Getting to grips with social media is like pushing custard up a hill with a rake. It’s so slippery that you just get to grips with, say, Facebook and suddenly that’s passé and everyone in the know is on Insta. You’re still looking at that – and calling it Instagram – with suspicion, when the young and the bold are on TikTok (not to mention its BookTok, spin-off)...
Then there’s Twitter, wherein sweet nightingale-like tweets flip to vulture-caws in the space of 280 characters. As for Linkedin, it’s the ultimate mystery world, something you signed up for once and now congratulate your half a dozen connections for being somewhere or doing something, whenever your computer tells you to do so.
When I say ‘you’, of course I mean me.
I can get lost following a five-ingredient recipe, or following the steps on Google Maps. Years ago, I inherited the online magazine, Lothian Life, from the lovely Suse Coon and whether II’ll be able actually to upload the latest article is still something of a gamble. Coming here, onto my own website, requires an Everest-climbing determination to find the blog and make a post…
But the bottom lines are three: one, there is so much interesting stuff and some great people out there, and social media is the way to be in touch; two, I want to have a presence, however much on the periphery, in the writing-editing-publishing world; and three, I need it to find work and to carry out work.
Still, the spirit is weak, the flesh even weaker, and the custard is pooling round my feet at the bottom on the hill (on the whole of the Internet, I couldn't find a custard-uphill-rake image so here's the nearest)
It’s ironic that help comes in the form of someone I met online, in a creative writing class. Someone who wrote an excellent novel and decided to learn how to become a publisher in order to publish it in the way she wanted to. And now, indie-publishing is one of her many specialisms.
Enter Claire Morley of My ePublish Book
If you’ve read previous blogs of mine, you’ll know Claire is the person who produced the revised A Blonde Bengali Wife as an eBook, who has been responsible for the collaborative novel, Entitled, by Gill Merton, and for OxPen Writers’ anthology, Tales of Dark and Light. (She’s done loads more, of course, they’re just the publications I’ve been part of). Now, she’s taking me in hand in terms of social media – and via her mentoring I’m already pushing custard with a bit more skill.
With eight years’ experience, Claire Morley is an Indie publishing expert providing formatting, publishing and social media marketing mentoring to authors who want to publish their books, but who don't have the time (or, if you’re me, the confidence!) to learn all the skills required. (She’s also a magazine editor and article writer, event planner, online researcher and wedding celebrant – should you want to add those into a package!)
When Claire says,“Empowering authors and publishing dreams is my superpower”, she’s not exaggerating! Here's how she can help make you a published author:
🌟Book Formatting
🌟Book cover design
🌟Publishing platform sign up
🌟Work with you to create a marketing strategy
🌟Social media mentoring to get your book seen
🌟Arrange virtual book tours
🌟Introductions to book blogger
So, this is a thank you to Claire, an acknowledgement of all her support in this weird writing life I have, and a recommendation for her and her services.
Find Claire at: www.linkedin.com/in/claire-morley/
Anne x
PS Disclaimer - Claire has not yet got to my 'trying-but-needs-work' blog, so the amateur formatting etc here are all mine!!
