Your Social Media Bio Should Speak for Itself

Image Credit: Anemone123 on Pixabay

 

I love connecting with other writers and authors, and as Executive Editor at Twisted Dreams Press, I hear from a lot of people online. But the thing about communicating with people online is that I don’t really know who I am communicating with!

 

If you’re one of those people who has been in my circle for years, there is no need for introduction. But if you’re someone who I have never worked with or commiserated with online in any way, then unless your bio says as much, I don’t really know if you are a writer, author, editor, publisher, or in some field related to the writing and publishing industry.

 

This is why it’s important to make sure you put your social media bio to good use.

 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Your social media bio should tell the rest of the internet who and what you are. I mean, unless you are an international sensation (Stephen King) or your name needs NO introduction (R.L. Stine), then your social media bio is the next best thing to introducing yourself to others.

 

I know some people like to be cute with their social media bios. They like to share a funny quote, use some kind of nonsensical description of who they are or what they do, or just leave a link in their bio, but if you are trying to present a professional image of yourself on your social media account, you should have a professional bio.

 

I’m not saying you need to get all fancy about where you have been published (“John Doe has had essays published in TIME, Mother Love Jones and The Atlantic. His latest book, The Big Idea, was on the New York Times bestseller list and he has lectured extensively across the country”), or even try a modern approach to show you are a writer (“Words in WIRED, The New York Times and Vanity Fair”), but I’m saying that it would be helpful to the browsing social media user to have a good idea of who you are and what you do.

 

Something as simple as “Writer, book reviewer and cat mom” would suffice. Or even “My latest novel, Capturing the Sun, was released by Tor Books” would suffice as well.

 

For my social media bios, I try to include as much pertinent info about myself as I can. I try to note that I am a writer, an author, a freelance writer, book reviewer, columnist, poet, newsletter publisher and Executive Editor at Twisted Dreams Press. If I can only include one word, then it’s “Writer.”

 

I receive a lot of invitations to connect with others online, and I’m always interested in checking out the profiles of the people who send me these requests. The first thing I want to know: Are you a writer, author, editor, publisher or someone involved in the writing/publishing field? If so, then I’ll accept the request to connect. How do I find out this info? With your bio. Your bio should tell me this in some way. If I don’t see that information there, then I won’t accept your request.

 

With family and friends, I’ll just accept the request to connect. But for everybody else, especially people I don’t know, I will check their profile out. I will look at the bio to see who and what they are. If their bio does not have any mention of being a writer, author, editor, or involved in the writing/publishing community in any way, I won’t accept the request to connect.

 

For a professional social media account, you should have a professional social media bio. Plain and simple. Let visitors know who and what you are, what it is that you do, so that they can know whether or not they should connect with you. This way, you can connect with the right people and watch your connections with others grow from there.

The SPARREW Newsletter Now Has Its Own Site!

 

 

When I started the SPARREW Newsletter in 2022, I had no idea or expectation that it would grow as large as it has today. I thought it would just be a simple little monthly newsletter that would exist only in a subscriber’s inbox.

 

But now, almost four years later, the SPARREW Newsletter has grown so big that not only did I need to set up an archive of past issues somewhere (which you can read here), but I realized that this mighty newsletter needed its own website.

 

In fact, I have known this for several months.

 

Lots of other newsletters have their own website. FundsforWriters. WritersWeekly. Authors Publish.

 

I realized the SPARREW Newsletter needed one too. But how was I going to make that happen?

 

I spent those months mulling over my options. I also reached out to the Tricky Edits contributor, Carolyn Howard-Johnson, to see if she had any ideas.

 

I thought about using Substack, because of the ease of organization, but I didn’t like the idea of my newsletter being posted on a site that I didn’t own.

 

No, I had to put it on a site that I owned. So I just stuck to the “dmcwriter” site I already had set up.

 

But even on there, the newsletter was growing too! It became part newsletter site, part writing portfolio site.

 

Meanwhile, I wasn’t sure how everyone I interviewed on there felt about that. Mostly, how they felt about the domain name not matching the newsletter’s name.

 

And ever since someone turned down being interviewed for the newsletter after I showed him the site the newsletter is posted on, I have always wondered if it’s because of that. (Or because my little newsletter is not so popular.)

 

That idea lingered in my brain. While I understood that the newsletter should be on a site with a matching domain name, I couldn’t figure out how to separate the newsletter from the writer.

 

Well, Life figured that out for me! It’s like Life said, “For goodness sake, if you can’t figure out how to do it, I’ll show you!”

