Dancing with Facebook

            Eeep! It’s 9:30 at night on Sunday and I only just remembered I have a blog to write! Okay, so the big question is, what do I write about? Good question. Let’s see, what did I do this week?

            Surprisingly enough, it actually has been a pretty busy week for me. The reason I say this is surprising is because I'm a bit of an introvert (which is something of an understatement) and, as a result, my brain usually shuts down entirely right after a show, making me rather useless for about a week. Luckily it wasn't nearly as bad as usual this time around; I recovered in two days and, even on those two days, I wasn't as comatose as usual. I'm hoping this means I'm getting used to these things so we’ll be able to go them more frequently in the future.

            Among the many things that I surprised myself by accomplishing this week, the most eventful would be my first Facebook giveaway. In fact, it’s still going on right now! Though, it hasn't gone anywhere near the way I planned.

            You see, the whole point of a Facebook giveaway is publicity – it’s a great way to draw extra attention to your page. So, what I had planned was to have people enter the draw by sharing a picture of the rainbow chainmaille dragon I was giving away. In addition, the more shares the picture got, the more dragons I was going to give away. Seems like a good scheme, right? Except it’s illegal.

            That’s right – every time someone runs some sort of free giveaway on Facebook and asks you to “Like” or “Share” something to enter – or use any other Facebook feature – they are risking having Facebook delete their page. Plus Facebook could sue them. Oh, and on top of that, it turns out that if you want to run any sort of free giveaway on Facebook, you need to use a third party application.

            This whole system achieves two things – one, it protects Facebook from any sort of liability (something I completely understand and have no problem with) and two, it makes it far more difficult for page owners to encourage their followers to share their pictures and posts, which means it’s far more difficult to get any publicity without paying Facebook for it. The whole point in a lot of these smaller pages using Facebook in the first place is to get free publicity – we can’t afford to pay for advertising, otherwise we’d be doing it! It was extremely frustrating.

            So, my plans were completely shot down until about half an hour before my usual posting time when my brain finally discovered a way to circumnavigate the rules. I found a free application to run the draw for me and set up a picture that, for half a week before the draw opened for entries, people could share, with more shares meaning more dragons being given away in the draw. That way I got my free publicity, my followers got to increase the number of dragons in the pot and I didn't break any laws.

            I like it when bad situations work out well in the end. Incidentally, the draw opens today, so if you want to enter, hop over to Facebook and find the Ringcrafts page...

            The funniest thing about all of this is that, with my original plan, I was going to pay Facebook to boost the post promoting the draw. With this new method though? I didn't see the point. It turns out that trying to squeeze the little guy for all he’s got only gets the little guy to find more ways to go without feeding the big guy. I wonder how much money Facebook could make if they helped us little guys get big enough that we could afford to pay them.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

The Miracle of Social Networking

            Today I have no choice but to talk about the miracle of social networking. Those of you who know me well will find it astonishing that I have anything positive to say about anything containing the word ‘social’ – it’s true that I’d be perfectly happy living in a cave somewhere were it not for the bugs, lack of food and the absence of internet – but sometimes even I have to point out the merits.

            A couple weeks ago, I discovered the Dragons Fan Page on Facebook through a couple of author friends I met on Authonomy. After clicking the Like button on the page, I discovered that the person running the page sometimes posted links to the artists’ whose work was being displayed and, sometimes, models or figurines were posted as well as pictures. They also had 18000 people following their page and the wheels in by brain started to turn...

            You see, for the past month I've been sitting on a pile of pictures of my chainmaille dragons, waiting for the time to edit them and put them on my website. Well, now that I'm moved I found that I had time, so I prepared the pictures and had the adorable little dragons for sale on my website on Monday morning and announced their arrival on Ringcrafts’ Facebook page in the afternoon. That evening, shortly before going to bed, I sent a message to the Dragons Fan Page, asking if they might share a picture of my chainmaille dragons with a link to my work.

            I woke up Tuesday morning to quite the shock! The number of Likes on my page had gone from 76 to well over 400! Not only that, but I had tons of comments and questions to reply to, as well as several orders. Throughout the day, more questions and orders came in and the Likes on my page steadily rose until there were more than 550. All thanks to the kind person running the Dragon’s Fan Page who was nice enough to help me out and, of course, Lindsey and Sophie who inadvertently led me to the page.

            So, in the span of 24 hours, Ringcrafts went from being known by a few people here and there to being known by a good deal more people, scattered around the world. I'm amazed and delighted to say that the numbers are still climbing.

            This ties into something that I've learned from the authors on Authonomy. If you want to make a living as an artist, you need to turn yourself into a brand. As I am most certainly an artist – the only careers I considered after my childhood whims of being a veterinarian, a spy or a detective were author, musician/singer, music teacher, and chainmailler – I took this advice to heart. That’s why this blog is linked to both Authonomy (where you will find my book) and to my website. Not only that, but Authonomy links to here and my website, my website links to here and my Facebook page and my Facebook page links to my website. Everything is interconnected and it is easy for someone who likes some of my art to find the rest of it. In fact, some of you reading this may have found this blog through the events I've just been talking about!

            I can’t even begin to describe how much it means to an artist to have someone buy and enjoy their products. You see, the thing is that artists don’t create their works to make money, they make money so they can create their works that they hope other people will enjoy. Nothing is more important to an artist than the knowledge that their art has brought joy to someone else and, as such, there is no greater gift you can give an artist than a compliment on what they created or – better yet – buying it so they can continue creating.

            I hope for a world where, someday, all artists can make a living doing what they love. Until that happens, you should buy loads of chainmaille from me and pester publishers to publish my books.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.