TikTok

TikTok Goes Tick Tock

Yes, I have gone over to TikTok. But it’s all for a good cause — to win over readers.  I will admit it has been a bit of a learning curve but I’m game for new challenges. Here’s how to find me: @joanlivingston_author. Are you on TikTok? Let me know.

But now, I’m going to back up a bit about connecting with the internet. I can recall when I knew only two people who had email — my daughter, Sarah, and a friend from college, Fred. In those days I got internet that came over my phone line and I paid the local university $25 a year. Even the newspaper I worked for then didn’t have a website. But that whole scene certainly has changed.

My first social media efforts: I signed up for  Facebook and LinkedIn. I’ve kept the first and recently dropped the second since I’m not looking for a job. Next was Twitter and more recently, Instagram. After a fellow author did a zoom class this fall on TikTok, specifically the benefits of BookTok, I joined but didn’t do much.

But fortunately our son, Ezra, who was visiting one the holidays from California, knows a lot about Instagram and TikTok, specifically how to make livelier posts via videos. As an artist and a Burner — as in Burning Man — he is far more skilled. It was time for the son to teach the mother the ins and outs, which he did patiently over the course of a few days. So thank you, Ezra.

Since signing on with darkstroke books five years ago, I’ve learned about promotion. Some of it I pay for, like Fussy Librarian and Written Word Media. On Jan. 10, BookBub will be spreading the word about my new release The Sacred Dog

Then there is the free stuff like posts on the above-mentioned social media plus what I write on my website. I try not to bore people with the “buy my book” mantra. Yes, there is some of that but I want readers to enjoy my observations about life. It’s part of my writing day.

My latest posts? Videos about a secret door in my childhood home, my talking about The Sacred Dog on release day, plus Little Libraries, trains, and waterfalls in my village. By the way, the trains and waterfalls sure has a lot of fans. I just found out the video I posted about the mini-fridge turned into a Little Library had over a thousand views and over a hundred likes. (That’s a photo of it above.) A good start, I would say.

LINKS TO BOOKS: During the past four months, I have had two book releases: Following the Lead, no. 6 in my Isabel Long Mystery Series, and The Sacred Dog, which is an independent novel although I am thinking of a sequel.

Following the Lead: https://mybook.to/followingthelead

The Sacred Dog: https://mybook.to/thesacreddog https://mybook.to/thesacreddog

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