Need help with your blogs, social media sites, newsletters? Meet Gina B., Author's assistant. I initially met Gina online through an author friend who offered to host me and my books on her blogs. Snowed under with the joys of being an Indie Author, one of the first questions I asked was "where can I find an assistant?" We've been in touch ever since, so I invited her for an interview. I also included a contact link in case you'd like to talk to her about your business.
1.
Tell me about
your journey to becoming a writers’ assistant. What were some of your first
steps toward making this career choice a reality?
I kind of “fell” into this job. My background
is in sales and marketing and
music and film, so I figured I’d be able to learn
quickly in the book/author
arena. It’s a
HUGE world and I love learning the other side of the books.
I am a reader so that made it an easy
transition.
2.
What 3 things
would you like writers to know about you?
I am always looking for more authors
to work with.
I am honest. I am trustworthy. I can keep a secret.
3.
How many authors
do you usually work with at any given time? How do you meet/contract with most
of your authors?
At present I am working for 3 authors in 3
different genres. I know one of my
authors personally - she got me into this!
I was lucky to get another author through her and then I met my next
author at the RNC convention in Las Vegas.
All of my authors have given me weekly hours for which I am
overwhelmingly grateful.
4.
What would you
say are some of your strongest attributes as a writers’ assistant?
I
care about my work and how it affects my authors. I like to think of these authors as friends
so I take it hard when I make a mistake, I don’t like letting people down.
5.
In terms of
social media platforms, I’ve come to prefer my blogs, Twitter, and Pinterest,
so I use a number of tools to stay organized and active. What are some of the
best social media, marketing, and publicity tips you’ve come across for authors?
Use all the platforms differently. They each have a specific audience and you
need to market to each of those audiences in unique and different ways.
6.
Which social media platform do you generally
spend the most time on, and which platforms do you prefer?
Probably Facebook but I can most certainly
get sucked in to Pinterest and lose time!
I use Twitter but feel like sometimes the noise in the twitterverse is
too loud most days.
7.
Along that same
line, what are some of your favorite resources for writers’ assistants? Courses? Websites? Blogs?
I am currently enrolled in Social Media
Marketing University, and feel like I am learning a lot from that. I have been lucky to get great information
from other author assistants and have made some great contacts through bloggers
and blog hops.
8.
Obviously, you
stay extremely busy. How do you handle your many roles in terms of time and
resource management?
I
am a list maker. There are lists
everywhere! I still use pencil and
paper, I rewrite my lists when tasks are completed and keep everything. My list making OCD takes more of my time than
the actual tasks sometimes! I set a
schedule for myself and really do the best I can to stay on track.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, Gina. I wish you great success!
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