 

So, recently, something messed up the DNS connection I had between the dmcwriter domain name and the site I had set up on another hosting platform. I am not very tech savvy, so I had a hard time figuring out what was going on AND how to fix it. And because I was using two different sites for the domain name and the hosting, I kept going back and forth between Customer Support for both sites, as well as the help guide links they sent to me, as I attempted to fix this problem and get the site I created back online. It went on for several days and I was increasingly frustrated that I kept running into dead ends, that I decided, screw it, I’ll just purchase a domain name on the hosting site and connect it with the site I created on there.

 

Plus, it was getting confusing going back and forth between two different websites just to fix ONE website!

 

So I purchased a domain name that I felt was a good fit for not only the SPARREW Newsletter but all things SPARREW, since there’s going to be some merch as well: SPARREW Site.

 

And at first, I was thinking of removing ALL of my credits as both a freelance writer and as a book reviewer, but then I realized something: What if visitors to the site want to know just who this Dawn Colclasure person is? I say on the About page that I started the newsletter in 2022. Okay, who am I to be publishing such a newsletter? I talk the talk, but do I walk the walk?

 

I certainly do!

 

I took a break from self-publishing books for a while there, but now I self-publish a title every once in a while.

 

I am an author, and the link to my books is on the About page.

 

I am certainly a reader (booklover), as my friends and followers on Facebook and BlueSky have seen when I have shared pages from my reading log.

 

I am a book reviewer, and the link to my book reviews can be found on that site, in the navigation bar.

 

I have experience working as an editor, and I share this information on the About page.

 

And, of course, I’m a writer. Proof is on the portfolio page that is also included on the navigation bar.

 

So, if people want to know if I’m the right person to be publishing a newsletter for self-published authors, authors, readers, reviewers, editors and writers, the proof is all there.

 

And you know what? I am going to leave it all there, too.

 

I don’t know what I’ll do with the dmcwriter domain name in the meantime. As it stands, while I own it, I can’t do anything with it. I tried, but so far, no luck. And that’s the next problem that I have to fix! At least I can work on it in my free time.

 

UPDATE:

New dmcwriter site just dropped! 

If you're going to self-publish your book, PLEASE get an editor

When I first joined LinkedIn, I did not realize there were groups on there in which people with a variety of interests can indulge in discussing their passions and sharing ideas. I joined some writing groups, as well as groups for creative people, and have been reading discussions ever since. Sometimes I’ll participate in a discussion, but only when I have something of value to add. Most of the time, though, I will just read the main discussion and peruse what other people are saying.

One particular comment from a member of a writing group caught my eye – and caused me to worry.

This person talked about how he self-published his book (was not clear on if it was a novel or nonfiction book). He commented that he paid for the cover design but could not afford to hire an editor, so he edited the book himself.

This worried me because I really, really don’t think an author should trust him/herself to edit his or her own book. I know people who work as editors and edit their own books, and while I am not going to take issue with them or get into any arguments with them, and I still think they’re awesome, I really still feel it is important to have another person, specifically an editor, edit a manuscript before it is published.

I feel this is important because, for one thing, an editor will not read a manuscript as a reader. An editor will read a manuscript as an editor. The editor knows what mistakes to look out for and be able to hone in on areas of the manuscript that could use a little extra work. The author is too close to his/her own book to be able to see these things. It really takes an objective (and somewhat merciless) pair of eyes to be able to catch things that are wrong with a manuscript.

Also, someone who has been editing manuscripts for a while has likely “seen it all” and has also seen how books with poor editing have either failed miserably in sales or received negative reviews that point out editorial mistakes. An editor is aware of what can make or break a book, what it takes to make a good book great, and how the author can fix up their manuscript in a way that will make their writing shine.

As a book reviewer, I have seen many self-published books that have spelling and grammar mistakes. I have also seen many books that were poorly written, poorly organized or which contained insufficient information. (One nonfiction book wasn’t really much of a book at all; it was more like a very long advertisement for a product.) With books I cannot refuse to review because of such mistakes, I try to ignore these things, though they do ruin the reading experience. With books I can pass on reviewing, however, if I sample the book and see such mistakes, I pretty much will pass on reviewing it. It’s not so much snobbery that compels my decision, but the realization that the author really must not have cared about his/her book enough to want it to be edited. The author decided to just write a rough draft of a book and throw it out there. I want to read a good book, and an editor will make sure a manuscript is transformed into a good book. If the author could not bother to take the time to edit his/her book, why should I take the time to read it?

