Facebook for Authors – Cool Apps

Creating a Facebook page is difficult. Creating a Facebook page as an author is worse. And with so many apps to choose from, one is sure to get a headache or two. I love apps. Some I love more than others and whenever possible I try new apps in the hopes that it will make my life as a writer easier.

What I’ve learned from trying out so many apps is that not all apps are created equal. Some are free while others are not. Some need more work and other well, I should’ve never downloaded. The thing I keep in mind when searching for apps is that I want to highlight myself as an author, and if I’m  running  contests or promotions, I want my visitors to be able to access these contests and promos easily.

Here are some apps that (at this time) might be good for your page:

• ZoomFrame – allows you to import your website, Amazon author page or other pages (it allows three pages for free)

• Goodreads – imports your books from Goodreads

• Pinterest – here is a great post about some Pinterest apps for Facebook

• NetworkedBlogs – imports your blog posts to your page (I like having the NetworkedBlogs on my own blog and connecting with people through it.)

• YouTube For Pages – this is one I need to install – it will integrate your YouTube videos with Facebook

• Contest Apps – I haven’t used any personally, but I know people who like Rafflecopter

• Likes – if you have a lot of likes, you might have a likes apps to show the count (it can inspire others to like your page)

• Events – if you participate in events, you can use this app to let people know your schedule

• videos – if you don’t want to integrate with YouTube, there are apps that allow you to upload videos – videos are a great way to engage your fans

• quizzes – I haven’t used any quiz apps but they are also a great way to engage your fans

• Freebooksy has released a Facebook app for authors that is free. It allows you to put in your Amazon ISBN and have your book details automatically pull into your Facebook page. You can also offer a free chapter, collect email addresses from your fans and list your book signings.

You can install it here: https://apps.facebook.com/authorapp/?ref=ts

You can learn more about the features here: http://www.freebooksy.com/freebooksy-author-marketing-ap/

Involver.com has a few free Apps that are available for download. I use their Twitter feed and Rss blog feed apps.

If you have come across apps that you find useful please add them below.

Good Luck with your Fan Page!

Wow, I just found cool apps for my author page! Tweet This

Four invaluable and FREE twitter apps

Tweeting can be hazardous to your health. I’ve had that twitter bug, sitting at my desk tweeting away, trying to find content last minute because the last time I tweeted was a month ago. This is valuable time I could have spent revising my WIP or writing new content for my next book. But no, I was warped into the twitter twilight zone and didn’t emerge for two hours and you know what came out of it, not one new follower. Why, because nothing done last minute has any value. So, I have adapted a few new tools that have proven to help me and in turn, they will help you.

1. Twuffer.com : I use this app quite a lot because I currently reside in China and the time zone confuses me. (I’m exactly 12 hours ahead of NYC.) Twuffer lets me schedule as many tweets as I need far in advance. This helps me substantially and frees up a lot of my writing time.

2. savepublishing.com has a great toolbar app that grabs tweetables from any website. I’ve used this on my avscott.com site and my blog belowseelevel.com. It’s great for when you don’t know what to tweet. Follow the directions to the letter and in less than five seconds, you’ll have tweetable content.

3. Justunfollow.com has free and paid options. I use the free one quite often and it works. It easily lets you see the twitter followers that are following you, unfollowed you and who is inactive. My follower base has grown with this tool because as you may or may not know, Twitter has a follow ratio. Therefore, you can’t just go around following everyone. Every user can follow 2000 people total. Once you’ve followed 2000 users, there are limits to the number of additional users you can follow: this limit is different for every user and is based on your ratio of followers to following. So, follow wisely.

4. Clicktotweet.com is the easiest and quickest way to create tweetables. As you’ve probably noticed, I used them in my blog. Simply enter the information you want to tweet, add hashtag and don’t forget to add your twitter handle and then click generate. Then, copy the link into your blog or website.

Here are some free tweetables. Feel free to use as often as you like!

1. I just found two invaluable and FREE twitter apps to ease my tweeting fingers. Click to tweet

2.  Check out these great tips on building twitter followers for free.  Click to tweet

3. If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.-Yogi Berra Click to tweet

4. You need to have a passion for social media in order to do it well. Click to tweet