10 Ways to Promote Your Writing with a Facebook Fan Page

As with all the big social networks (Myspace, Twitter, Facebook), a Facebook Fan Page can help you build relationships with readers, agents, publishers and others involved in the publishing industry. Unlike a Facebook Page, a Facebook Fan Page can accomodate a much larger number of members and is perfect for the writer hoping to promote books in that it allows for announcements, a calendar and even a forum to chat with fans. A Facebook Fan Page provides you with the real estate you need to create a community around your stories.

Here are a few ways a Facebook Fan Page can help you as an author:

1. Establishes another online outpost for your writing
   Creating a Fan Page provides you with another branded outpost on the www where readers, future readers, agents, editors, publishers and the media can find information about you and your books, future projects and blogs. Unlike Facebook's personal pagesm a Facebook Fan page can be accessed by non-members so everyone with access to the www can access your Facebook Fan page.
   If you're concerned about having another web presence to manage, don't be. You can set up a Facebook Fan Page quickly and easily and even create an RSS feed on the page's Notes tab that will pull entries from your existing blog(s). Fans will appreciate the convenience.
2. Directs Traffic to Your Website
   Fan Pages have no restrictions on sending Facebook traffic to other websites. You are encouraged to link to your website from your Facebook Fan Page. This is a great way to increase traffic to your website. A great way to ensure plenty of cross traffic between your website and your Facebook Fan Page is to place a Facebook widget on your website.
3. Improves Search Engine Optimization
   Google and other search engines are beginning to index content created on social network sites, so your Fan Page content can help you generate better search engine results. By linking your Fan Page to your website, you can leverage traffic generated through search engines to bring more traffic to your website.
4. Allows you to engage with your readers in a community atmosphere for free
   A Facebook Fan Page is a free method of creating a forum-style community for you and your readers to interact. You (and your fans) can post on your Facebook Wall, share photos and video, and ask and answer questions. This is a far less expensive and time consuming way of creating a community for discussions about you, your books and topics than trying to build and incorporate discussion forums or message boards on your own website.
5. Connects you directly to your readers
   A Facebook Fan Page provides a direct pipeline to your readers. You can send messages to all of them or target individuals by location in the event of a scheduled book tour stop. You can use the Events application to schedule blog tours, book tours, speaking engagements or other promotions and then send invitations to the Fans who live in or near the town where the event is scheduled to take place. All of this is available free on Facebook Fan Pages.
6. Strengthens author/reader relations
   By removing the pressure to buy that some readers might feel at your website or your publisher's website, you can deepen your relationships with readers by connecting with them in a social setting.
7. Provides an excellent opportunity for readers to tell their friends
   Your Facebook Fans can suggest to their Facebook friends that they become fans as well. This is a great opportunity to make the most of your network's networks to expand your readership and introduce new readers, reviewers, agents and publishers to your work. Don't forget that as your fans interact with your Fan page, these interactions are broadcasted to all their friends when they are posted on that Fan's Facebook News Feed.
8. Listening and observing has the potential to improve your writing
   In a social setting like Facebook, readers are likely to let their guard down and share information with you about characters, storylines and topics that they enjoyed or did not enjoy. This can help you fine tune your writing and provide more that your fans want.
9. Statistics are readily available
   Facebook's Page Insights tools and dashboard make available statistics like Comments, Wall posts, "Likes", discussed posts, reviews, and mentions. Also available are Fan demographics. These tools improve your ability to identify and target specific demographics and gauge your target readers.
10. Allows you to keep pace with other authors free of charge
    Are other authors in your genre creating Facebook Fan Pages? You bet they are! Don't get left behind when it comes to building your following. Stake your claim now. With such a great promotional tool available for free, can you really afford not to?

A Facebook fan page isn't just for superstars. Whether you are a freelancer or a novelist, a Facebook Fan page should be a part of your author marketing plan.