Ooops! Billy's Been A Naughty Boy

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time you will know that I am a writer who:

• Does his best to help and support other authors.

 

• Explores ways of promoting his own books and passes that information on to fellow writers.

Just recently I gave away free copies of my report The Mavis Trott Twitter Campaign otherwise referred to as the Twitter Download Wave. It’s a strategy I find hugely effective in getting extracts of my books into the hands of potential readers/purchasers. If we are honest that’s the most important goal for any writer. Stuff posterity let’s get the bread on the table!

(Anyone interested in obtaining a copy can find out how by reading my last two blogs).

I’m currently trialling a promotional method that has got off to a less than auspicious start. It’s not a new approach but one I hadn’t tried personally until now. I have to say though I loved the concept so much I decided to give it a go. The idea is to set up a fictional account for your character on Twitter or Facebook. In my case for Billy Jenkins the focal character of my work in progress Billy and the Pit of Shadows. My initial mistake was not letting people know up front that Billy was not a real person although as most of you probably know already the characters you create become very real indeed.

Apparently a few people reported me as a spammer and my account was suspended. It proved only temporary as Twitter realised I was not aggressively following other users and reinstated my account in a matter of hours. So the first thing I learnt using this approach is to ensure other Twitter users know you are a fictional character before you start following them!

 

 

 

What would be a great help at this stage is for everyone reading this blog with a Twitter account to follow Billy at @billyangelis.

Follow @BillyAngelis

This is another way we could help with each others promotions. Anyone wishing to try this for themselves simply let me know and I will post it on this blog so we can show our support by following you. This would give us a lot more latitude with Twitter if the number of Followers exceeded the number of Twitter users we are following from the outset.
 

From a purely writing perspective creating a social media account for your characters is also a great way of developing a deeper knowledge and understanding of them. The more real your characters become the more persuasive and believable your writing will be. The easier it becomes for the reader to relate to them and to be drawn into your world.

 

 

Engagement is key.
 

I will keep you posted as to how effective this campaign is but the best way to monitor my progress is to Follow at @billyangelis. Just don’t laugh if I get sent to the Twitter naughty corner again!


Thanks in anticipation to everyone who rallies to the call and follows Billy.