The Little Blue Book for Authors: 101 Clues to Get More Out of Facebook

by Gisela Hausmann

Tens of thousands of authors network on Facebook. Most of them complain that many of their friends and fans don't see their postings.

Gisela Hausmann, author of the naked, no-fluff book series for authors reveals 101 Clues to get more out of Facebook.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

43 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 9, 2017

About the author

Gisela Hausmann is a 29 yr. self-publishing industry veteran, an email evangelist and a top reviewer.

Her work has been featured in regional, national, and international publications including Success magazine (print) and Entrepreneur, on Bloomberg, The Innovation Show - a show for Square Pegs in Round Holes, "The Brutal Truth about Sales & Selling"-podcast, and Austria's Der Standard and Das Wirtschaftsblatt. Gisela is a graduate of the University of Vienna, Austria.

A unique mixture of wild risk-taker and careful planner, she globe-trotted almost 100,000 kilometers on three continents, including to the locations of her favorite books: Doctor Zhivago’s Russia, Heinrich Harrer’s Tibet, and Genghis Khan’s Mongolia.

Her motto:
"Don't wait. The time will never be just right."-Napoleon Hill

For more information about the author please visit her website at www.GiselaHausmann.com

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gisela Hausmann stands as a trusted beacon in the stormy seas of online author promotion. Her guides are well-researched, timely and to the point. So it's not surprising that her recently released 'Little Blue Book for Authors" is spot on with timely tips galore.

Early on, Hausmann tells us the reason she wrote 'The Little Blue Book' is because she doesn't think an author can become successful 'without having a solid presence on Facebook'. So she proposes that authors 'align your goal with Facebook's goals'. Then she goes on to list 101 timely suggestions to optimize your use of Facebook.

Hausmann backs up her suggestions with abundant hot links to illuminating surveys and studies. Did you know that 50 million businesses have Facebook Pages? Did you know that more than three quarters of Facebook's revenue comes from ads?

Hausmann's 101 strategies are specific. Did you know that you can have more than one Facebook Page? And Hausmann even has five strategies specific to the use of videos on Facebook.

I strongly recommend this timely book for all authors looking to market their books effectively.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Unhinge the Titanic's doors and use them to build rafts!" - Gisela Hausmann

The gifted and talented Gisela Hausmann never ceases to amaze her readers. She graduated with a master's degree in Film & Mass Media from the University of Vienna. Gisela is a marketing and mass media expert. She is also an email evangelist. The author of over twenty books, she publishes books under her “naked” brand of books, meaning Gisela publishes “no-fluff” books. Born to be an adventurer, Gisela has also co-piloted single-engine planes, produced movies, and worked in the industries of education, construction, and international transportation. Gisela's friends and fans know her as a woman who goes out to seek the unusual and rare adventure. A unique mixture of wild risk-taker and careful planner, Gisela globe-trotted almost 100,000 kilometers on three continents, including to the locations of her favorite books: Doctor Zhivago's Russia, Heinrich Harrer's Tibet, and Genghis Khan's Mongolia. Gisela Hausmann graduated with a master's degree in Film & Mass Media from the University of Vienna. She now lives in Greenville, South Carolina.

Having read and learned (and been entertained) by eleven of Gisela’s many books, it is comfortable to admit that I always learn something fresh and valuable from her expertise and coaching. As a fellow reviewer on both Amazon and Goodreads it is fascinating to discover the depth of her experience and insights into the functioning of creating and subsequently marketing books – all the ins and outs, dos and don’ts she shares are astonishingly helpful.

