Facebook Changes Impacting an Author Near You

 
As authors, we're expected to use social media to interact with readers and market our books. Unfortunately, the rules keep changing and rarely are those changes to our benefit. The newest Facebook changes are no different.

Facebook wants to make user interactions more "intimate." As such, groups are becoming more important and are what Facebook's almighty algorithms will begin focusing on. If you are an author (like me) who doesn't have a Facebook group for your readers, you need to consider setting one up ASAP. However, once you do this, as the group administrator YOU are responsible for everything in the group so you'll need to set it up so you have to approve all memberships requests and all posts. Why? Because Facebook is watching. If Big Brother sees anything in your group that they feel violates their Terms of Service (ToS), they have the option of shutting down not only your group but your author page AND your personal page and you will have no recourse, no way to request a trial by a jury of your peers. Sounds fun, right?

Okay, so now you have created your group and allowed members into its hallowed electrons. You begin making witty posts and members begin giving them the old "Thumbs up." That's a good thing, right? HAHAHAHA Don't be silly. Liking a post means absolutely nothing to the Facebook algorithms. Love, Shock, and Laughing interactions mean the algorithms will allow more people to see your posts. There's an easy fix for that right? You'll just tell your readers to be sure to use those options when reacting to posts. No, you won't. You see, Facebook will consider that to be click-bait and is one of the many reasons they can potentially shut you down. So, you'll need to be more creative with your wording.

And if your members give posts Mad or Sad reactions? Well, that implies negativity and Facebook can't have that. Negativity reflects poorly on you as the group administrator and once again - say it with me now - can result in you losing everything.

This is just scratching the surface. There are videos online going into more detail. If you need me, I'll be over here alternately pounding my head on my desk and crying.

Extremely appropriate image courtesy of www.depositphotos.com

 Until next month, happy reading (and writing)!

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A New Phase of Life

May 2019 marks the beginning of a new phase of my life: retirement!


April 30th marked the end of an almost 34-year career with the same company. I have an IT batchelor's degree. My original plan was to be a programmer but that didn't pan out due to the problem of not being able to get a job in my chosen field due to lack of experience but I couldn't get any experience without a job. *facepalm* I began my career as a secretary, took a detour through the contracting department - definitely not the job for me - before finally landing a position in the IT department. Over time I found that I was good at helping people with their computer problems without making them feel like an idiot in the process. I had accidentally found my calling. The last 31 years of my career all involved some form of IT customer support.

I made the decision to retire last year but the countdown to the actual date has been far more emotional than I expected it to be. Although, when I really think about it, this is a major life change. I've been working, at least part-time, since I was 16 years old. Why wouldn't a change of this magnitude be emotional? I've shed a few tears, had a few anxiety attacks and doubts but I have run the numbers and I know that financially, we will be fine.

Over the years with my former company, I have known many other employees who have retired and they all seemed to fall firmly into two camps: those excited about retirement and those who dreaded it. It seemed that those dreading retirement were also those whose jobs defined them. They seemed a bit lost as to how to even begin to enjoy life without their job. I am in the group of those excited about this change. I can finally devote more time to my writing without trying to squeeze it all into an hour or two in the evenings. There are several other hobbies I'm interested in trying, not to mention that I'm looking forward to traveling with my husband.

Image courtesy of www.depositphotos.com

In short, there's a whole new life waiting for me and I can't wait to see what it holds!

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2019: The Year of the Planner

Happy New Year!


Big changes lie ahead for me this year. I have officially submitted my retirement paperwork; my last day at my day job will be April 30th. I face this change with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Trepidation because, well, let's face it - retiring is a big deal. I've been working since I was 16 years old. Excitement because I'm looking forward to a lot of things, not the least of which will be no longer getting up before the sun. (I'm not a morning person.)

I am a very detail-oriented person and an excellent time manager. Both of these traits have played an important role in my ability to perform the functions of my day job. However, with retirement only a few short months away, I'm already trying to figure out how to change my processes so they will continue to work for me in the future.

I love calendars. (Almost as much as I love Christmas wrapping paper, but that's another story.) I have one wall calendar at home that I use to keep track of birthdays and anniversaries. Everything else, such as doctor's appointments, I keep track of on one of my many calendars at work. Obviously, that option will end on April 30th. My husband and I have agreed to a monthly dry-erase board on the refrigerator as the best option for tracking appointments and I have already implemented that change.

But what about everything else? I also use my work calendar and a variety of multi-colored sticky notes to serve as reminders of bill due dates and various and sundry other things that come up. I have never been the type to use a personal planner; I had no need to due to the variety of calendars surrounding me at the two locales where I spend most of my time. But, I began to notice advertisements for a plethora of planners on various social media channels. As I researched them, I determined this would be the best route to take, but which one to choose? The sheer number of options was overwhelming. And expensive. I couldn't bring myself to spend $50+ on something that might or might not work for me. So, I made a trip to Target and purchased a $10 planner and a variety of pens, then went to Amazon and ordered stickers.

Let the planning begin!

My new planner has pages for monthly and weekly planning which I think will work well for me. I have had a blast getting it set up over the last few days. This planner will fill many of my needs, not just for managing appointments but it will also allow me to use my multi-colored pens to doodle and personalize pages while the stickers will take the place of the sticky notes I use at work. I know it's going to take a while for me to get used to a new process for tracking things but, if I start now, it should be second nature by the time retirement gets here.

What changes are you looking forward to this year?

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