Now the book is published on Amazon the real work begins. I can find my book because I know what it is called, but can anyone else?
I've been learning about Instagram. I am fully aware that for some people this topic is like me saying, 'I've heard about this thing called a bicycle, it's got two wheels and…' and then you interrupt me and tell me that you have been riding one for years! Well of course I knew Instagram existed; my wife Sue still works as a designer and an artist, so I know that she has followers, and followers others, mostly artists and designers, whose work she likes. It didn't exist back in the days when I was a textile designer.
What I didn't know was that it is also a tool used by writers, there are lots of people on Instagram who love books, and whilst it is primarily a place to put images What I also didn't realise was the importance of hashtags. For the non cyclists amongst you, if you put a hashtag on your post, then it may well be seen by all the other people who have the same hashtag saved. The most popular hashtag is #love. However it's much better to use hashtags that are specific to the kinds of people you are interested in, and who might be interested in you - eg. #childrensbooks
I'll change metaphors now, from riding a bike to teaching grandma to suck eggs, and I will press on
If those people see your post, they might want to buy the book, and recommend it to their friends. So if they like your post they might click the heart 'like' , and if they really like your post they may decide to follow you, in which case, every time you post something they will receive a notification.
What am I doing? Well obviously you can't keep shouting 'I've written a book, I've written a book.' That's just SPAM, so to bring people to my home page I have a three pronged attack at the moment. First of all I put on some images directly related to the book such as the illustrations and some 1940s photos of my mum in the Land Army (land girls put in an appearance in the book). Secondly I've been posting photos entitled 'Things that sustain me' - you may have seen the photo of me with a cup of coffee standing next to our juke box. Thirdly, everyday I have been writing a rhyme (I hesitate to call them poems), I write the first verse onto a photo I have taken using Photoshop). Underneath my post I paste a bunch of different hashtags adding extra ones if appropriate, eg #poetry.
It's a strange thing really. As printed textile designers we were usually anonymous - nobody usually knows the name of the person who designed your shirt, but now it's all about me me me me me!
And for those in the know my instagram account is https://www.instagram.com/stuckdavewrites/
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