Tag: marketing

social media

Just the Bears Watching

As a rule, I generally don’t talk politics on social media platforms. I may like or comment on something that is important to me. But I don’t engage in heated discussions.

The biggest reason for this is my writing. As an author of women’s Christian inspirational fiction, I want to reach readers with the redeeming message of God’s work in our lives. We are here for a purpose, each one of us. And it’s our responsibility to figure out what that is and live it to our fullest potential. I want my books to show that life is really rotten at times, but you can survive that and go on. You don’t have to be perfect, look beautiful, or have your life in order. You just have to keep getting back up and forging ahead.

I don’t want that message taken away by me fighting for my rights, or taking sides. All of us know what side we are on, what we believe. Some are more vocal about it than others.

Believe me, I’ve prayed, and thought long and hard about my position concerning social media platforms and writing. They are a huge help with any small business. They are a fantastic marketing tool.

But they are also developed by people that don’t have the same goals in life as I do as a general rule. Every decision I make in my life, every step I take is balanced with my belief in the Bible first, and then my beliefs as an American. I believe the Bible sets us free, and I choose to live my life by certain standards.

I firmly believe that all the social media platforms developed by all the names we are now familiar with have the right to control content. They developed them, it’s their site. They made the rules. We can play or not.

Because I believe I have freedom to choose, freedom to live my life the way I want, I may not play much longer. And that is my choice.

The problems begin when someone’s rights step on mine. Just because you have the freedom to do something, doesn’t mean you have the right to do it, or that you should. There are always consequences. You may like to run around in your yard with no clothes on. If you live in the middle of nowhere and just the bears are watching, that is your choice. But in a neighborhood, there are consequences for those actions. The biggest one being against the law in most places. On a more human level…just plain offensive to some.

Image by Annick Vanblaere from Pixabay

This past year, maybe more than others, has really clouded the freedom to choose. In past years, if you didn’t want to be exposed to something, you stayed home. If you were sick, you stayed home. Believe me, I spent many years working in church programs such as the nursery and AWANA wishing parents had made the decision to keep their sick children home! But, I could not control them. I could only make my immune system stronger, and be ready.

I think we are on shaky ground now because of fear. People don’t make good decisions when fear is controlling them. As a Christian, it shouldn’t be an option, but it is at times. Because we are human. Being informed, researching, and knowing the facts helps with that fear.

Anyone that knows me, understands that health-related topics have always been important to me. As I said in my last post, that stems from my mother having leukemia at a very young age and using alternative methods. That included her going to Mexico for treatment. There were risks involved. So, I have always believed that health-related decisions are a person’s freedom to choose. I’ve worked in the medical profession enough to not believe it all, and remember to be informed, and make my decisions based on facts. I have that freedom.

I use natural products as much as possible. My daughter recently introduced me to Earthley Wellness.

Image by silviarita from Pixabay

Their site: https://www.earthley.com/ I’m including that link for those of you that may be interested in more natural products. I’ve liked the few products that I’ve tried so far. I do not know the people that own the company, and I have no reason to promote them, other than what I read this morning. And that is what prompted this post.

This company was started because of a mother’s concern for her child. She had the freedom to do that. I think the company understands what is happening, and they are taking steps to do what they need to do to sell their products, and speak their mind. Again, their freedom to do. You can read about that here:

https://www.earthley.com/earthley-news-instagram-deleted/?redirect_mongo_id=607e1b80c931070022dccc1d&utm_source

My rights end when they infringe on your rights.

No company, business, or person has the right to share their content on someone else’s platform without consent to do so. I don’t want views that I don’t believe put on my author’s page, etc. Hence the reason I may soon disappear from the big social media platforms. That may be a bad decision from a marketing standpoint.

But I never began writing to make money.

I firmly believe that those readers that stand behind me, will still be there. I have a message to share, and I will until I’m no longer allowed to. I will keep adjusting my strategy until then.

