A Short, Quick Guide to Social Networking for Writers

I just came back from giving a talk at a local writer’s club. There I heard the same question I hear everywhere I go: What’s the best way for writer’s to accomplish their social networking — especially given the fact that they really don’t want to do social networking at all. They just want to write.

Here’s my very, very short and quick guide to social networking for writers: Blog. That’s right. One word. Blog.

Oh…right. And this sentence: After you publish a blog post, post a link to that post in at least two social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or LinkedIn).

That’s it.

Basically, blogging simply involves writing. Every writer can blog. It’s not too hard. It’s not too techy. It doesn’t take too long. Except for the part about posting the links to social networks, which also isn’t too hard or too techy, it involves doing what you love — writing. After that, it’s all about telling people to read your writing. What writer doesn’t want to be read? A blog allows your writing to be read.

So, go do it. You have all the information you need.

If you need a blog, either get a webmaster or WordPress expert to help you start a self-hosted blog or go to WordPress.com and start a WordPress hosted (free) by yourself. The process is pretty self-explanatory. You can have one up and running in less than an hour.

If you aren’t on any social networks, go to Twitter.com and Facebook.com (and LinkedIn.com if you provide a service, sell a product or are an expert or professional), and sign up. This is a very easy and self-explanatory process. (LinkedIn is a bit more difficult and requires more information.) Then begin posting status updates – in other words, write a few words about your blog posts and then the link to your post. You can also offer a status update now and then simply about yourself.

That’s it. You’ve done everything you need to do to get started. You can do more, but that’s all that’s required for this short, quick writer’s guide to social networking.

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