Social Media Just For Writers

I’ve never done a review for a non-fiction book before, but Frances Caballo’s Social Media Just for Writers perked my interest and I figured it might be an interesting source for the writers in our blogging community. 

You wrote your book and sold copies to family members, friends, and colleagues. Now you want to reach readers around the state, across the country, or on the other side of the world. But how? With social media, you can build your platform and reach markets you never imagined possible before. In this book you will learn how to: create your Facebook fan page and initiate active engagement with your readers, use a myriad of Twitter applications to help you economize your time while expanding your tribe, optimize your LinkedIn profile with keywords, tackle Google+ with renewed confidence, build Pinterest pinboards and use them to promote your books and blog, and round out your online strategies with offline marketing techniques.

My Review: I especially liked how Caballo gave each social network its own personality, comparing it to well known authors and classic literature and providing details into the history of each.  Her book covers the biggest social networks used by writers including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google +, Picasso, Pinterest, and the world of blogging. As someone who’s familiar with Facebook, Blogger, and Twitter, I was impressed with how much I didn’t know (um, which was a lot). 

Caballo gives an easy-to-understand run down of the purpose each network serves, basic usage and then expands into more detail; providing little known (at least to me) settings and applications that can help you promote you, your brand, and your books, and especially keep track and stay organized in who/how your work is reaching its audience, not to mention the various useful applications that can be employed by each network. 

The only concern I had while reading was that, while Caballo’s detailed instructions and images are definitely helpful when it comes to learning about each network, and how to engage and develop your settings- I’d be afraid with the rapid and incessant way many of these networks (like Facebook and Twitter) are changing and evolving every day, some of the information could become quickly out-dated. 

Also, the wealth of information could be a little overwhelming at times, but then again, I’m not at a point in my career where everything sited in each chapter is useful to me (yet). That said, I really liked how Caballo was careful to explain how each writer really needs to find what programs, networks and apps work best for them- taking into account their time constraints, preferences and personalities. 

When I’m at the point where I have a book to promote (thinking positive here:), I’d say Social Media Just for Writers will be an absolute asset since it provides a clear and in-depth source for anyone who wants to expand their audience using social networking.

What social network do you use most? How long did it take you to master your favorite network? Did you take measures to get the most out of the network professionally?