emaginings: Random Musings @LyndiLamont
August 26, 2013 by Linda McLaughlin in category The Romance Journey by Linda Mclaughlin tagged as Buffer app, cover art, emaginings, Facebook, Lyndi Lamont, Social Media, Twitter hashtags
This has been the month from I-don’t-know-where. I missed my regular blog date of the 16th, due to not having any wi-fi. Long story that culminated with having to return our 7-week-old iPad 4 and pick up a new one. Thankfully, the new one works fine (so far) but it threw me completely off schedule.
The rights to a bunch of my short stories reverted this summer and I’m struggling to get them revised and reissued, not anywhere as quickly as I’d like while also writing new material. I feel like a juggler with two many balls in the air.
I’m also continuing my forays into various social networking sites. I joined Facebook this year, finally, thanks to Debra Holland. So now I have a personal profile and two pages, one for Linda and one for Lyndi. Facebook has been more fun than I anticipated, for the most part, and not as absorbing as I feared.OCC member, Lex Valentine of Winterheart Design, created two really pretty page covers for me. She’s so talented. Lex also created the cover for my upcoming re-release, Marooned, currently on sale at Smashwords, but coming soon to Amazon & other retailers. She said hopefully.
Apparently, I’ve also managed to accidentally activate a Google+ account for Lyndi, by clicking on something in my gmail account that I didn’t intend to click. I feel like such an idiot some time. Maybe I’ll have that one somewhat figured out by next month’s blog. Pretty sure I am going to delete my Pinterest account since I never use it and can’t afford to spare the broadband such a graphics intense site requires.
Still using Buffer app to schedule tweets and now Facebook shares and liking it more and more. You can now custom schedule a message to go out a day or more in advance, which really helps with planning. Using their analytics also clued me in to the fact that adding the hashtag #Author to a tweet really ups the potential for viewing from my app. 790 followers to several thousand possibilities. Potentially useful information.
Feel free to share any useful social media tips in the comments section. I can use all the help I can get!
Linda/Lyndi
Linda McLaughlin / Lyndi Lamont
Websites: http://www.lindamclaughlin.com
http://www.lyndilamont.com
Blogs:
Flights of Fancy
Lyndi’s Love Notes
Facebook
Twitter
August Already
August 6, 2013 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as 2013 National RWA Conference, Harlequin, Linda O. Johnston
I want to thank our delightful prez, Louisa Bacio, AKA Marie Loggia-Kee, for putting my picture up on her blog post this month on A Slice of Orange. Yes, I was at RWA National in Atlanta and had a wonderful time. I came back inspired, with a whole lot to do, and I’ve dug into it with gusto!
I’m really excited about this month’s meeting, too. If it wasn’t enough to see some of the outstanding Harlequin editors at the national conference, we get to see two of them right here, at OCC, next Saturday. They’ll be discussing Publishing Strategy and Digital Publishing for You–both topics in which I’ve got a lot of interest, and I’m sure many of you do, too.
So… think about how you’re going to spend the rest of this year, and I hope to see you on Saturday!
Linda O. Johnston
http://www.lindaojohnston.com/
emaginings: Buffer for Writers
July 17, 2013 by Linda McLaughlin in category The Romance Journey by Linda Mclaughlin tagged as Buffer app, emaginings, Kristyn Phipps, Linda McLaughlin, Lyndi Lamont, Marketing For Romance Writers, MFRW Summer Camp, Social Media, TwitterWhile most everyone else was getting ready for this week’s RWA Conference in Atlanta, I went to camp instead. Well, MFRW (Marketing For Romance Writers) online Summer Camp.
If you’re not familiar with MFRW, I recommend checking it out. We have a dynamic group of writers led by the amazing Kayelle Allen, and ably assisted by Paloma Beck, Karen Cote, Kristyn Phipps, OCC’s own Monica Stoner, and a host of other generous volunteers. I’ve learned a lot from reading the MFRW Digests that come into my inbox.
