By Carollyne Hutter
Social media can be so helpful to writers, offering ways to
connect with other writers, bringing in fresh audiences for their work, and
generally, helping with the business side of writing.
Andi Cumbo-Floyd lives in rural Virginia working as a writer,
editor, and teacher, and a farmer. She uses various social media to create a
supportive online writing community, promote her writing, expand her editorial
/ critique business, and advertise her onsite writing retreats on her farm.
When my clients ask how to use social media effectively, I
always say: create conversations and build a community. Sounds simple, but many
organizations fail to do this well. Andi, on the other hand, does a seemingly
effortless job of making social media warm, inviting, and supportive. I’m a
member of her online writing group and although we converse through computers,
tablets, and phones, Andi creates such a heartfelt community that it feels like
we’re meeting over coffee and chatting about our work. How does she do it?
Andi was kind enough to discuss social media with me and
answer my many questions.
Carollyne: Which social
media are you active on?
Andi: I am active
on Facebook with my personal page and three business pages, once for each my
websites—Andilit, God’s Whisper Farm, and Our Folks’ Tales. Plus, of course, the writing community. I also have a Twitter page that I use less
robustly but do share regularly there and retweet. I also post photos from the
farm and often of books I’m reading over at Instagram. I’ve set up profiles on most social media
sites, on the advice of Jane Friedman who recommends a presence everywhere even
if you don’t use the medium particularly, but these are the ones I use most.
Carollyne: How do you
use the different social media and for what purposes?
Andi: I’m not
super great about dividing myself into categories, so I don’t have very solid
guidelines for what I share where, which some people advise against. I, however, like to be my integrated self as
much as possible. I only post about
writing, or farming, or African American history and genealogy on my respective
FB pages, and Instagram is mostly farm photos and bookish photos. On Twitter, I
do tend to do more about racism and history there, but not exclusively. So, I have leanings in certain ways, but
ultimately, my goal is to be myself everywhere.
In terms of purpose, I pretty much hope to connect with people in a genuine,
engaged way everywhere. I love people—introvert though I am—so I love meeting
them and finding ways that our lives speak into each other.
C: In what ways is
social media helping your writing and your business as a writing consultant,
editor, and teacher?
A: Honestly,
social media is at the heart of my business. I get clients through the groups I
organize. I meet other writers and build strong relationships that often lead
to business through social media. I’ve hired others I’ve met through social media. It’s a fundamental part of how I do my work.
. . but that’s been a long time coming. It’s taken years of being available
online, of being intentional about cultivating true relationships with people,
relationships that are not driven by a “I hope they will hire me”
mentality. I find that kind of thinking
to be really gross, honestly. Rather, I’d rather be myself, get to know people,
make what I do known, and let people find me for the work if they think I’d be
a good fit for what they need.
C: You’re an
independent author. How do you use social media to promote and sell your books?
A: I typically
set up launch teams for my books and use social media both to communicate with
them AND to promote the book through them.
I share new covers or interviews I do about my books, and when they are
forthcoming, I use memes and all the standard things to promote. I have tried
sharing reviews as a way to bump up sales and get more reviews, but I don’t do
that much anymore.
Honestly, after the initial push when a book comes out, I mostly don’t promote
it much directly on social media. It feels disingenuous to me to do that, and I
also know that social media isn’t the greatest venue for book sales.
That said, I’m also not shy about sharing what I write. . . after all, if I
didn’t want people to read it, then why bother publishing.
C: What advice would you have for other writers using social media?
A: Be consistent
and be genuine. If you post regularly,
people will look for what you share. But you also can’t just throw things into
the void and then disengage. You have to really respond to people – every
comment if at all possible in as genuine a way as possible. And then, just be yourself. Share what you
love (and a little, tiny bit of what you hate on occasion.) Be honest. Be open.
And be wise – make intentional choices about what you share and where you share
it.
C: I’m a member of
your wonderful online writers’ group. Why did you establish the group?
A: I started it
because I heard so many writers saying they didn’t know how to connect to other
writers, and I’d felt that way myself. I
wanted to create a place where writers could make friendships and business
relationships with other people in the field. At first it was a pay-per-month deal, but a
few months after it began, I decided to make it free because I enjoyed it so
much. There are paid components – critique, workshop groups – but the heart of
the group is free to any writer who wants to join, and I love that.
C: Your writers’ community is so warm and supportive, which is
difficult to do with an online group. How do you create such an atmosphere?
A: Oh, thanks for
those kind words. I’m not sure how that happened – I think it’s partially the
nature of the people in the group, partially the fact that I try to be very
present there, and partially the fact that I don’t tolerate any disrespect or
ugliness in the group. . . or really anywhere in my online spaces. For me, every interaction I have with a person
– on my good days – is about honoring the person on the other end – be that in
person or through a screen – and I hope that comes through in the
community.
C: We all learn from
failures. Are there any activities connected to your writing work that you
tried on social media that were not successful?
A: Yeah, for a
while I was trying to post several times a day in all the places that I am via
social media, and honestly, it was exhausting and felt very forced. I was using
a scheduler and just pushing out content, and I was drained by it every day. So
I stopped and found that I could be present every day if I just set out to do
that, and that I could share more honestly if I shared when I felt I had
something worthwhile to share.
C: Social media can be quite a time sink, especially for writers. Do
you have a schedule when you’re active on social media or another way to limit
your social media time?
A: Oh glory, I
wish I did have a schedule because it is a time-sink. I’m honestly online most
of every work day. It’s not the ideal.
But I find that if I get my posting done or scheduled in the morning then I’m
mostly checking in and responding to folks throughout the day, which I do enjoy
and find important to build real relationships online.
In the evenings, I sometimes get up images, which works well since lots of
folks are online after their day jobs. But by then, I’m pretty much hands-off
on the computer or phone.
***
Andi Cumbo-Floyd
is a writer, editor, and farmer who lives at the edge of the Blue Ridge
Mountains with her husband, 38 chickens, 6 goats, 4 dogs, 4 cats, and 3
rabbits. Her books include The Slaves Have Names and Discover
Your Writing Self. She writes regularly at andilit.com, godswhisperfarm.com, and ourfolkstales.com.
Carollyne Hutter,
www.HutterWriter.com, regularly writes on environmental,
international development, and scientific topics for both adults and
children.