As a side note, and another reason for this post this morning. My yahoo news feed informed me of this:

Yahoo News

The Postal Service is running a ‘covert operations program’ that monitors Americans’ social media posts

Really? A big sigh. More research for me to do! Have a great day everyone!

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social media, Writing

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social media, Writing

Branding and Marketing

When I first started attending conferences for writing…I discovered how much I didn’t know about writing. And then the journey of learning more about writing began. One of the items that was shared was to make memes for Facebook and other social media to help with branding, marketing, and promoting books. So I jumped on and created memes every week. Now I have a bunch to pull from if I need one…but I still love to create new ones. And as with the writing, I have learned so much more about creating memes since my first ones!

To design memes, my business cards, bookmarks, banners, posters for events, book covers, and the list goes on…I use https://www.canva.com/ . I get my pictures from https://pixabay.com/ . These two sites have been a gigantic help for me in developing a brand and marketing my work. They are very user-friendly sites, and I find them fun. If you have a creative side, you should check them out! Canva has updated and you can now share directly to social media sites rather than downloading, etc. What will they think of next?

So now you have two great tools to go out and design for yourself. One thing that was pointed out…when making a meme, sign it as you would art work. I use my website, and I use the same font each time. People remember that. For example, what comes to mind when I say any brand name? You think of their logo. Great branding and marketing right there. Coke anyone? 😉

Remember, this week A Place to Call Home is being promoted as a free ebook. Get your copy today! Yesterday, this book was doing this:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #468 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

It’s pretty exciting! Below is one of the first memes I did. I’ve learned a little bit more about downloading, etc. now, but I still love the picture I found on Pixabay. Have a great Thursday everyone!

 

Rubyville - A Place to Call Home

 

social media, Writing

The Eye Of the Beholder

 

Well, it is the day after. Always a bit sad for me, but I do look forward to the New Year’s Eve celebrations and the first day of the New Year. So it’s not completely over yet! And I always leave the decorations up until after New Year’s Day. It keeps that holiday feeling for just a little bit more.

I don’t do a lot of book reviews on here. I really don’t do much of anything on a consistent basis on this site. I mean, this is not a food, health or parenting blog. It’s a ‘whatever pops into my head’ blog. So for those of you that stop by, it’s always a surprise. Rather the way it is for my children when they stop by our house. They never know what project I’ll be working on! Back to this post…

I first began this blog back in May of 2015. One of my first followers/likes, and a blog that I did the same for was this one: https://eyedancers.wordpress.com/

I was intrigued by the cover of his book, The Eye-Dancers. I also enjoyed his posts, and insights into life, the stories he shared. It reminded me of my teenage years living in upstate New York and Vermont. But since I don’t read Young Adult, I really didn’t think of reading his book. Well, after a year or so of struggling with getting my own books out there, and understanding how very important it is to have reviews of any kind, I decided I would read it. I had purchased it a while back, and then I finally began reading last July.

I don’t normally take so long to read a book, but I’ve had several on my nightstand for a couple years now. I made it a personal goal to read 25 books this year on Goodreads. I reached that goal and reset it to 30. Now I’ve read 32 for 2017…and that feels really good! At one time I loved to read. It was better than watching a movie, or having friends over. But marriage and children put that love on the back burner. Unfortunately I’ve read some not-so-good books lately, and that makes it hard to forge ahead. Just a bit of advice if you are going to self-publish. If you don’t have a degree in journalism, etc., take some writing courses, attend some writing conferences, or have a really fantastic editor. The typos, bad research of a topic, head-hopping and boring plot-line really lose a reader’s attention…and quickly! 

