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One aspect of social media for writers, which has been little discussed, is the idea of extending your story with social media. Social media is part of the new wave of communications, which is dominating the mindspace of hundreds of millions, with its instant tribal culture, its visual cortex stimulating nature and its snappy story-telling ability.
The challenge for writers in the 21st century, in my opinion, will be how to integrate social media into their story telling.
I propose to take this challenge on for my new novel, The Manhattan Puzzle, to be launched by Harper Collins October 10, 2013. Here’s what I will be doing on social media to address this:
1. Using a hash tag #themanhattanpuzzle on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ and other sites to share links to images, videos and posts related to the story.
2. These images and posts, on Pinterest, my blogs, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and on guest posts on other blogs will look to add both fictional and non fiction elements to the story. For example the science of cloning and the crimes of some major financial institutions are all matters of historical or scientific fact, which add depth to the story. A fictional account of the history of BXH, the bank I created for The Manhattan Puzzle, is all made up, but will follow the exploitative history of some large global financial institutions.
3. An online map, linked by social media, will allow readers to see where the locations for the story are in the world.
4. Conversations, via comments on the blogs and through Twitter will ask questions, answer questions, and explore the story in the book.
5. A series of coordinated guest blog posts about the novel, on 50 blogger’s sites around the world, will introduce the novel to readers worldwide.
6. Book giveaways on Goodreads and my blogs will add excitement, I hope.
7. Links and posts on subject specific sites, about Manhattan, Revelation, and the crimes of the financial services industry will engage people interested in those issues.
The launch in October will be an experiment in using social media to extend the story and to attract readers, the way a good cover, plates and a list of sources did fifty years ago. If you have any suggestions or comments on all this let us know below.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
