follow along with me in Edie's book: Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. Every week, we'll uncover a new chapter to have you on your way.

Editing Your Blog Posts

By Laurie Epps

The hardest thing for any of us to do as writers is to edit our own writing. 

There are a lot of reasons for this: including we tend to make the same mistakes over and over again, but we also sometimes are too close to our writing and can't see the mistakes anymore.

Today, let my reflections guide you with my mentor's book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. Edie Melson is well respected as a social media expert, so let's get started, shall we?

How Often Should I Blog?

By Laurie Epps

Social Media Expert, mentor, and friend, Edie Melson is a forerunner in the industry teaching us what we all need to know about blogging and the basics of social media with her book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. So follow along with me, and I break it down for you. For more detailed information, feel free to ask a question in the comments section, or simply follow along with the text.

Today's topic is near and dear to my heart, so I'm going to break from my traditional form a little, and add my own story. I'm sure Edie will approve!

When I started as an intern with Edie near New Years this year, I was also taking Multi-Media in college. Our professor wanted us to break into teams and create a blog or website. Naturally, the kids didn't want to be on the web with a lady old enough to be their mom....

We were instructed to blog every day, and that just didn't work for me. Not only did the professor shoot down every good idea I had, but on top of homework, being an intern, and a single mother daily blogging just wasn't feasible. 

Almost as if it were scripted, it didn't work out, and Edie tell us why:

• Daily blogging doesn't work for most people because your readers can't read every day, especially when you're new and they don't know why or what they're reading.
• Daily blogging causes burnout for the writer. This definitely happened to me, so be careful, it could happen to you too. Edie points out that this is because it's in addition to our regular writing.
• Posts are generally of a better quality when they're spaced further apart. You give yourself time to reflect and proofread your work this way. 

What dictates your blogging schedule?

• Your personality. If you get easily discouraged, don't overwhelm yourself with unrealistic expectations, and just blog once a week. I wouldn't have believed this a year ago, but I can say, my own experience says that this is true. I'm just now hitting the demographics my professor was looking for, and it truly started with my once a week poetry column.
• Your goals. What are you trying to achieve with your blog? Are you trying to connect with readers? Or perhaps you're developing a platform or network of people. The answer to this question can shape how often you should blog.
• Your lifestyle. Truthfully, I really set out wanting to make my professor happy, and blog every day, but for me that just wasn't realistic. With my drumroll of titles including single mom, full-time student, and editorial intern that just didn't fit on my to-do list. It was too cumbersome. For me, it was just too much.
• Edie reminds us that the key here is to be flexible. I would add to that to be patient with yourself, your writing, and your readers. It takes time to develop a platform and you need to find what works for you.