Spotlight on Sharon Hamilton

How many authors can remember with precision the first day they began to write? Sharon Hamilton does. It was December 15, 2008, the day she was trapped in a rented dorm room in Portland.

At the time, her family had traveled to Portland to attend her daughter’s graduation. When they were suddenly snowed in, Sharon pulled out a chair and started to write.

A Room of Her Own

She found a room of her own that every woman writer craves following a painful incident. Her house burned down so she moved into an 800 square-foot apartment. Isolated during the day while her husband worked on rebuilding their home, she dedicated her time to writing.

“That’s when writing hit me and it really took hold.”

Before long, she published Heavenly Lover, which she rewrote 57 times. Soon thereafter, she
published Underworld Love and later Honeymoon Bite.

By 2010, she had won several writing contests, started writing erotica, and found an agent who told her to return to her first book
and rewrite it again.

To help market her books, Sharon became an avid blogger. At first, she joined a team of bloggers and contributed posts. Then she struck out on her own. Now, she posts twice a week on her own blog and contributes to a group blog every Friday.

Sharon is a savvy blogger from whom we can learn a lot. She makes time to comment on other blogs, hosts agents on her blog, writes guest posts when asked, and lets other writers post on her blog.

She has a great attitude about blogging for others. “I never turn down requests to contribute to other blogs. Even if they have just
five followers, or are just starting out, I still contribute a post.”

Facebook

Sharon didn’t tread into the mix of social media to promote her book until she started a Facebook account in April of 2011. When I checked her profile the other day, she was up to 1874 friends. Not bad! She tends to post two to three times daily and includes memorable photos, short messages, and information related to her genre.

As the real estate market begins to show more life, she will be heading back to work but is committed to writing 5000 words a week. “My biggest challenge will be sticking with a schedule,” she said.

Tips for Blogging

If you want to sell more books, build a community and garner more exposure, a blog is a critical component of your marketing strategy. Here are some tips:

  1. Create a great headline that grabs readers.
  2. Entice your writers with interesting information in the first paragraph.
  3. Write like a reporter. In other words, keep your sentences and paragraphs short.
  4. Use Google Adwords to find keywords.
  5. Let everyone know about your newest post. Tweet it, announce it on Facebook, and include an update on your LinkedIn      account.

What are your best blogging tips? Please share them here!

 

Frances Caballo

Frances Caballo

About the Author: Sonoma County social media consultant Frances Caballo owns ACT Communications and has 22 years of communications and resource development experience. She specializes in helping writers, businesses and nonprofits with their social media marketing, external communications, and fund development needs. Frances is bilingual in English and Spanish. Find her on Facebook: www.facebook.com/fcaballo, Twitter (@CaballoFrances), and LinkedIn.

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