At camp, I focused mostly on the social media classes, since I’ve been taking baby steps into that arena for over a year now. One of the classes was Buffer for the Hard-Pressed Writer, taught by Kristyn Phipps. I’ve had a Twitter account for over a year now, but hadn’t gone so far as to sign up for HootSuite or TweetDeck to manage my tweets, though there were times when I wished I had a way to space them out more. So I figured why not give Buffer a try, esp. since it’s also available as a smart phone app. It seemed like a good solution: a simple app that lets a user schedule tweets and FaceBook shares for release at specified times of the day.
You can sign in using your Twitter or Facebook account, then add a Buffer email and password. You have to authorize Buffer to access your Twitter, FB, Linked In or App.net account.
Buffer also has a section called Analytics that shows you the number of times someone Retweets, Favorites, Mentions, or Clicks your message and the Potential number of users that could be reached.
The Buffer staff is good at answering question via Twitter and the app will also email you to let you know when your buffer is empty. I haven’t had much time to play with it yet, but expect it will be quite useful.
Have you ever tried Buffer, and if so, what was your impression? Or do you use a different program to schedule your social media?
To those who are traveling to Atlanta, be safe and have a wonderful conference!
Linda McLaughlin / Lyndi Lamont
Websites: http://www.lindamclaughlin.com
http://www.lyndilamont.com
Blogs:
Flights of Fancy
Lyndi’s Love Notes
Facebook
Twitter
Back to OCC
June 6, 2013 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Charlotte Carter, Charlotte Lobb, Linda O. Johnston, PAW
I’m back! Or, rather, I’ll be back at OCC this Saturday after a two-month absence. Both of those were the result of family, or at least partially so. I had a visit from family in April, and then was in the east in May both for some writing events and to visit family.
I will be running the PAW meeting on Saturday, delighted to do so although it will also feel bittersweet. Despite being listed on the OCC website as a co-liaison at PAW, I’m more of an assistant this year. But I previously served as a co-liaison with Charlotte Lobb. As you probably know by now, Charlotte has passed away. She was always funny and charming while running PAW meetings, as she was even when not running a meeting, and I know she will be missed by all of us at PAW as well as everywhere else. Charlotte was excellent at all she did, including promotion, and that’s a segue into our PAW topic this month: promotion tips. I’ll be eager to hear everyone’s ideas, since I’m always looking for more to try.
I’ll also be looking for published author volunteers to help out by hearing pitches and staffing tables at our July meeting to discuss writing issues. See you on Saturday!
Linda O. Johnston
http://www.lindaojohnston.com/
http://www.killerhobbies.blogspot.com/
emaginings: Had To Write Today
May 17, 2013 by Linda McLaughlin in category The Romance Journey by Linda Mclaughlin tagged as emaginings, Linda McLaughlin, writingAs usual, I had trouble coming up with a topic for today’s blog. You’d think I could plan ahead, but no. Couldn’t think of anything yesterday so I procrastinated. Then today it hit me. I HAD TO WRITE!
I’ve launched two reissues in the last couple of months, ROGUE’S HOSTAGE and LADY ELINOR’S ESCAPE. There’s a lot of work involved in self-publishing, revisions, edits, cover art, etc. And more work involved in a book launch. It seems like all I’ve been writing lately is blog posts and I just couldn’t stand it any more. Today I had to write.
I’ve been half-heartedly working on two projects, trying to fit them in in between blogs and tweets and what not. One is a sexy novella as Lyndi Lamont, and the other is a Western historical romance set after the Civil War that I started and abandoned years ago when conventional wisdom said Westerns wouldn’t sell. That’s no longer true, if it ever was, so…
Today I delved back into the Western, and it felt good to get reacquainted with my characters. I’m doing some revisions, but the story seems sound, at least so far. The main thing was, it felt good to write again, even if it is just revising. Promo can suck up so much time, esp. when you don’t have a big publishing house behind you. It’s easy to get caught up in the minutiae and forget to write.
So my apologies for this rambling, possibly incoherent blog post. But you see, I had to write today.
Linda McLaughlin
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