On Christmas Eve morning, I finished reading The Eye-Dancers, and I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t mean that in a condescending way. I literally went into it with the idea that it was a book for Young Adults, and just not my cup of tea. What turned it all around and kept me reading was the great writing, well-researched topic, well-developed characters, and the believe-ability of a time-travel book. Me, a 53 year old woman could enjoy the story, and look forward to more. Because I’ve heard there’s another one coming! 😉 Because of all the above, I wanted to share my thoughts here, and support a fellow author and their writing. Below is my review for Goodreads and Amazon:

I don’t normally read YA, but I do enjoy time travel-type books and movies. So I thought I would give this one a try. I rated it a 5-star because ‘it was amazing’ since it was well-written, very thought-provoking, and well-researched. That is saying a lot after some of the books I’ve read lately with the head-hopping, plot holes, etc. The author didn’t ‘dumb-down’ the characters as I’ve seen so many times in YA. The author also nailed the teen years of angst and thought patterns. It made me think of my own years and the struggles I experienced and felt. And somehow, the author made this story feel as though it could really happen…which is fantastic in my mind, considering the plot! It is what I loved about the Time Traveler’s Wife and Somewhere In Time. I read the books behind those movies, and I loved the books even more. Thank you for a very good read! 

You may purchase The Eye-Dancers right here: https://www.amazon.com/Eye-Dancers-Michael-S-Fedison/dp/0692262784/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1514136399&sr=1-2&keywords=the+eye+dancers

From the reviews the book has received so far, readers are thinking the same as me.

 

*I purchased the book and wrote the review on my own with no encouragement from the author. These thoughts are my own. Did I cover all the bases? 😉
Our Christian Walk

Don’t Be so Hard on Yourself!

For some reason, a commercial I remembered from my childhood started floating through my brain sometime during the night. I do know the reason why, but I want this to be a happy post! So I won’t go into the details of why that particular commercial sprang back to life.

bacon-737245_1920

“I can bring home the bacon, and fry it up in the pan…” were some of the lyrics. It was advertising the perfume, Enjoli. I don’t even know if the perfume is still available. The commercial I was thinking of was from 1978, and they remade it 1980. So sales must have been really great and it worked. It worked for me enough to remember the jingle! The part I didn’t understand at fourteen was bringing home the bacon and making it! I thought that was pretty much crazy. Why would you want to do both? Of course the goal of the commercial was to show that you could do everything as a woman… look gorgeous, and smell fantastic while doing it all! And that was a big deal back in the 1970’s.

bath-585128_1920

I must confess, and I really don’t want to get on anyone’s bad side. But I don’t want to do it all in any area of my life! Each of us has talents, gifts, and things that we are good at, and other items that aren’t so wonderful. I love to learn new things, and I’m happy that I’m pretty self-sufficient in most areas, but I don’t want to do it all.

I believe that God designed us to work well together. Each individual has areas of strength and weakness. And when we are functioning together, those talents, gifts, and areas all fit, just like the cogs on a wheel. When we apply patience and love toward those around us and not focus on the bad…life can be wonderful.

Do I apply what I just said? No! But I have applied it enough times in my life that I know it does work. And there are days when I need a kick-in-the-pants as well!

I’m perfectly happy to let someone else earn the money for the bacon while I fry it up. And I don’t mind purchasing it while someone else cooks it and does the dishes. But I would really prefer not to do it all. The same goes while I’m at work, attending church, raising my children, etc. Each of us needs to be a part of a whole.

Are women able to manage, multi-task, work hard at work and at home? Are they able to raise children, run a business, bake Thanksgiving dinner, or run the country? Yes! But what’s wrong with concentrating on just a few things rather than being fantastic at everything, and feeling lousy when you fail in some area?

Just do what God has designed you to do as a person. And do it well. Only you know what that is. Don’t let others guilt you into doing it all! Let others do their part…share the load.

If you want to be a stay-at-home mother, and you are able to, do it! You are raising the next generation. Take your job seriously and don’t feel small. Pass on the extremely important information those children need in so many areas. Teach them how to survive in this life, equip them in all areas. If you are working, be a hard worker and do your job well. Be an asset to others around you. Encourage others to use their talents and be part of that wheel.

Jump off the treadmill we call life, and live your life. Share it with others, be a part of the whole. We only have one shot at this. You make it want you want it to be.