Sharing Information Online Responsibly (i.e., Don't Be a Douche)

Here's your periodic reminder not to be irresponsible or manipulative when sharing links. Knowing is half the battle before you start spouting bad sources:

News -- This is news. It is fact-checked, verified, and references credible, relevant sources or interviewees specific to the story or event. It strives to be as objective as possible, sticks to actual data parsed by multiple experts, and always provides a counterpoint(s) for credible discussion (questioning an interviewee who claims the earth is flat or continuing to cite debunked theories about massive scale election interference isn't a credible opposing point, for example). It focuses on the who, what, where, and when of a story or event.

Analysis -- This is not news. This is someone's breakdown of what he/she/they feel are the takeaways from actual news or some event. This one confuses many people because the person presenting the opinions is usually some kind of expert in a matter related to what he/she/they are analyzing, such as pundits discussing a presidential debate or a legal expert discussing how a court case plays out. However, even though the analysts are experts , they tend to have a vested interest in promoting one side of an issue over the other side, such as a conservative pundit for a conservative news station or a climate change attorney for climate change rulings. The best examples of this include a variety of experts who can discuss and even disagree with each other, providing the experts are peer-respected, tenured, and credible (again, there's no point in including flat earth "scientists" for a credible discussion of geology or a pillow salesman or pop star for a discussion of world politics). 

Opinion/Editorial -- This is not news. This is someone's opinion (quite often a complaining, partisan one) about some issue or event. I'm surprised how often I see people reference these as facts or news because they are quite often clearly identified as just Op/Ed in the papers or sites they appear in/on. (Although some sources do incorrectly and irresponsibly let these appear alongside news stories as a counterpoint to news.) Sadly, this can often masquerade as Analysis and confuse those who are looking for quick, easy "facts" (not actually facts though) to support their preconceived beliefs.

Review -- This is not news. This is an assessment by a professional critic regarding (typically) some published media. 

Political Memes -- Not only are these not news, they are often flat-out lies and falsehoods. Unless they cite a credible source in the meme, these are typically unverified and intentionally misleading or designed to elicit an emotional, knee-jerk response. If it has no source, just don't share it. You could do more harm than good. If it does have a source, check it out before sharing it. Chances are the source is made up to provide false credibility or designed to take an actual quote or fact out of context. And trust me, we've all been fooled at least once by these pesky critters. 

Most YouTube sources fall under Analysis, Op/Ed, or Review. There are some that actually do the work of journalism to present news.

Most podcasters tend to fall under the Analyst-Op/Ed-Review category as well, though there are a few credible investigative journalism podcasts that report relatively unbiased news.

It's okay to share Op/Ed and Analysis articles. But please don't source it as news. Always be sure to explain that it is merely an opinion, albeit in some cases a more informed opinion, but an opinion nonetheless. If you intentionally imply that such a source is news or is a factual account of a story or event, you are irresponsible at best and outright spreading lies and trying to manipulate others at worst. 

Most partisan sources that identify as such promote bias and don't actually cover news. They inject a lot of Analysis and Op/Ed into so-called news stories.

Movie Reviews for Writers: Peripheral

There are so many movies about authors, but not so many good ones with something to say about what it means to be an author. And even fewer that have something to say about the world of publishing. 

Well, Peripheral is one of those that actually does both, and I think it should be required viewing for modern authors living in a digital age. 

With its obvious references to Videodrome, another of my favorite movies, Peripheral hits its theme with a hammer. Do I wish it had been more subtle and used something softer? Yes. Does that diminish its message? Not really. 

That theme: 

Who owns the writer's words? The writer? The fans? The publisher? Then who creates the works? The originality of the writer or the expectations of the market? What if your writing hardware took care of all those decisions for you?

The new flesh is no longer video, its digital. Mixed up subplots run together in this confusing soup, but wow, is it beautiful to watch and listen to. And it sticks with you, particularly if you're a writer in the digital age, long after the credits roll. 

Bobbi is an old-school writer not really comfortable with computers, but her publisher wants her output to increase. Pressured into adapting to a new system (with the help of using an author she admires to drive that pressure home even further), Bobbi gives in and tries the new system out. It is designed to pull the story from her and to emulate her voice and even correct her work without her acknowledgment (which she only discovers later). Ultimately, Bobbi learns that she is just another commodity that can be replaced by the digital if she doesn't play ball with her publisher's corporate interests. Even if that means becoming one with the machine. 

To say much more about this terrifyingly interesting flick would be to give too many spoilers away, but if you're at all interested in the blending of technology with creativity, consider it a must-see.

[Link] How to Use Twitter to Get More Freelance Clients

by James Parsons 

Twitter is a surprisingly good platform for connecting with people. Sometimes it seems like a one-sided connection, but over time, people begin to recognize each other, and you can facilitate the process until you’re successfully networking throughout your industry.

Describe Your Specialty in Your Bio

One of the keys to getting more clients is letting people know what it is you actually do. Your Twitter bio should include your elevator pitch. My basic formula is [personal item][profession][joke][exceptional clients][CTA].

