Hi guys, welcome back to Finding Your Indie. I'm Bonnie Paulson and I'm Mandie Stevens. We are here for Social Media Corner. We're so excited.
We're getting ready for October. If you're in Boss Mode, then you have probably watched this before everybody else, because you're getting ready for your quarterly planning. So exciting.
Mandie is going to start us off. This is her specialty.
We release these a week before the new month. So, you'll get this at the end of September.
October is awesome. It's one of my favorites. Of course, we have Halloween and there are so many different things you can do.
I ask readers if they're going to any parties. If they're dressing up their kids, their pets or their grandkids. It depends on who your readership is.
I have urban fantasy readers, so I post Halloween memes all year. I start in September all the way through October 31st. I don't have Halloween themed books or anything, but I do have grandmothers who read my stuff.
So, all month I'm like, hey, how are you? How is it going? Are you doing any crafts? Are you doing any treats for the kids? What are you guys doing when people come to trick or treat at your door? Some people do really cute packages. I've seen some cute things on Pinterest.
I like that. Gummy worms are my favorite during Halloween because they always put them in dirt cups. Sometimes people talk about what they do. Some people just sit around and watch movies. Some people don't celebrate it, but people want to tell you, and it's great interaction for your page.
Engagement is important. and you can do that on anything. You can do that on your TikTok. You can do it on Facebook, or wherever you're at.
We have some days that we can talk about.
October 5th is National Be Nice Day. I like that. I would definitely say, what are you doing today to be nice? What kind of thing are you doing? Because I'm really big about that in my life anyway, I'll post in groups I'm in, like, what kind of charities are you working with? What are you doing? I would just extend that to what are you doing for this day?
That's a really good idea.
Even if it's giving somebody a smile; it’s huge. If you make it a focus for a day and maybe notice how you feel or how you make other people feel. Maybe that will help you make it where it doesn’t need to have a national day.
I get kind of frustrated at these kinds of things. It's like, why do we have a national day for this? Why aren't we just doing this all the time? It's nice to acknowledge that kind of thing. So, it's good. Sometimes it's a good reminder. Hey, you should be nice every day. Maybe it's just not something you would normally talk about with your readers.
The one on the fourteenth is going to be my favorite, probably. National Dessert Day. What's your favorite dessert? What would you have if you could eat anything right now?
Do you guys have Andy's Custard over where you're at? We have that here in Missouri. It's only in the southern part of the state, so I don't know where else this is located, but there's a few of them. So, when we want to go down to Andy's, it takes us like an hour to get there. We usually hit up Dairy Queen, they have like a s'mores one that's hit or miss up here.
So, I was like, okay, let's go try Andy's Custard. Somebody was saying, oh, so good. My new obsession is their key lime custard, and I have them jack hammer it, which means they add marshmallow fluff.
Oh wow.
Oh my gosh. There are chunks of key lime pie in it. Mandie.
You know, I'm from Florida. I love key lime pie. I make it fresh because I grow key limes. I make a really good key lime pie.
I'm going to come stay with you. Tell Jason to move over. Key lime pie. I had that at ORB. It was so good. I love cheesecakes. What about you? What's your favorite dessert?
I love cheesecake. I love pecan pie too. I saw this online. It was a cheesecake and pecan pie, like mixed. I was like, oh my gosh. I would like roll around.
That's awesome.
I don't dessert very often, because it's so sweet. I like to share a dessert. If I get a dessert, I like to share it.
If you saw me. No, I don't share it.
When we went out to dinner at ORB I shared.
You did really good and I was like, no, I'm eating this by myself. I don't share my things, but thanks.
It's too sweet. I like a little bit of coffee and a couple bites and then I'm good.
I think that's because I share so much at home with the kids. You know when you have kids… and so I get like a bite of something. When I'm by myself, I'm eating it all, and then maybe yours, and I might eat off that. I'm just kidding. No, it was good. It was delicious. It was fun. That would be a good one to ask your readers and be like, hey, do you have a recipe for that?
People love sharing their favorite things. They love that. I think that's a good one for readers of almost any genre. Especially cozy ones that focus on recipes. Holy cow. I would ask, but I'm going to ask anyway. Even my urban fantasy and my sweet romance because it kind of goes any which way.
Yeah, exactly. I want to ask what's your favorite dating dessert? Chocolate covered strawberries? What's your favorite dessert for on a date?
I think that might be the time I don't want to share with somebody, on my first date. I'm long married, but if I was to go on a first date, I wouldn't want to share dessert because you don't know that person.
Yeah. Well, no, you don't have to. I'm not saying sharing. I'm saying dating. What’s the best kind of dessert to have when you're dating? Because some desserts make you feel sick. They're too sweet, or they're too sticky, like cotton candy. Probably not the best idea for when you're dating.
Yeah. Not the best idea. That's not a dessert though, but you get it anyway.
We have some other like national days and weeks.
This one's good. It's National Friends of the Library Week, and that's October 17th through 31st. That's a good one. I always go to the Friends of the Library sale. I used to be a blogger, so I'd get like 300, 400 books a year mailed to me from the big five publishers. Of course, I couldn't read them all, so I'd either have giveaways, or I'd donate them to the friends of the library and they'd resell them. It helped my local library. It's great.
