Team Facebook

Lately I'm found more often lurking on Facebook instead of Blogger. It takes less time, posts are shorter, comments quick and easy. Or no comment at all if there's nothing to say. Just click Like. No captcha or scrolling up and down or trying to make a comment sound intelligent or clever or insightful when all I feel at that moment is dumb and dumber.

WiDo's marketing director plays on Team Google Plus. I enjoyed G+ when it first started, until they kept changing formats faster than a girl changing outfits for a big date. So I went back to play on Team Facebook.

If you're on Faceback, you can friend me here. I'll friend you back. I don't have an author page but if you have one I'll be happy to like it. With spending less time in Blogland I don't want to lose touch.

Which teams are you playing on most often these days?

Team Facebook?

Team G+?

Team Twitter?

Team Blogger?



Or one of the many other sites out there? Like Pinterest, which is hugely successful and highly addictive. Such pretty pictures!

Whichever way you play, I say THREE CHEERS for social media!!

Maria McKenzie shares Marketing Tips for Writers

Karen, thanks so much for hosting me here at Coming Down the Mountain! I’m blog touring to promote my new book, Masquerade: Part Two of the Unchained Trilogy:

Celebrated actress Lavinia Hargraves lives life as a masquerade. She hides her Negro ancestry to pursue her dream of becoming the world’s greatest actress.  She elopes with Vernon Hargraves, the owner of New York’s premier theater troupe, to acquire all that she could ever want: a new life as white, stardom on the stage, and an abundant supply of money. The secret of her mother's slave-girl past could easily destroy the life she has constructed.

Masquerade is now available at Amazon.  In my opinion, writing the novel was the easy part.  Now comes the hard part—marketing and promotion!  Whether you are traditionally published or self-published, the majority of the marketing will fall on your shoulders.  I am by no means a marketing guru, but I’m happy to share a few tips I’ve learned to help you!

There is no magic formula for promoting your work—at least not one that I’ve stumbled upon—but I have found that writing more books and connecting with readers are two ways to increase your sales.  Let’s take a look at each of these areas:

My Life as a Celebrity

I used to be one of those private people who didn't want anyone to know her business. That was before I got published and became a celebrity.

Now anyone who wants to know anything about me or my personal life can either a) read my books  b) follow my blog  c) stalk me on Facebook and Twitter. And don't forget Goodreads. I'm there too!

And occasionally I update my website, just in case there's not enough of the goings on of Karen Jones Gowen at the other venues.

All news about me written by me.

Thanks to social media everyone can be a celebrity like me. Here's how: Just get the ball rolling on two or more social media sites, ask your friends to join in, and create a media blitz on your very own time frame about your very own self. Or something like that.

My laptop knows I'm famous. I only need to type in the first letter of my name and all the url's relating to me and my online activities show up. Clearly I'm the most talked about person in the universe.

Thank you, dear Internet. Because of you, I can open my computer each morning and see that everyone knows my name, breathlessly awaiting to hear what I'll say next. It's so awesome being a celebrity.