Petite model shares 5 big social media self-promotion tips for self-publishers

If you've never heard of author, model, and petite model advocate Isobella Jade, then you haven't been on the Internet in awhile. Thanks to her saavy and relentless self-promotion, this petite model (5' 4") has a big online presence. 

We talk about author branding a lot on The Celebrity Editor. Interestingly, Isobella's size dictates her brand. She refuses to see her small stature as a negative obstacle to be overcome in an industry that prefers tall models. Instead she says she took stock and put to use what she had. Isobella is proving that small is beautiful, too, and is just as capable of selling products as tall.

"I have been able to overcome the odds in a business where every inch counts," says Isobella. "But it hasn't happened from being born lucky.  Instead it has been through my own will and persistence and the result of just simply trying and chasing what I wanted to happen and making it happen."

She didn't even own a computer when she decided to write her first book, Almost 5' 4", but that didn't stop her. Determined, she wrote it at an Apple store in New York City.

After self-promoting her story, she proved that self-promotion can lead to great things – including modeling jobs with Marshalls, Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, Bon Appetit, Time Magazine, TLC, Easy Spirit, Women's World, Macy's, and more.

She's so good at self-promotion that her story has been featured in tons of media: NY Daily News, The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Allure.com, The New York Post, Ad Age, WSJ, Nylon, Glamour, Media Bistro, Luna Magazine (Milan), Bon Magazine (Sweden), GQ (Italy), Marie Claire UK, and several online sites.

How does she do it? She cross-promotes through her website and blog, her podcast show, more than 100 YouTube videos, and her Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace communities. 

Want to know how you can duplicate Isobella's success? I asked her to share her secrets on how to self-promote through social media. Graciously she consented, and in her own words here's what she had to say.

5 ways self-publishers should be using social media right now

1. Be accessible. The writing doesn’t end after the last chapter.

Finishing the book doesn’t mean the writing ends for the author. In this era of connectivity readers want to communicate, and communicating through social media means more writing for the author. Readers want to feel connected with the author these days. Readers want to communicate with the author more than ever. They want to send comments and questions, and they expect a reply from the author. Readers expect to be able to connect with authors through social media. 

So it is a good idea to be accessible to your readership. It helps build a following and loyal readers.  

Of course a website is a nice platform to start with, but also writing a blog is an easy way an author can communicate with readers. Having a blog that has the theme of the author’s book or is related to a topic within the author’s book is a good idea. Actually sometimes a reader will discover an author through her blog alone and the content in it while searching for topics that relate to the author and her books on Google. 

A free blog can be set up at www.blogger.com. On the blog you can promote your book, but also write about topics that would intrigue your readers. Perhaps the content in the book can relate to a recent news story. Titling your blog posts with headlines that are Google friendly and that relate to your book and readers is a good idea.  

The blog is an easy and quick way to lead your readers to your social media or main website. You can use the blog as a platform to share a video book trailer and the ability to connect through Twitter, Facebook, etc. Many authors hold contests and giveaways with their books. Some put up polls on their blog to find out more about their readers.

It is good to consider a subscription feature on your blog to allow visitors to subscribe to the blog. They will receive emails daily or weekly from posts on your blog which will keep readers in the loop about your events, new blog posts, and new books. 

What’s great is that connecting through web 2.0 doesn’t take a lot of money. Most of the outlets are free to use, but it does involving investing the time to update and keep up with the platforms you are using. 

2. Manage time with social media and your blog.

Deciding what to post and when is important for authors and self-publishers. For many authors and writers, social media writing is secondary to their main writing for their books. 

It is easy to become obsessive over social media, so it is best to delegate a certain time of the day to write and a certain amount of time each day to connect with your readers. Otherwise you can feel overwhelmed. Visitors to your blog appreciate to-date and updated posts. But of course some weeks can be very busy, but it is still a good idea to post frequently. You can schedule blog posts and prepare your content days or weeks ahead of time if you are unable to post on a certain day. Having a successful social media platform involves a lot of organization to be able to spend time in many different areas of the web 2.0 landscape (plus the focus it takes to be a writer and work on your next projects).

