Is your Facebook page there, but not really there? Has your number of followers plateaued? You get a few likes, but not much actual interaction. With Facebook’s ever changing algorithms, constant updates, and overwhelming number of users, it can happen to anyone. Before you get discouraged, know that there are some things you can do to make your page more effective and to grow your community.

1. Do an Audit of your page.
Pretend you’ve never seen your Facebook page before and look at it from an outsider’s perspective. Do you have nice, professional looking pictures as your profile picture and cover photo? Do you have a clear About section that tells your audience what you do and who you are? Do all of your links work? Not having a well-functioning, attractive page is a huge turn-off to new followers and could cause them to unlike or unfollow you. Do a quick once-over of your page to make sure new followers will want to get and stay involved.

2. Set clear goals.
What are you looking to do with your Facebook page? Sell a product? Build a community? Gain awareness of a problem? Setting a clear goal will help you take specific steps to achieve that goal. It’s way too easy to get caught off track when you’re not being deliberate about your posts. Do you have more than one goal? Write them down in order of importance and work on each one for 60-90 days. Rome wasn’t built in a day! You’ll be much more effective if you’re chipping away one at a time than if you’re trying to do it all at once.

3. Follow other pages that are similar to yours.
Start looking around Facebook for other pages that are similar to yours. You can see what they’re doing that you like and don’t like, and you can build a community of people with similar interests to yours. Get involved in their community- comment on their posts and build relationships. Their followers are likely to appreciate what you have to say and follow you as well.

4. Use the scheduling function on your Facebook Page
Facebook gives you the ability to schedule your posts out under the Publishing Tools tab in your Facebook page. Sit down once a week and schedule out your week of posts. This way, your week is cohesive in the message. You’re not just posting something random all of the time. Your posts will be aimed at achieving your goal! This gives you more time during the week to respond to comments and interact with your followers. You can post more if something comes up that you want to share, and you can do live videos or add to your story, but you can also be sure that you won’t go days without posting because you were too busy.

5. Try a contest!
Who doesn’t love a freebie? Your contest doesn’t have to be huge. You can give away a copy of your book, a gift card, a discount, or some of your time- maybe a 30 minute brainstorming session. Contests should be easy to enter, the prize should be relevant to your audience and brand, and they should have a clear deadline for when the prize will be drawn. Make sure the winner has to like your page, and have fun with it! Pin it to the top of your page, share it with your friends and invite everyone to participate. Maybe have them comment something to enter- a great way to get more engagement. People are more likely to get involved when they’ve had previous positive experiences, and contests are a fun way to give that to them.

Social media is a great way to get involved with people who have similar interests as yours or might find value in your products and skills, but it can be frustrating when your posts aren’t generating the kind of response you expect. There are some simple things you can do to turn that around and these five ideas are a great place to start!

Follow Imperium Publishing on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more social media tips, and to get involved in our community of readers and writers. Happy sharing!

Starting a company is no easy feat. For me, figuring out where to start might have been the hardest part of this adventure.

My background is in Publishing, that to me is the easy part…but where do I go from there?

With just an idea in my head I picked up the phone to call Bruce at Celebration Web Design. I thought Bruce would help me create a wonderful website, but it ended up being so much more. On top of an amazing website I also received business advice, tips, a custom logo, they even set up my email account and even walked me through setting it up on all my devices. I received one-on-one service that far exceeded my expectations.

Bruce and his staff understand what it takes to start a company. I never felt overwhelmed when working with them. While I had 100 things I needed to complete, Bruce was able to break it up into small “to-do” lists for me to complete weekly.

Celebration Web Design isn’t just another website company, they treated me like family. This kind of service is exactly what I want authors to say about Imperium Publishing.

I highly recommend Celebration Web Design to anyone in the market for a new website!

To Bruce and his team, THANK YOU! It was your team that helped make my dream a reality!

For more information visit www.celebrationwebdesign.com 

In my years in the book industry, one truth has been absolutely clear when it comes to book sales and success. Want to know what it is? It is simple, and it should come as no surprise.

Here it is:

Active authors sell books, inactive authors don't.

Pretty profound, huh?

And yet it stands to reason that with more than 1.5 million new books released into the marketplace every year, every author must work incredibly hard to stand out from the pack.

Standing out can't be done by the publisher and publicist alone or by simply having a very good book. After all, every author claims their book is terrific and needs to be set apart. This can be incredibly difficult if you are not a household name like the author in my picture above. Even if you don't admire him (I actually don't agree with his politics or personal decisions at all, but he does know how to sell books), I think you may recognize him. But you know what he didn't do? He didn't sit back and expect his publisher to sell books for him. He understood that the success of his book would rise and fall on his ability to generate interest and engage his audience, as we see him doing above. 

If Bill Clinton – who stood as the leader of the free world for 8 years – needs to promote his book, be the face of his book, and engage people personally in order to sell books and be a successful author, then I don't know of a single author that can afford to not do the very same. 

Along with the calling to write a book comes the calling to promote and sell it. You cannot separate the two, and very few (if any) writers can simply afford to only write and leave the selling to someone else. 

Stephen King on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" 2012 

This summer I watched Stephen King make an appearance on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" to promote his most recent book. It can be argued that there is not a more famous or prolific writer in the last century than Stephen King, and whether you like his writing or not, the reality is that he understands and knows the need to be visible and actively promote his work in order to sell books and be successful. 

In the 21st Century, having a good book isn't enough. But if you couple an excellent product with an author that will be active and visible, the results can be terrific. 

You might think it's easy for authors like Bill Clinton and Stephen King to sell books due to their name recognition, and certainly they may have opportunities that non-celebrity authors may never have. But both worked to build their platforms for years and years – engaging people, building an audience, and developing a following. At one point in their lives and careers, both authors were entirely unknown and had to start building influence and growing a platform in their respective fields. It didn't happen overnight for either of them. 

If you don't know where to start find a marketing partner (perhaps through your publisher) that can brainstorm with you about opportunities for sales. And at the same time, you can be building your audience, making contacts, and pursuing your own events for our team to publicize as well. The more active you are, the more books will be sold. 

Events are the cornerstone of a new author’s marketing plan. These events can include speaking engagements, retail bookstore signings, craft fairs, church and school events, book festivals - pretty much anywhere and everywhere that authors can find people to engage and sell books. According to recent reports from Publisher's Weekly, only 30% of books sold are sold in brick and mortar bookstores in today's market, so authors must take advantage of opportunities for events in as many locations as possible, finding out where their target audience is located and taking the books straight to those potential readers. 

If you aren't active, the best time to become active is right now. If you have been an inactive author, make a decision to become active and to purposefully be the face of your book. The results will be seen quickly, and though it is hard work, it can be extremely rewarding (and even fun!) in the long run.