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Social media is an adventure.

For some it’s a way to have fun and connect with people who have the same interests. For some it’s a way to market.

For authors…it’s both.

And we struggle to discover how it can best work for us. So, I am sharing my social media story, my adventure.

Social media is a tool. To build friendships. To research and find agents, editors, cover designers, and publishers. To build your brand…to be yourself, to show people who you are and what you stand for, to share how you see the world. To learn about writing. To find critique partners. To find support.

I am on Twitter, with 7,488 followers (as I type this). @KathleenPalm

I am on Instagram, with 133 followers (as of now). kathleen.palm

I have a Facebook author page, with 100 likes (as of this moment). Kathleen Palm

They are all my name, the name I write under. I did that on purpose, to make it easy to find me…if anyone looks, which is the key, right? Is anyone looking? No idea.

I have this blog…TA DA!

And I post twice a month on The Midnight Society blog…a place for horror fans!

Good? Bad? I have no idea. But it is what it is. I’m out there. Yea me!

Obviously, I have been most active on Twitter. My account has been active for about five years, I really started using it four years ago. I love it there. All my friends are there! Though it can get a bit mean and nasty, I try to not get sucked into the muck. I use Twitter to connect with writers, to build my CP pool, to find support when it’s been a bad day, to spread happiness to my fellow writers, to celebrate all the things. To share books that are being released, to share books I’m reading. I live-tweet a horror movie once a month, part of my “Let’s Watch a Horror Movie” series on The Midnight Society blog, which is super fun!

Hashtags are fun, use them to find people who have similar interests. Like dogs? There’s a hashtag for that. Cats? Gardening? Fantasy? There are hashtags for everything. People who aren’t following you…could find you through the hashtags.

Great tags for writers?

#amwriting, #amreading, #amrevising, #amediting…there are so many more, including ones to share lines from your WIP. We find each other as we face frustration and victory. The writing community is awesome.

I have started a few, mostly to make my friends smile. #MountieMonday #MomoaMonday #MyLittlePonyMonday #MuppetMonday #MinionMonday (All those to help make Mondays happier) #Theosday (to celebrate Theo James, which happens on Tuesdays and Thursdays) #WeDEANsday (for Dean Winchester) #FRYANday (because Ryan Gosling). These are fun. I like fun.

My Facebook author page…well, that’s where I post anything writing related. I will post updates and sometimes lines from my current WIP. I will share blogs about writing. But I struggle with it’s purpose, to really enjoy using that spot. It’s there, maybe I’ll stop forgetting about it. Maybe.

This blog. It’s here. I try to post consistently, but sometimes I have to let it go. I try to post about writing, share what I know. I post about things that make me smile, to make others smile. I like to share the magic of the world. Because the world is magic and we sometimes we forget.

When I was asked to joined The Midnight Society blog, I was over the moon excited and honored! I love horror and I love the people who blog there. We are a family who love creepy. I have learned so much from them, my horror horizons have been broadened. THANK GOODNESS!

Now onto my newest project…Instagram.

I am a YA author. So I need to market to teens. Twitter? Maybe. FB? Maybe. Instagram? YES!

Though I will say that my thoughts on selling to teens is through the actual teens. Word of mouth. Friends telling friends…so I will be using my daughter and her friends. BECAUSE THEY ARE AWESOME!

I joined an Instagram for authors FB page, to learn from others and share what I learn so we can rock the Instagram.

#igauthorlife, #igauthor would be that group. We did a #myfavoritereadsweek last week where each day we posted a pic of our favorite books and why we love them. There are people out there searching for books to read! I know…shocker, right? They are happy to find books they didn’t know existed. I had one person so happy that I posted about Amy Lukavics’ THE WOMEN IN THE WALLS, because she didn’t know about it. Someone else was very interested in MG book THE SEARCH FOR WONDLA by Tony DiTerlizzi.

Through this group, I hope to connect with people on Instagram. Because it’s fun…because someday I’ll want to share my books!

Tip…I linked my Instagram to FB and Twitter, so the one post goes to all three. That is a life saver!

What I am trying:

Being myself, sharing everything me.

#adventureswithKathy and #magicexists…where I post pics of the things I see, odd things with my strange way of viewing them…where I take everyone out into the world with me.

Reading.

#amreading, #booksofinstagram, #ilovebooks, #yalit, #yabooks… also hashtag the title and author…to share my reactions while I read. To share what I love. To introduce others to a book they might not have known existed.

At the moment it is #scythe by #nealshusterman…OMG THIS BOOOOOOOK!

Other life things.

#catsofinstagram, #dogsofinstagram, #gardening…anything else that I love.

I am seeing a lot of likes form people I don’t know and a few have followed me.

What else have I learned? Hashtags can be overwhelming. There are so many, type in #book…and the list is enormous! Do I need them all? Do I choose the ones with the most posts? I have no idea. I tend to be a less is more person, so I don’t overwhelm my posts with hashtags. Right…wrong? It is what I am doing.

Tip…do what works for you. Don’t stress over what might work better, what you should be doing. All the guessing could kill the fun.

AND IT SHOULD BE FUN! If you’re not having fun…no one else will.

Overall, it comes down to being consistent. No one is following…no one is following…keep going! Try not to focus on the followers and turn your attention to you, how you want to portray yourself, really stretch your wings and FLY!

Be yourself. One of the best compliments I ever received when I met a Twitter friend in person was “You are just like you are on Twitter!”.

It me.

It always me.

See you around the web!