3. Decide what social media is best for your readership.

Depending on the demographics of your readership and who your book/s are targeted towards, you can decide what is best for your readership and where to spend the most time when it comes to communicating through the web. For example, your followers on Twitter might not be as active as your Facebook followers or vice versa. It can take time to build a loyal following; trial and error will let you know what is best for your readership. It is good to be a part of as much as you can, but keep in mind the ways your readership might like to best communicate with you. Some authors receive a lot of personal emails from readers, some have more readers contact them through commenting on their blog, their Facebook wall, or through Twitter. 

It is also important to remember “why” your readers want to connect with you through social media and why they are reading your posts and following your updates. Consider that your followers on Twitter might not care what you had for lunch. Be aware of why your followers are following you and reading your posts and blog and tweets. 

4. Podcasting. Can you hear me now?

I’ve hosted my own podcast radio show since 2007, and I think podcasting is a great element to add to the self-publishers’ social media platform. You can talk on the podcast about topics that relate to your book/s. Authors can conduct podcast readings, and publishers can feature authors and plug their upcoming books. Readers can listen in to live and archived podcast segments. Authors should be involved with podcast readings. An author can read a chapter from her book on the podcast. It is a great marketing tool to spread throughout your social media network.

5. Press Record! We’re using web video.

For authors that are experts in their field or those who have a niche topic within their books, it is all about branding (really for any author it is about branding!), and web video can be a great outlet for building a web following. An author that is comfortable in front of the camera can use web video to use their personality to sell books. Producing weekly or monthly videos to share tips and advice or interviews based on the book's content is a nice marketing element to add. You can bring your web videos to your blog and share them through other social media outlets: Twitter, Facebook, etc. Beyond just the book trailer, authors can use web video as a part of their own branding. 

Isobella Jade is a petite model and author based in NYC. She wrote her first book at the Apple store. She is the author of her modeling memoir called “Almost 5’4””, “Short Stuff: on the job with an x-small model,” and a graphic novel called “Model Life: The Journey of a Pint-Size Fashion Warrior.” Isobella is currently writing a YA novel.

Website: www.isobelladreams.com

Model Talk Radio: www.blogtalkradio.com/isobellajade

Petite Modeling Tips Blog: http://petitemodelingtips.com/

Personal Blog: http://isobellajade.blogspot.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/IsobellaJade

YouTube Videos: www.youtube.com/isobellajade

Twitter: www.twitter.com/IsobellaJade

Myspace: www.myspace.com/isobellaspaz

The Beautiful Undead on Figment.com: http://figment.com/books/7928-The-Beautiful-Undead

Published novelist forced to market like self-publisher

I met novelist Kenn Bivins at an online book marketing forum, where we talked about the challenges of marketing PIOUS (Two Harbors Press, Oct. 2010), his debut novel about forgiveness and redemption.

Although his book was published by a traditional publisher, he’s had to do the marketing himself, just like a self-published author.

Unless you’re already an established author with a strong marketing platform, you’ll probably receive only the bare minimum of marketing support from your publisher. It’s one of the things authors complain about the most. When you need the support you can’t get it. When you don’t need it, you get millions of dollars in advertising and publicity.

Although Kenn shares the same marketing challenges as self-published authors, he has one huge advantage: he’s an art director at JWT, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world. He’s responsible for overseeing and executing the design and development of the firm’s interactive work.

Kenn knows how marketing works, and in the following interview he shares his insights and experiences. 

THE CELEBRITY EDITOR: What kind of marketing support have you received from your publisher?

KENN BIVINS: I'm not entirely happy with my publisher because they're a bit passive about marketing from what I can see. I'm seeing my book in a lot of places online and offline but I'm not sure, other than wide distribution, what else is being done to promote my book. I work in advertising so I have high expectations that seem to have exceeded the capabilities of my publisher.

EDITOR: Do you feel author branding has a place in your marketing or in the writing of your novels?

KB: I'm learning that it's ALL about branding myself instead of my novel. I plan on creating a body of work, and I want to draw an audience to me and not one particular book. With fiction, readers are interested in the author. If they love one book, they will pretty much read anything that author writes. I know as a reader, that's how I behave. I have to remember that as an author with my own marketing. I'm still developing my approach on author branding as I put together collateral for the festival and book signing season next year. I will need a PR person to multiply my efforts and reach. Do you know any good, affordable, and available PR people?

EDITOR: Um, we’ll talk. As you’re in advertising you have an edge on most writers when it comes to marketing know-how. What advertising principles have you applied to the marketing of your own book?