That's really cool. I love that. Then we have National Newspaper Week and Health Literacy Month. That one might be important especially if you have medical thrillers or medical romances or something. That would be a really good one.
I liked the next one. National Bully Prevention Month.
I like that for a couple reasons. One, I don't believe in bullying. I think bullying is terrible. However, you could flip that and be like, the only acceptable bullying is the ones in my bully romance novels, right? Because I love bully romances. I love them, but I don't love bullying.
I think bullying is awful. It was really hard for me to like that genre when it came out because I was like, ooh, that's… I don't like that. But then as I was reading, I was like, oh, this is the way bullying is done. That's the only acceptable way to do it.
The next one is another twist from the dessert day.
It's National Pizza Month. That'd be a really fun one to do. I love pizza. You can ask people what their favorite toppings are. Show us a pizza that you made or show us a picture of the pizza that you just had. What kind of pizza is your favorite to eat while you're reading a book? All kinds of things.
National seafood month. I love seafood.
I know you do. I don't love all of it. I love some.
I'll eat almost any type of seafood. I love it.
My son loves it too. Loves it. So, it's a good one.
What's popcorn popping month? Is this like popcorn month or?
You could ask people their favorite types of popcorn. You could probably do just about anything with it. Favorite types of popcorn. Do you have any good popcorn recipes? It also could tie in with Halloween, or what book are you reading while you're eating your popcorn?
Yes, exactly.
Or because like, for instance, I like kettle corn, but my mother-in-law used to give away popcorn balls. Is that what they're called?
Yeah.
So, if it's Halloween month and you can make popcorn balls, maybe do some recipes on that. I think that's a great way.
This is an excellent month to connect with your readers and to understand how they celebrate some of these things. As they're getting into the actual holiday season, this might be a great way to warm them up for buying books and reading them right after holidays or during this holiday craziness.
Yep. I agree. Did you want to add anything else before we move on?
No, make sure you have a goal. Make sure you're consistent, and make sure you're having fun.
Yes. Bonnie and I always have fun. Always. Even when we're not. I'm just kidding. It's always a good thing.
Okay, guys, hit like and subscribe, hit the bell for notifications and make sure that you're sticking around.
Share us with a friend becausesuccess is always great when you share it with a friend. We've got lots of things coming down the pipe. Let us know if you have any questions and we look forward to seeing you in Vegas. Thanks guys.
Social Media Corner: October
Hi guys, welcome back to Finding Your Indie. I'm Bonnie Paulson and I'm Mandie Stevens. We are here for Social Media Corner. We're so excited.
We're getting ready for October. If you're in Boss Mode, then you have probably watched this before everybody else, because you're getting ready for your quarterly planning. So exciting.
Mandie is going to start us off. This is her specialty.
We release these a week before the new month. So, you'll get this at the end of September.
October is awesome. It's one of my favorites. Of course, we have Halloween and there are so many different things you can do.
I ask readers if they're going to any parties. If they're dressing up their kids, their pets or their grandkids. It depends on who your readership is.
I have urban fantasy readers, so I post Halloween memes all year. I start in September all the way through October 31st. I don't have Halloween themed books or anything, but I do have grandmothers who read my stuff.
So, all month I'm like, hey, how are you? How is it going? Are you doing any crafts? Are you doing any treats for the kids? What are you guys doing when people come to trick or treat at your door? Some people do really cute packages. I've seen some cute things on Pinterest.
I like that. Gummy worms are my favorite during Halloween because they always put them in dirt cups. Sometimes people talk about what they do. Some people just sit around and watch movies. Some people don't celebrate it, but people want to tell you, and it's great interaction for your page.
Engagement is important. and you can do that on anything. You can do that on your TikTok. You can do it on Facebook, or wherever you're at.
We have some days that we can talk about.
October 5th is National Be Nice Day. I like that. I would definitely say, what are you doing today to be nice? What kind of thing are you doing? Because I'm really big about that in my life anyway, I'll post in groups I'm in, like, what kind of charities are you working with? What are you doing? I would just extend that to what are you doing for this day?
That's a really good idea.
Even if it's giving somebody a smile; it’s huge. If you make it a focus for a day and maybe notice how you feel or how you make other people feel. Maybe that will help you make it where it doesn’t need to have a national day.
I get kind of frustrated at these kinds of things. It's like, why do we have a national day for this? Why aren't we just doing this all the time? It's nice to acknowledge that kind of thing. So, it's good. Sometimes it's a good reminder. Hey, you should be nice every day. Maybe it's just not something you would normally talk about with your readers.
The one on the fourteenth is going to be my favorite, probably. National Dessert Day. What's your favorite dessert? What would you have if you could eat anything right now?
Do you guys have Andy's Custard over where you're at? We have that here in Missouri. It's only in the southern part of the state, so I don't know where else this is located, but there's a few of them. So, when we want to go down to Andy's, it takes us like an hour to get there. We usually hit up Dairy Queen, they have like a s'mores one that's hit or miss up here.
