The other network by Terry Burns

In writing groups, online groups, at conferences and other places writer's gather we talk a lot about the importance of networking. It is important to build relationships with editors and agents and other writers and maybe even more important building a base of readers who will follow our work.

But that's not the only networking we should be doing.

Maybe the most important such network is family. From a writing standpoint some authors are lucky to have family that understands their need to write and what they are really accomplishing with it. Some don't, and I've found if that is the case that the understanding we seek there will come when the time is right. That's why we network in the first group I mentioned, to have interaction with people who really know and understand. No, the support from this group is much more important to us than just understanding our writing, they are our base, our anchor. My wife Saundra is the center of this network and the center of my life. From there it moves out to five kids, ten grandkids and three great grands then on to our extended family. We should all be working very hard on the relationships in this network.

For me the most important networking of all is constant contact with the Lord through daily prayer and Bible reading. And strongly related to that network is my church family. I am lucky to have a church family that wants to celebrate with me when there are glad tidings, but who are also there for me when there is illness or when I am facing other problems. And Saundra and I are there for them as well.

My client group is an important network. I require them to be in an online group where I can contact them all at once but they have a choice as to whether they are full access on the group or only receive priority messages from me. Most are in the full access group where they can talk to one another and where I can see what they are talking about and respond to them when appropriate. They have a very close bond, rejoice in each others success, and have become a tremendous group of prayer warriors when prayer is needed. They support each other and are very strong support for me.

I have a large number of acquaintances,  particularly counting the number of 'friends' on facebook, twitter and other social media. I tend to accept friends from family members and from the writing community. Others who send me friend requests I don't accept which automatically makes them a follower. We need followers too, and hopefully that will keep me from going over whatever that number is that we can't exceed on friends there.

But there is a huge difference between acquaintances and real friends. I have had few real friends in my life and they are very precious to me. There are a lot of people who will come running for a party or celebration, who love to celebrate and rejoice with us, but the real friends are the ones that come running when we need help. And we have to be there for them as well.

We talk a lot about our writing networking and I think most of us work at improving those connections. Are we putting as much effort into these other networks?

Homegrown Tech Support by Andy Scheer

My son owns a T-shirt that says, “No, I will not fix your computer.”

Fortunately, he doesn't hold me to that. Working as programmer for a computer company, he's a logical choice to ask when a new technical challenge arises.

I'm grateful he's a good teacher. His explanations of how to solve or prevent problems—plus him looking over my shoulder as he shows me to click there—means I less often need to call on his services.

When that need arises, my wife and I try to pair the request with an invitation for him and his wife to come to dinner—accompanied by their favorite crescent rolls with an extra dozen to take home.

Fortunately, the information exchange goes both ways. My wife and I are often their first go-to resource in matters of cooking, sewing, and home and car maintenance.

As a veteran editor, I'm not surprised to get writing-related questions from people I've met. Unless I'm on a tight deadline, it's usually no trouble to answer. But if those people ask me computer questions, I'm easily stumped if they're running programs with which I'm not familiar.

So I often ask if they have teens in the house—or nearby grandchildren or teens from their church. I suspect a fair amount of tech support is available for the price of a couple dozen home-baked cookies. Or better yet, for showing them how to bake their own.

Keep Readers Engaged, Think of The Avengers by Jennifer Hudson Taylor

We spend so much time building a platform and concentrating on gathering higher numbers of followers, fans and readers that we don't want to lose their interest between long works of fiction. While there are several ways to keep your readers engaged, I want to mention three of the most important.

1) Write a daily or weekly Blog

2) Keep them updated on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest

3) Write a short story or a couple of scenes that lead to the next big novel release.

It's the third option I want to concentrate on, especially since you're probably already doing the first two options. You could write novellas in between your large works, as I have done, but those will be totally unrelated to the characters in your long novels. Now I'm starting to get a lot of requests for a third book in my Highland Series. Several people are asking for Leith's story.

If you have a good series going that people don't want to let go of, you and your publisher will want to capitalize on that. For instance, if you have a single title book and would like to write a follow-up that isn't contracted, you might want to keep a log of reader emails, reviews, and social media comments from those who have requested you write a second or third book, or have requested you write about other secondary characters and give them their own story. Once you start building up a large database of requests, you can submit them with your proposal for follow-up books.

If it will be a while before the follow-up books release, in order to keep your readers engaged with the characters, you could write short scenes and make them available as ebook downloads for newsletter subscribers or for all your readers on ebook formats. These scenes could lead up to the next big novel release. Be sure to discuss it with your editor and make sure your publisher approves of your ideas.

If readers download these scenes and really like them, once they realize that there are other books available, you'll continue gaining readership that will build for the next big book release, plus they will go back and read the other books. This is another marketing tactic that is a bit unconventional, but effective if done well. We can learn from Hollywood and the movie industry.

Think of The Avengers!

Today is the big release of The Avengers, but since 2008 they've released five other movies with the same characters leading up to the big finale movie. These build-up movies were Captain America, Thor, Iron Man I and II, and The Incredible Hulk. Fans loved them and want more of the same characters. Tickets will be selling out everywhere today. (Yes, I'll be in line!)

So what are your thoughts? Have you tried anything like this? Do you think it would be effective?