Example Freelancer Twitter Profile
So, for example, you might have something like this:

Husband and father, freelance graphic designer, and organizational ninja working with @coke and @disney. Check out my portfolio at <link>.

It’s a short profile but it does a lot of work. It tells people what kind of profession you’re in, an idea of your sense of humor and what your personal life is like, and what other companies have worked with you in the past. Plus, it has a link to your portfolio so any interested parties can check you out. I recommend tracking that link specifically with some UTM parameters so Google Analytics can pick up more data, as well.

Read the full article: https://follows.com/blog/2017/10/twitter-get-freelance-clients

[Link] I’m Ignoring All Your Sales Announcements (And Here’s Why)

Editor's Note: This may be the most important blog post I've read regarding writers on social media. Don't be "that guy." You know who I'm talking about. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

by The Invisible Author

Book marketing for authors is still a widely unknown phenomenon. And as such, a lot of authors still don't quite get how book marketing should work. Most of the posts, tweets, and pins you make advertising your new book for sale go largely ignored by a lot people — even bookworms and friends like me. Oh sure, you may get the occasional retweets, shares, and a few people may even go ahead and make a purchase. It's not that the rest of us don't want you to succeed; on the contrary, most of us want to see you succeed. Most of us can't wait until we see that announcement that you've made it onto a best seller's list. Any best seller's list. So why isn't it working?

So, if all your friends and family members want to see you succeed, why are we ignoring your advertising? Here are some of the top reasons I have actively ignored pleas on social media.

That's not why we're on social media.

No one joins social media because they want their friends to sell stuff to them. No one created their Twitter accounts hoping all the authors would start tweeting about sales and book releases. And no one ever hopped on Instagram hoping to see photo after photo after promotional photo of every book ever about to be released.

And I'm pretty sure you didn't join social media just so you could try to market that book. Right?

We're there to see what you're up to, to get to know you better, and to follow along with your journey. We signed up so we could stay in touch with our friends and family, and make new friends. We followed your fanpage on Facebook or Twitter so we could connect with you. So if you want us to pay attention to you, pay attention to us.

It's shaming or guilting us for not buying.

I'm sure you've seen those posts flying around. “You should be buying local instead of buying from major retailers,” or “why would you support major publishing houses instead of your own friends?”

I'll tell you why we make purchases from major publishing houses — because they are selling books we're interested in. Not that we wouldn't be interested in your book, but we don't like being judged for our buying habits.

Read the full article: http://theinvisibleauthor.com/2017/04/11/im-ignoring-sales-announcements-heres/

Bibliorati coming January 15!

To Writers and Publishers:

Finally, there is (or will be on January 15) a place for readers to connect with Writers and discover new and older works while keeping up with the latest in publishing and reading news.  That place is Bibliorati.

Bibliorati will feature daily news from publishers and authors, from the brand new to the old guard, and will also reach out to readers through writers of today. From reviews to interviews to articles on a particular aspect of books or genre or reading, writers and readers alike will introduce readers, brand new as well as lifelong practitioners of the art, to new vistas, raising awareness of works by current authors and publishers today as well as revealing past works that readers may enjoy.

Bibliorati is where readers can find out about books, genres, authors, and publishers they may not be aware of and want to support. And contributors to the site will enrich readers, sending them in new directions. It is also where Publishers and Writers may find one another, where audiences can be expanded, and books that deserve more attention can finally get it. 

There will be a core group of columnists, most who will have one column appear weekly. These columns will either be reviews, interviews with writers and publishers, or articles that focus on a certain type of book, themes, genres, etc.  This isn’t a ‘how to write’ site, but more of a ‘how and what to read’ experience.  The goal is to connect readers with writers they either have never known or maybe are familiar with and just want to know more about.  As a side note, ideally, we want three columns a day each week of new material, done by one columnist. We will be starting with two columns on most days, one on others.   The rest of the content for the site will be made up of news that we hope writers and publishers, such as Yourself, will provide. 

We want to keep readers informed of all the things that are going on in the reading/literary world, but as this is a labor of interest without pay, we don’t have someone who can go out scouting all the news.  That’s why if You wish to have news featured on Bibliorati, please be sure to regularly send it along to Biblioratione@gmail.com and we’ll get it posted when the site goes live on January 15, 2017.  We will also simultaneously post it to the Facebook page, which will be live today, and our Twitter account, which will be set up about the time the site is.  New releases, promotions, submissions calls, etc., all news is welcome.

What is the price for this service? Well, there is one….

We want Bibliorati to be a go to place for readers. To that end, we are going to be regularly promoting the site in as many venues as possible and putting the site in front of, so to speak, publishers and press outlets of all types, wanting them to not only use Bibliorati as a source of content, but to discover writers and such that should be discovered.  So, what we would ask all of You to do is to mobilize Your market, Your fan base, Your regulars to not only read Bibliorati, but to talk about it and spread the word.  We can’t force you to do this, but we’d like Your help in making Bibliorati work for us all. 

Join us on Facebook. Email any news to Biblioratione@gmail.com and ask any questions You may have there or at this email.