KB: Repetition is the one principle that I'm using with PIOUS. The typical human attention span responds to a concept or idea after it has been presented seven times. I have the challenge of marketing PIOUS while not appearing annoying or intrusive. This is where getting book reviews and having other people talk about PIOUS comes into play. If I can get other people to talk about PIOUS while I'm talking about PIOUS, then people will go in a book store or browse online and say, "Hey. There's that book, PIOUS. Let me see what that's all about." So by the time my second novel is released, people who have read PIOUS will recognize my name and hopefully want to read more from me.

EDITOR: Did you have a marketing platform before getting the book deal? Was a marketing platform important to your publisher?

KB: I had to present to my publisher what my marketing plan was and that included social networking, book festivals, blog proliferation, national book club penetration, and book reviews.

EDITOR: What kinds of low-cost things are you doing to promote your book online and offline?

KB: I think grassroots marketing still reigns supreme and that entails being seen. Social networking has put me in touch with a lot of people that potentially want to read my book. Also, I plan on making myself available to book clubs on a national level. 

The biggest low-cost way to promote myself has more to do with promoting others outside of myself. I believe that helping others not only gives my brand more value, it also helps me to grow on a spiritual level.

EDITOR: Can you see yourself publishing your own books in the future (since you're doing so much of the work anyway – writing, illustration, marketing)?

KB: I haven't ruled out self-publishing, but I would do it ONLY if I had help on the marketing end. I'm new to the realm of publishing, but if I'm honest, I'm also big on quality control so who knows?

For purchasing information and more, visit Kenn's website at Piousbook.com.

New book: Old Testament patriarchs had a direct line to God

What if you could talk to God via a special cell phone, walkie talkie, or land line? What if you could dial 911 for emergency assistance or 411 for information and guidance and actually get the Creator of all the universes on the line?

David had just such a direct connection to God in the Old Testament. In 1 Samuel 23:9-12, David learns that King Saul wants to kill him, and he doesn't know what to do. So he tells his priest to go get the ephod. David then proceeds to have a conversation with God via the ephod!

Is it a stretch to note that phone and ephod both contain ph?

As a little girl, I learned that the only way to talk to God was to get down on your knees, fold your hands, and get to praying. We were never ever taught about this ephod device that enabled David (and others) to talk directly to God. When I first read this passage in the Bible, I was blown away. In fact, I had to put the Book down. Were we to take it literally? Metaphysically?

Well, Roger Isaacs, author of a new book, Talking With God: The Radioactive Ark of the Testimony. Communication Through It. Protection From It., believes we should take the story literally. Isaacs comes not from a fundamentalist approach but an emerging revisionist approach to scripture that looks at the events, history, and artifacts of the Bible from modern multidisciplinary scientific perspectives.

Talking With God is an etymological investigation into the purpose and rituals surrounding an ancient communications system that included the ephod, the Ark of the Testimony (a.k.a. Ark of the Covenant), and other devices. While some high profile investigators have tried to actually locate the Ark, Isaacs has taken a radically different approach to trying to understand this mysterious artifact. 

The words in the Hebrew Bible are trying to convey instructions relative to the care and feeding of a unique communication system. My goal in this book has been to bring clarity to those puzzling ancient Hebrew words and ideas not previously understood by studying the ark within a totally new, technological context.

Now in the interest of full disclosure I must state that my sister, Janice Miller, published and edited Talking With God through her company, The Publishing Institute (Sacred Closet Books imprint). A couple of summers ago, she asked me to consult editorially on the project.

Talking With God was one of the most difficult, frustrating, complicated, and rewarding books I've ever been honored to work on.

I'm so proud of my baby sister (sniff). It took her 10 years of dogged determination (not to mention Isaac's 30 years) to complete this magnificent study. (My mother, the retired high school English teacher, proofed the book.) Talking With God is 514 pages, hard cover, and is so thoroughly grounded in scholarship that the endnotes, bibliography, index, and appendices could have been a book.

An Amazon.com review reads:

I think the author has done a wonderful job with Talking with God. First of all, it is very well-written: accessible, easygoing, and able to make a complicated subject easy to follow. Jargon and obfuscation have practically become the hallmarks of the academic literature of the present era, and I can't tell you how pleased I was to see such simple, clear writing.

