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The news about Facebook’s embroilment in a data-harvesting-cum-political scandal kind of makes us all want to unfriend the platform for good.

For sure, our collective conscience would be cleaner and we’d all be a lot less distracted without it. Some of us would probably even feel a vengeful twinge of self-righteousness seeing Zuckerberg and his cohorts caught at last with the smoking gun that proves their invention is not only bad for us, but just downright bad.

While a breakup with Facebook might inflict some short-term suffering on most folks — pain from the loss of online friendships and a hollow void in that space between minutes that status updates used to fill — for writers and authors, it would pose a nearly existential dilemma.

For better or for worse, Facebook is still the platform for authors from a community-building and visibility perspective, with its unsurpassed power to spread the word, engage readers, and generate promotional opportunities. Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Snapchat combined could never pack the same punch that Facebook schmoozing can.

Throughout all my years as a writer and a publicist helping writers, a few constants about Facebook have reinforced this belief: [Read more…]

Our guest today is Elizabeth Dimarco, CEO and co-founder of BooksILove, a free mobile platform for readers to discuss the books they’ve read and get recommendations from friends and co-workers in non-curated, peer-to-peer conversations. It’s also the place for authors, publishers and booksellers to observe and engage with audiences, publicize author events, book launches and more. A longtime member of the Writer Unboxed community, Elizabeth writes tales at the crossroads of technology and mythology that take place in more than one world.

Achieving widespread book discovery is like hunting a unicorn. Many authors seek it, but only a few ever find it. Having spent the past two years immersed in creating a mobile solution to this issue, I believe authors may be on the wrong quest. What if the key to gaining a reader base isn’t about chasing discovery, but rather slowing down and engaging?

** Special for Writer Unboxed Readers! Tomorrow BooksILove releases the beta version of its new reader engagement mobile app. If you are interested in trying it out, contact Elizabeth at Elizabeth@booksilove.com. If you’re a Writer Unboxed author, Elizabeth invites you to promote your events on the app by going to BooksILove and clicking on Create Happenings Here. Use the promo code WU2015 to enter your event information.

Connect with Elizabeth on Facebook and on Twitter.

Meeting Readers Where They Are

In recent years, the quest for book discovery has taken on almost mythical proportions. Armed with their best tweets, blogs, and pins, authors hunt the elusive discovery beast that is just out of reach. After spending the past two years immersed in creating a mobile solution to this issue, I believe authors may be on the wrong quest. What if the key to gaining a reader base isn’t just about chasing discovery, but also about slowing down and engaging?[pullquote]Over the past twelve months, the buzzword in book discovery conversations has shifted to engagement.[/pullquote]

Over the past twelve months, the buzzword in book discovery conversations has shifted to engagement. While it’s not a new concept, the introduction of reader analytics available from e-reading devices has propelled engagement into the limelight. Engagement represents a change in emphasis to quality of sales over quantity—an engaged or quality reader sale often translates to repeat sales and loyal fans.

So what’s the difference between discovery and engagement? [Read more…]

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