So, I was like, okay, let's go try Andy's Custard. Somebody was saying, oh, so good. My new obsession is their key lime custard, and I have them jack hammer it, which means they add marshmallow fluff.
Oh wow.
Oh my gosh. There are chunks of key lime pie in it. Mandie.
You know, I'm from Florida. I love key lime pie. I make it fresh because I grow key limes. I make a really good key lime pie.
I'm going to come stay with you. Tell Jason to move over. Key lime pie. I had that at ORB. It was so good. I love cheesecakes. What about you? What's your favorite dessert?
I love cheesecake. I love pecan pie too. I saw this online. It was a cheesecake and pecan pie, like mixed. I was like, oh my gosh. I would like roll around.
That's awesome.
I don't dessert very often, because it's so sweet. I like to share a dessert. If I get a dessert, I like to share it.
If you saw me. No, I don't share it.
When we went out to dinner at ORB I shared.
You did really good and I was like, no, I'm eating this by myself. I don't share my things, but thanks.
It's too sweet. I like a little bit of coffee and a couple bites and then I'm good.
I think that's because I share so much at home with the kids. You know when you have kids… and so I get like a bite of something. When I'm by myself, I'm eating it all, and then maybe yours, and I might eat off that. I'm just kidding. No, it was good. It was delicious. It was fun. That would be a good one to ask your readers and be like, hey, do you have a recipe for that?
People love sharing their favorite things. They love that. I think that's a good one for readers of almost any genre. Especially cozy ones that focus on recipes. Holy cow. I would ask, but I'm going to ask anyway. Even my urban fantasy and my sweet romance because it kind of goes any which way.
Yeah, exactly. I want to ask what's your favorite dating dessert? Chocolate covered strawberries? What's your favorite dessert for on a date?
I think that might be the time I don't want to share with somebody, on my first date. I'm long married, but if I was to go on a first date, I wouldn't want to share dessert because you don't know that person.
Yeah. Well, no, you don't have to. I'm not saying sharing. I'm saying dating. What’s the best kind of dessert to have when you're dating? Because some desserts make you feel sick. They're too sweet, or they're too sticky, like cotton candy. Probably not the best idea for when you're dating.
Yeah. Not the best idea. That's not a dessert though, but you get it anyway.
We have some other like national days and weeks.
This one's good. It's National Friends of the Library Week, and that's October 17th through 31st. That's a good one. I always go to the Friends of the Library sale. I used to be a blogger, so I'd get like 300, 400 books a year mailed to me from the big five publishers. Of course, I couldn't read them all, so I'd either have giveaways, or I'd donate them to the friends of the library and they'd resell them. It helped my local library. It's great.
That's really cool. I love that. Then we have National Newspaper Week and Health Literacy Month. That one might be important especially if you have medical thrillers or medical romances or something. That would be a really good one.
I liked the next one. National Bully Prevention Month.
I like that for a couple reasons. One, I don't believe in bullying. I think bullying is terrible. However, you could flip that and be like, the only acceptable bullying is the ones in my bully romance novels, right? Because I love bully romances. I love them, but I don't love bullying.
I think bullying is awful. It was really hard for me to like that genre when it came out because I was like, ooh, that's… I don't like that. But then as I was reading, I was like, oh, this is the way bullying is done. That's the only acceptable way to do it.
The next one is another twist from the dessert day.
It's National Pizza Month. That'd be a really fun one to do. I love pizza. You can ask people what their favorite toppings are. Show us a pizza that you made or show us a picture of the pizza that you just had. What kind of pizza is your favorite to eat while you're reading a book? All kinds of things.
National seafood month. I love seafood.
I know you do. I don't love all of it. I love some.
I'll eat almost any type of seafood. I love it.
My son loves it too. Loves it. So, it's a good one.
What's popcorn popping month? Is this like popcorn month or?
You could ask people their favorite types of popcorn. You could probably do just about anything with it. Favorite types of popcorn. Do you have any good popcorn recipes? It also could tie in with Halloween, or what book are you reading while you're eating your popcorn?
Yes, exactly.
Or because like, for instance, I like kettle corn, but my mother-in-law used to give away popcorn balls. Is that what they're called?
Yeah.
So, if it's Halloween month and you can make popcorn balls, maybe do some recipes on that. I think that's a great way.
This is an excellent month to connect with your readers and to understand how they celebrate some of these things. As they're getting into the actual holiday season, this might be a great way to warm them up for buying books and reading them right after holidays or during this holiday craziness.
Yep. I agree. Did you want to add anything else before we move on?
No, make sure you have a goal. Make sure you're consistent, and make sure you're having fun.
Yes. Bonnie and I always have fun. Always. Even when we're not. I'm just kidding. It's always a good thing.
Okay, guys, hit like and subscribe, hit the bell for notifications and make sure that you're sticking around.
Share us with a friend becausesuccess is always great when you share it with a friend. We've got lots of things coming down the pipe. Let us know if you have any questions and we look forward to seeing you in Vegas. Thanks guys.
FYI