Michael A. Ventrella

Imagine you’ve hired a carpenter who holds up a screwdriver and says it’s a wrench. How much confidence would you have in his abilities?

Recently, a self-published friend posted an ad he had made for his book which misspelled “you’re” as “your.” I pointed this out and to his credit, he fixed it and thanked me, but really — how much confidence would you have in this writer’s abilities after seeing that?

Words are your tools.  As a writer, you need to know how to use them. 

I’ve also seen writers post things on Facebook that were terribly written, contained spelling mistakes, and did not impress me with eloquence or insight. Come on folks, why should I check out your book if your posts don’t impress me?

If you’re going to use social media to promote yourself, the best way to do it is not to constantly say “Buy my book!” in various ways, but to make people think, “This person writes well. They say interesting things and have interesting views. I’ll bet their books are good, too.”

Be insightful with your posts. Write things no one else is writing. Be humorous if that’s your thing. Make people want to read what you have to say. And, most importantly, say it well, showing your skill with words, phrases, grammar and spelling.

You know — your tools.

Filed under: writing | Tagged: Promoting your book through social media, tools, words as tools, writing advice |