There are no more beautiful words for an editor than those highlighted in red. That's when you know you've done your job right.

I asked Roger Isaacs to share his thoughts on his provocative book and the collaborative writing process. Here's what he had to say.

THE CELEBRITY EDITOR: Your book revolutionizes our thinking about how the Old Testament patriarchs actually talked to God. If these ancient technological devices were truly used, does that mean we've been deluding ourselves with the spiritual belief that we can talk to God via traditional prayer and meditation?

ROGER D. ISAACS: It’s interesting that the word translated prayed or pray (pawlal) is found twice in Genesis and twice in Numbers in all of the Four Books. It is found twice in the fifth book, Deuteronomy, and that book was produced much later. It is not found at all in Exodus and Leviticus, books much more important to my thesis. Pawlal involved Abraham and Abimelech, king of Gerer in one story and Moses and the rebelling Israelites in another. But it is generally acknowledged that the actual meaning of pawlal is to intercede, not to pray in the traditionally accepted form. (To be exact, pray is used in one of the two times in the accepted way in the Abraham/Abimelech story, but that was in a dream by the king.

On the other hand, pawlal as prayer is used as such many times in the following books.

This indicates to me that prayer as we know it was not used in the part of the Bible involved primarily with the Ark and the Ephod but that, when the use of the devices faded away, the people did much as we do today to try to reach God.

As to your specific question, while I have no way of knowing whether prayer is efficacious in reaching God, there certainly would be no problem with doing so.  The problem would lie in God’s communicating with us. That is, if it is true that the ark was reached through the dangerous radioactive cloud, if suddenly He were to do so today, it would be lethal to us unless we were properly protected. I have given many examples of the Bible’s clearly stating the necessity for the Israelites to be so protected under these circumstances.

But as to the results of our praying today, until there can be a controlled experiment that proves there is a definite cause/effect, I’m afraid the true answer will have to be left in limbo.

EDITOR: As a scholar, were you ever concerned about how the public would receive your ideas? The impact on faith?

RDI: First and foremost I am interested in truth. I know my ideas will be controversial, and that’s just fine. But for that controversy to be substantive it has to rest on debate surrounding facts. This work doesn’t in any way argue one’s faith. One’s faith, or lack of it, is very subjective. What I have done is to attempt to clarify a subject that may or may not impact on one’s faith depending on how receptive, open-minded, the reader is.  

Personally, I think a person’s beliefs should be based on facts, not fancies. An example would be attitudes toward evolution. It is hard, scientific fact, easily proved, that evolution exists. To deny this is pure fancy and does not in any way strengthen faith, it only obfuscates it.

To summarize: When faith and fact merge, the result is a strong partnership.  When they diverge, the result is confusion.

EDITOR: In the book you mention that your father, a hematologist and researcher, launched your study. From the discussions with your father to the publishing of your book, how many years did the journey take? How did your father's ideas evolve, and how did you fine tune them?

RDI: In the early 1950’s my father was deeply involved with his hematological research at a leading Chicago medical center, as well as his practice. At the same time my late partner and I were rapidly expanding our young public relations company, and my wife and I were building a family. It was during this period that my father, a true scientist and biblical scholar, and I began to have conversations about a thought he had concerning the possibility that the Ark of the Testimony (also called the Ark of the Covenant) could have been an electrical apparatus that was used to communicate with God. Then, in spite of our heavy schedules, we began to plumb the Bible for any evidence to substantiate this thought.

The first result was an unpublished article on the topic in the mid 1950’s. Then we wrote a 24 page monograph published by Bloch Publishing Company in 1965. It was titled Puzzling Biblical Laws Interpreted in Terms of ModernPhysics. In that same year my father died.

After a time I began thinking of the theory behind the monograph, and realized that there were more possibilities to be considered. My thought was to work in my spare time for a year or so and get them on paper. It turned out it would take more than 40 years until the book was published.

The reason for all those years (other than having the daily work of running a company) was that it had become apparent that, while the general approach we were taking was a start, it left great gaps in what the Bible was trying to convey about the Ark and its “care and feeding.” That’s when I started my research in earnest. The result took me into other paths that we hadn’t followed before, and the final result was different in many ways from our original thinking.  So while the seed was planted, the tree (of knowledge?) that grew from it was something I never expected. I’m only sorry that my father didn’t live to see the tree as it looks today.

Donna Marie