My Top Ten Ways to Procrastinate While "Writing"

Any author will tell you we don't just sit in front of a computer screen for hours on end and let the words flow freely (and if they do tell you that, chances are they are lying.) My method consists of writing furiously for ten to thirty minutes at a time and then distracting myself for a few minutes. Here's my top ten ways to ensure nothing productive happens:
10) Check to see what song is playing on Pandora.  Of course, I usually recognize the songs on my favorite stations, but sometimes something new will come on. Then, of course, I have to see what it is!
9) Check email.  There's very rarely anything of interest in my in-box. But sometimes it's worth a second just to confirm that no one important has sent me anything of interest, like this Nigerian Prince I've heard about.
8) Check my blog posts. Sometimes I stop by just to see if there are any comments or how many people have read my post.  There are rarely comments (sad face emoticon).
7) Check Fiverr.  I'm pretty much done selling my soul as an editor on Fiverr. But occasionally I will check in to see if any funds have cleared.
6) Look at pictures on Pinterest for inspiration.  I don't spend a lot of time here, but sometimes it helps to clarify my thinking. Particularly when I am checking out my secret "hot guy" board... just saying.
5) Look up something for my story.  I like to double-check my facts from time to time, or see what type of vehicle I should incorporate, pick out a snazzy hotel for my MC, that sort of thing.
4) Tweet. I often have random thoughts while I am writing that needed to be Twittered.  Here's one from earlier today, "If my husband's not gonna read my books, I'm gonna start naming my heroes after my ex-boyfriends." It had to be said, people. Incidentally, follow me @authoridjohnson
3) Check for new reviews.  I don't get a lot of reviews. I still like to check every once in a while to see if anyone has any insight into my writing they would like to share. If you do, please be kind. I am mostly human.
2) Check Facebook.  There's really nothing to see here.  Checking my newsfeed really only consumes half of my day, tops.

1) Check to see if I've sold any books. This would also include the page count for the new KDP program. I check this several hundred thousand times per day. It is almost always the same....

All right, my fellow writers! What eats up your time??

5 Simple Ways to Help Out Your Writer Friend

Do you suffer to Listentoanauthoritosis? Does a friend or family member go on and on about how excited he or she is about a recently published book?  Do you sometimes want to throw your smart phone against the wall because you are tired of seeing cover options clogging up your newsfeed? It sounds to me like your author friend needs a hug--and by hug I mean your support--and by your support I mean money  encouragement (and social media blitzing if possible.) Here are five easy ways you can support your friend and help him or her achieve their book writing dreams.

1) Retweet! This is by far the easiest thing you can do to support your author friend (other than just saying, "Hey, way to go, author friend!") It takes about a half a second to retweet something and you will never see it again. Since the life span of a tweet is three seconds, chances are no one will be annoyed that you retweet for your friend fairly often because they won't see all of them. Hopefully, they will see one of them and buy your friend's book--and that just might make you a superhero.

Be a superhero and support your author friend!

2) Like/comment/share on Facebook. This is a little more demanding because you could potentially end up being the one clogging your other friends' newsfeeds.  But, it doesn't take much to like a post or leave a quick, encouraging comment. Did you know that the more like/comments/share's your friend's Facebook page gets, the higher it will climb in rankings, which will make it easier for other readers to find the page and potentially read one of your friend's books? It's true! Again, this is a huge help to author's so seriously interact on Facebook as much as you can. And, the next time you check to see who liked that 87th photo of what you had for dinner last night, you might realize your author friend is helping you out on Facebook, too. Interacting on FB makes you our BFF.

Best Friend Forever?  Go ahead, share that link!

3) Read their blog posts--and comment.  Many indie authors spend an overwhelming amount of time blogging (if you don't believe me  check out how many posts I have this month) in the hopes of grabbing the attention of readers. Again, the more interactions we have on our blogs, the better the chances we have of moving up in google search rankings and getting more attention. Clicking on blogs helps, but reading and commenting is even more helpful. And, sharing our blog posts on your social media (Twitter, Facebook, Google+) makes you a rock star!

Rock star? Blog star! Leave a comment!

4) Buy a book ( or two). If you haven't purchased one of your friend's books, please consider doing so. After all, chances are you can get one for less than a cup of Starbucks coffee and you can read it on anything. Yes, without a kindle, you can go download a Kindle published book and read it on any device through the Kindle Cloud Reader. That would mean your laptop, your iPad, your phone, whatever.  And when you buy a book, something magical happens. Graphs grow dots, lines go up, rankings go up, titles move up in search engine rankings and authors smile--a lot! It's not about the $1.50 you just put in my pocket; it's about the appreciation of knowing you care enough about me to buy my book. Even if you never read it, you suddenly just made your author friend's day. That makes you My Sunshine!

For the price of a cup of coffee, you can make it happen!

5) Write a review. Okay--I'm not going to tell you to go on Amazon and write a 5 star review of your friend's book if you hated it.  But if you saw some endearing qualities, let the world know!  (However, if you can find nothing good to say, don't break your loved one's heart by saying so publicly--mums the word.) When anyone posts a positive review about our work, it becomes very real that all of those hours we spent laboring over this work of art were not in vain. Someone read it--and they liked it! And that makes you the Queen or King of Everything!

Be Reviewer Royalty and help your author buddy out.

There are lots of ways that you can support your author friend and these are just a few of the simple ones. Who knows? Maybe that friend will write you into his next book as the best friend who saves the day!  And when she wins a major award or makes the best-seller list, she'll know who to thank!

Follow me on Twitter at @authoridjohnson
Find me on FB at https://www.facebook.com/IDJohnsonAuthor
And on Amazon here.

Pictures courtesy of Google images. All rights reserved.

Why I Hired Someone to Handle Social Media

I am a social media junky. I spend way too much time Facebooking, Tweeting, Pinning, and Instagramming (and yes, I know not all of those are words!)  I manage several Facebook pages and have three twitter accounts.  Why in the world would I ask someone else to handle social media for me?

Because, when it comes to selling books, it's hard.  And parts of it are depressing.
It's hard because, as indie authors, we feel the pressure to be "out there," to let the world know that we have wonderful books that they should purchase, read, and leave stellar reviews for.  There's pressure to constantly be online posting things, trying to trump up sales, or say something profound.
There's also the constant comparison of my sales with others, reading reviews that are not always (in my opinion) fair, and checking Amazon reports to see if any new dots show up.  Frankly, I don't want to look at that stuff anymore--I just want to write.
So, about a week ago I started looking for some help. I went to Fiverr because I happen to sell editing services on Fiverr myself and have used services on there before for book promotions, etc. I came across a start-up looking for people like me--people trying to get the word out about a product--and started a conversation with them. I have been so very impressed with the amazing work this little company has done. They started off by working on my Facebook page, making some changes and trumping up "likes."  So far that is working very well.  They are working on something other things also, trying to convert "likes" to sales. They have taken on this project as if it where their own books they were trying to sell, which I love.
If you are in the market for a social media manager, I highly recommend you check out Smart Koronos.  They are college students right now, but someday they will be leading the market when it comes to advertising.  You can find their gig here.  Tell them ID Johnson sent you. If they deliver for you the way that they have for me, you will not regret the low cost it takes to get started.  I will be recommending them to all of my author friends and everyone I edit for.  They promote other items as well, so if you are selling anything online, check it out.