Likewise, I have hired freelance editors for my self-published books (well, my poetry books). The editor is amazing and has really honed in the problem spots in my manuscripts. She really helped to make my writing the best it could be. The same can be said of editors I have worked with at publishing companies. I have gotten manuscripts back with editing requests and changes, and I was surprised at so many things I missed in my read-through.

Unfortunately, many new authors are under the mistaken assumption that “editors are evil.” The thinking goes that an editor will only “kill” a book, ruin the author’s voice and try to make the author’s book into something it was completely NOT meant to be. This is not true because an editor, a GOOD editor, only wants your book to have some kick-ass writing. If you want your writing to shine and if you want your book to be the best it can be, then please do not skimp on editing. Please consider finding an editor who will work with you in polishing your book.

I understand that times are hard and that a lot of people cannot afford an editor. But, really, you CAN afford an editor. There may be stories out there of editors charging an arm and a leg for edits, as well as editors charging thousands to edit a book, but the affordable editor DOES exist. There ARE affordable editors out there. I may no longer work as a freelance editor (with one exception of a writer), but I was always, ALWAYS willing to work with an author in paying for edits. Heck, I even edited one book for free (the author ended up later thanking me with a gift certificate – a nice surprise that was actually appreciated). I have even recently agreed to edit one writer’s three manuscripts for a very low fee.

But I am not the only editor willing to negotiate on price. I know others are out there. I know freelance editors who DO work with authors on the fee for edits. So, you CAN try to negotiate a fee for edits on your manuscript, and I really think you should, especially if you are self-publishing a book. If anything, save up for the editing fee. Writing, revising and self-editing a book takes time. Use this time to save for your cover, editor, etc.

If you really want to publish a good book, and if you want people to buy your next book, then investing in an editor is well worth it. Please find a way to hire an editor for your manuscript. Negotiate the fee, hire a college student or ask on a message board for writers about any affordable editors. Believe me, you will be grateful later on that you took the time to get your book edited before self-publishing it. You really should try to put your best book out there, with your best writing, and an editor can help you make that happen.

Fair or unfair? You decide

For some time, I was a member of an online group of writers who talked writing, book promotion, self-publishing and anything related to the writing world. I participated in some of the discussions, bookmarked interesting blog posts and articles, and checked out books by some of the members in the group. All that changed on the day the group’s moderator sent out a message to all group members, which prompted me to not only leave the group but also delete all of this author’s emails from my email account.

The message that caused this change of heart?

The moderator outlined what could and could not happen in the group. Fair enough, except that I was puzzled over how she said that members of the group who are authors and freelance editors could not promote their books or services in any way. I could understand not allowing posts that screamed "CHECK OUT MY NEW BOOK!!!" or "BUY MY BOOK AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW!!" Of course, these kinds of posts are just … spam. They are not relevant discussions or thought-provoking insights on anything currently being discussed or part of current events. They’re just advertisements. And that’s uncool.

A savvy author knows there are certain ways of promoting their book (as well as editors promoting their services), and that’s perfectly acceptable. Including your book info in your signature is one such method, as is mentioning how a topic is covered in a chapter of your book.

But because this moderator said an author cannot promote their book or service "in any way," meaning those little methods are not allowed, it was a big turn-off. Reluctantly, I accepted this, thinking that if someone was interested in my post enough, they could click on my profile and see my books there. But then the moderator did something that really upset me: She sent out another message to the group, promoting her books, her site and her services.

FAIL!

I was so outraged by this that I left the group and deleted all of her messages from my email account. (Don’t worry; it’s not one of you authors out there I know, am acquainted with and adore). This was hard to do, given this particular author has a lot of credibility (which she now destroyed with me), has years of experience in book promotion and has a lot of good advice out there for writers and authors. Still, I couldn’t stand this act of hypocrisy. It was just unfair of her to say to all of us authors in her group “You can’t promote your book in any way at all in my group” then turn around and promote her books. That just wasn’t right.

Some people may think an author’s character should not be a factor in whether or not we associate with them, buy their books or promote their work. However, I don’t feel comfortable in supporting and promoting a fellow author who has questionable character and treats others unfairly. As it is, if an author I ask permission to quote in my work is rude or does not respond to my requests, I’ll pass on that author and look elsewhere. The same goes for a fellow author who is not fair to their readers or supporters. Like I say, if you don’t give the love, you don’t get it back. And I think members of an online group of writers need all the love they can get.