Princess Jones reveals her Boob Stories

Literally Social Show

The Book That Social Media Built

Last October, I released BoobStories, an anthology about breasts that donates the proceeds to charity. Usually when someone asks me about how Boob Stories came about, I tell them that social media gave it to me. From the concept to the story donations to the charity we chose to give the proceeds to, social media connections played an important part. I didn’t have face-to-face interaction with any of the people who helped me put together this book. In fact, I’ve never met any of them in-person, ever. Everything was done through Twitter, Facebook and various blogging communities.

Social media isn’t just for marketing your work when you’re done with it. You can also use it help form it. It’s an anthology, so crowd sourcing through social media may have seemed like a no brainer. But traditionally structured book projects can benefit from social media, too. You can find inspiration through your connections on various networks. You could use it to test out themes or have discussion about techniques. I asked questions about tools and took suggestions for methods. Not all things can be discussed in open forums, though. You can’t talk about your works in progress or other sensitive information with everyone. But, social media can definitely connect you to like-minded individuals who can serve as writing partners, critique partners and beta readers for your WIPs.

So how to do you use social media to help put your book together? Here are a few tips to help you get started:

Know where your strengths lie.

Twitter and Google+ are big for me but maybe you’re doing big things through Facebook or LinkedIn. Focus your efforts on the networks or communities where you have the biggest reach.

Change it up.

Different users are online different times of day. Vary your post times so it gets more eyes. Boob Stories received story donations from all over the world because I varied the posting times asking for participation.

Don’t be afraid to ask.

I felt like a beggar about three months into this project. It just felt like I was asking for help every five minutes. I’m not used to that but I learned to adjust quickly. As the saying goes, “Closed mouths don’t get fed.”

Keep an open mind.

The best part about getting help and feedback through social media is that you will almost always get some differing opinions or advice. Don’t be afraid of that. Instead use it to get some different perspectives.