Sharon C. Williams is a native of New England raised in Northern Maine. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and son. She is also owned by a flock birds.
Sharon has a B. S. degree in Chemistry and two A.S. with one being in Biology and the other in Math. She loves to read, sketch, take pictures, walk, exercise, go to the movies, and listen to music. She is a budding bird watcher, and knits on the side. She is a huge sports fan of baseball, basketball, hockey, football and MMA. She is also a shutterbug and is always looking for the next big shot.
Two of her short stories were published in the anthology, Cassandra's Roadhouse, which is no longer published. Sharon also has two short stories published in the Dragons in the Attic anthology, which was written by her writing group, The Wonder Chicks. The second edition of her children's chapter books, Jasper, Amazon Parrot: A Rainforest Adventure, and Jasper: Amazon Friends and Family were published by Peculiar Possum in July of 2019. Volume three, Jasper, Amazon Parrot: The Perils Of The Jungle, was published by Peculiar Possum on November 27, 2019. Her comedy novel about her war with her backyard squirrels, Squirrel Mafia, was released in 2015 by Peaceful Musings Publishing, followed by an anthology titled Everyday Musings, which was published in in 2016 by Lysestrah Press. She has two short stories in the anthology The Reading Corner: Book One which was released by Fountain Blue Publishing in 2016.
Sharon on the Web:
Website * Twitter
Why Authors Should Have Social Media Presence!
"Where are you located?"
The first time a publisher showed interest in my query letter, this was their response.
I knew what this meant. I was ready.
They wanted to know where I was at online via the social platforms one sees daily.
You see, when I was still working on the first draft of my first book, I read an interesting article out of Writers Digest. It was about using social media to create a social platform.
The last sentence of the article listed the author's Twitter handle. I took her up on her offer to follow her. Plus, I took her advice and started to create an author platform. Her advice was to start working on this before your book is out.
Why is this important? I’ll get to that, promise.
When the first draft of my first manuscript was complete, I had a decent size platform of followers and believers. I had to learn, manage, relearn, and manage again. It took some serious time and effort on my part. It is a topic I continue to educate myself on and hopefully grown from as I fine-tuned my platform with the ever-changing world of social media.
To date, I have given three seminars on this locally and another at a writing conference. It is a passion of mine to help authors understand why I feel this is important.
There was even a time frame of four years, where I volunteered to help local authors with this. I would do it on my dime and time. All they had to do was show up and let me help them. I was offering to help at no charge to them.
Not one person took me up on it. Most of them understood why it was necessary. However, no one wanted to take the time to do so.
After so many years, I stopped. I felt like I was nagging them to death. I also got tired of trying to help authors who were not interested in my help.
Yet, they still came to my seminars.
Why is it important?
There are a few reasons.
One is when your book is complete, you will have already have built a following of people who are fans of you and your work. You can shout out to the world, “I'm done! Look at me!”
If you have laid the groundwork, you will have people be happy for you and interested. People who might want to work with you. If nothing else, who will share your news, retweet your post, shout it out for you on their site to their followers. That is free promotion. Again, that is free promotion.
If you wait until you finish before creating a platform, who are you shouting to besides family and friends? Seriously, who?"
You are a rookie coming out onto the football field wanting the whole world to look at you and be excited about it. If no one has done the research, checked your stats, and have never heard of you, why would they be excited? Why would they take the time to share your good news?
You are doing the version of a cold call. We all know how those turn out.
Platforms view these with a pinch of salt. If you have not laid out the groundwork, why would anyone share, like, or comment on anything you have to say?
Second reason?
If you are fortunate to have a publisher interested in your work and like the query letter you sent, they will want to know where you are? They are asking where you are online.
It does not matter if you are only on a few sites. They want to know that you are as invested in your book as they will be. Publishers are looking for this. We all know they get thousands of queries from hopeful authors.
All they need is one small thing to toss your hard work in the trashcan. Not having a platform may not be a deal-breaker. But it might.
Why take that chance?
It does require a lot of work in the beginning. I won’t lie. But once you have things in place, it will ease off.
Look, when I started working on my platform, I had no clue how to write a query letter. No matter how much I Googled for information, it was foreign to me. I sent out a quick tweet. Within a day, I had four submission editors reaching out to me to help me create a query letter.
My editor, who is worth her weight in gold, I found through Twitter. My first publisher through Linkedin.
If I had waited and not make any contacts, I doubt any of the above would have occurred.
And that is the magic word- contacts. Here is a third reason to work on your platform. You are forging acquaintances, friendships, and people who are in the same business as you. Those who can help you through experiences of their own. Those who are willing to help the newbie on the street. But it does start with you reaching out with your hand and saying hi. You take the time to engage with others in your field.
You don't say, “My book. My book. Come check out my book,” to strangers and expect them to help you out.
Why would they? Would you?
Social media is necessary for just about any business out there that is creating an online presence. Yes, not all companies use social media and do well. But we are talking about writers and books. Social platforms are part of the tools in your tool shed.
Odds are you are on some platform at the moment, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, or more. Use that to your advantage.
But you see, it is not all about you. The book is also part of the equation. It deserves to shine out to the world.
By not creating a social platform, you are taking away one avenue for it to do that. Why do that? You worked so hard on your book. Why stop now?
Even if you wait until your book is out, it is not too late. Start. Just start.
About the Book:
Jasper is no ordinary parrot. He lives in the rainforest, which secrets he’s eager to explore. Jasper loves his home and his family, and he's also in charge of his younger brother Willie - a responsibility Jasper takes very seriously.
Jasper is no ordinary parrot. He lives in the rainforest, which secrets he’s eager to explore. Jasper loves his home and his family, and he's also in charge of his younger brother Willie - a responsibility Jasper takes very seriously.
When he meets Charlie - a spider monkey with a penchant for food and a laid back attitude - he realizes he’s in for an adventure he never thought possible. Even if this means getting into danger and worrying his mother to no end.
Exploring the boundaries of the forest, Jasper understands that there is more to the world around him. Who are the strange new creatures that have come there? With Willie and Charlie by his side, he will soon find out.
Book Links:
Goodreads * Amazon.com * Amazon.in
Goodreads * Amazon.com * Amazon.in
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