In my January 20, 2017 blog post My 2017 Writing Plan of Action, I said that I needed to give Google+ a fair chance. I thought it was one more platform I could use to establish my brand as a writer.
When I did the research for my April 22, 2017 blog post S is for Social Media, I learned that being active on Google+ will help people find me on the Google search engine. Actually, I did not learn that. I stated it in my blog post but promptly forgot it. When I remember to, I put my blog posts on Google+.
With today’s blog post in mind, on May 18, 2017 and several times since then, I took another look at my account on Google+ and learned some things:
(1) Lo and behold, I hadn’t put links to my blog, my website, or my Twitter name in my profile. Duh! That was an easy fix.
(2) I learned that when my novel gets published, I can only give it one plug on Google+.
(3) I explored the “communities” on Google+ and joined several: Writers’ Blogs, Read Banned Books, Writers’ Coffeehouse, and Self-Publishing Your Book. In addition, I’m following WordPress.
- Writers’ Blogs should be a place where I can post my blogs about writing or reading, and I can find and connect with other writers with blogs. So far, I haven’t made any connections with other writing bloggers through this Google+ community. I’ve seen pictures of cats and a number of blogs about the TV sitcom “Big Bang Theory.” I’m having to look too hard and long to find posts about writing blogs.
- The WordPress community should be a place where I can learn how to better use my blog and the features of WordPress.com. So far, I haven’t found what I need.
- Banned Books is where I should be able to discuss banned books with other readers; however, from what I’ve seen so far, most posts are about anything but books – banned or otherwise.
- Writers’ Coffeehouse is where I should be able to ask questions about the writing process or specific problems I’m having as I rewrite my novel, and join in conversations started by other writers. There seem to be more poetry posts on there than fiction writing, so I’m still not sure this is the place for me.
(4) There are communities for just about any interest you can think of. If you don’t find one you’re looking for, create it!
(5) I hate to be negative, but I think Google+ communities are going to be more work for me than they’re worth. It’s just not my cup of tea. (Maybe I shouldn’t post that on Google+.)
(6) On the positive side, I am following “Writing Tips” by Rob Bignell, Editor on Google+. He seems to put a lot of helpful articles on there to help writers.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read. I’m reading The Things We Keep, by Sally Hepworth.
If you’re a writer, I hope you have productive writing time.
Janet
Janet's Writing Blog 
This is really helpful!
I’ve debated now and again the merits and costs of joining various platforms.
Until recently, I only used Facebook and tumblr – more personal social media. With getting more serious about being an author, I decided to reach out a little more, so along with this blog I made a twitter and an instagram – both of which I never thought I would bother with. Twitter was for the famous and instagram is just a combination of snapchat and Facebook.
I think the only thing making it manageable at this point is that so many outputs are linked – my instagram shows up on twitter, my twitter shows up on my blog, and my blog shows up on my twitter. It let’s me keep it all active.
I’ve been debating adding Google+ to my list, but I didn’t really know much about it. Thanks for the review ^-^
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ace, I’m glad you found this post helpful! It’s gratifying to get feedback like that! It’s possible that someone who is more social media savvy than I am could get more out of Google+ than I have. For that reason, I hesitated to blog about my negative experience. Have you looked at Pinterest? I find many links to writing articles and blog posts on Pinterest. I felt the same way as you about Twitter and Instagram. I’m still trying to get my bearings on Twitter. So far I’ve tweeted few original items aside from links to my blog. Most of my tweets are retweets. I have an Instagram account, but I haven’t used it. My blog automatically goes on Twitter and my personal Facebook page, but I have to manually put it on my “Janet Morrison, Writer” Facebook page. My writer page on FB hasn’t been very successful. I haven’t found a clickable way to refer people to my writer page, and I rarely post to it. I remain confused about LinkedIn. I thought it was more for business people wanting to network or find jobs, so I stayed away from it for a long time. I read two or three sources that said it could be a good resource for writers, so I created an account. I admit that I haven’t dedicated much time or effort to LinkedIn, but I just haven’t found it to be worthwhile. Have you tried LinkedIn? Thanks again for commenting!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I always felt like pinterest was more image-orientated. I’m adjusting to twitter and insagram though, and I’m hesitant to make a Facebook page… forever concerned how people will see me, judge me. I had the same impression of LinkedIn, but it’s another one I’ve been debating.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad to find out I’m not the only writer who is a bit confused and undecided about the best use of social media. I enjoyed my Janet Morrison, Writer page on Facebook in the months after my vintage postcard book was published in August, 2014 because I was visiting bookstores and had several speaking engagements at libraries. After the newness wore off and I wasn’t doing those things any more to publicize the book, I didn’t have anything to put on Facebook. If I ever finish writing my novel, maybe I’ll have something to put on Facebook and Instagram, etc.
LikeLiked by 1 person