Though this book concerns the usefulness and secrets of how to make Facebook work for authors, there are shared facts that are not general knowledge. As Gisela states, ‘On December 31, 2015, Barnes & Noble shut its last store not affiliated with a university, in Washington, D.C. “Ah,” you might sigh. “Such a sad thing. Online bookstores are putting real bookstores out of business.” It is true that Barnes & Noble, the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States, closed 71 of the 705 stores the company operated in 2011. Only, in this case, closing the store had nothing to do with sales numbers. Washington, D.C. is ranked as one of the most literate cities in the nation. This particular bookstore was located at a prime location, four blocks from the White House and one block from Ford’s Theater, Madame Tussauds, and the Hard Rock cafe. Well-to-do government officials as well as tourists shopped there, every day. So, why did Barnes and Nobles close this store? The famous bookseller was unable to reach an agreement with its landlord to extend the lease. The property owner decided to move forward with another tenant. There is a lesson to be learned from this: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket! Unlike the owners of brick-and-mortar stores who must buy or rent retail space, indie authors can occupy “fabulous showrooms” on multiple social media platforms, for the purpose of free networking. Though it is relatively easy to “collect followers,” building a real network and a real fan base is not easy. Most authors prefer networking on Facebook over many other social media platforms. In fact, I see many authors neglect networking on Twitter and Goodreads and focus almost exclusively on Facebook. Here is the catch: If Facebook Inc. decides to “raise the rent,” to change their algorithm so your author fan page postings and/or book fan page postings are seen less often by your fans and followers,you might find yourself in the same situation as the mighty Barnes & Noble. Over time, it could become too expensive to stay in touch with the “clientele” you attracted to your Facebook showroom location. That being said, I do not think that any author can become successful without having a solid presence on Facebook, which is why I wrote this book.’

And in her always generous manner Gisela offers valuable information in Basics & Legalities, Data, Concept & Problem, Profile page/Friend page, Facebook Fan Pages, Facebook Ads, Facebook Groups, Group Discussions, Aligning Your Goals With Facebook's Goals, Videos,
and more.

Did you know about the ways to manage Facebook? Read on and discover the wealth of information Gisela Hausmann shares. She is a FINE coach!

[R.T. Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

At only 43 pages, this Little Blue Book is a novel of suggestions for authors using Facebook. A quick read, it's great instruction for how to gain the most from the social media. Obviously well-researched, my only complaint is I didn't purchase the book in paperback for easier access to its useful ideas.

[Olga Miret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m an author and after reading another one of Hausmann’s books The Little Blue Book for Authors: 53 Dos & Don’ts Nobody Is Telling You I was curious to read more of her advice (especially as her book are so short and easy to fit into anybody’s reading schedule).
I admit that I can’t keep up with the changes on Facebook. I’m not sure I ever got a handle on it to begin with. I avoided it before I started publishing, and now, although I have a personal and an author page, I tend to use it mostly to connect with readers and other authors (yes, and friends) through messenger. It’s also useful to know when people’s birthdays are, and I share my reviews there, but I’ve never been savvy as to how to use it to sell anything…
Hausmann’s book is not a book about Facebook advertising. It is mostly about what you see on Facebook, how you can influence what you and others see on Facebook, and the way to ensure that your posts have the best chance to be seen (be warned, that chance is very small). She warns us about our online activity (it does define us and it’s forever there, especially if other people like or share our content, as we might be able to delete something from our site but not from other people’s sites. Recently, an author asked me to remove his old picture from one of my old review posts and I did, but I thought it was a useless exercise and wondered how he expected to trace everybody who might have been in contact with his page at the time), reminds us that Facebook is not a non-profit organization, and tells us that if we want it to work for us, we must align ourselves with its goals (not the other way round, because it won’t happen. No point in moaning about it. Facebook is not there to help us).
This book is written in the author’s direct style, and I’d advise anybody thinking about buying the book to check the Look Inside feature before buying it. I suspect it is a bit of a marmite kind of book: some people will love it and others loathe it. Personally, it made me think and made me consider my strategy, and I’d recommend it to authors who like her style and are looking for brief and easy to follow advice.
I leave you with one of her gems (and it is a profoundly personal book, so it will not work for everybody):
No, I do not believe that creating a perfect landing page, posting the usual content, and buying Facebook ads leads to success for indie authors.

[Emily-Jane Orford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Networking and social media are the way things are done these days. Everything, it seems, has gone virtual. Whilst traditional publishing in the past depended heavily on the shelving real books in real bookstores, the reality of the present, and probably for a long time to come in the future, is that book marketing is done online. It is expected that authors have their own webpage, their own accounts on Twitter, Goodreads, LinkedIn and, of course, Facebook. But, with so much competition and so many people doing the same marketing schemes, how does one make their work really recognized. Especially on Facebook. It’s easy enough to set up a personal page and an author page, but that’s not enough. You can share and like and ask others to share and like you as well, but with all the material appearing on everyone’s pages, how is it possible to even be seen on Facebook?

Once again, Gisela Hausmann has a tool to help authors use their Facebook pages effectively. Her naked, no-fluff book, “The Little Blue Book for Authors: 101 Clues to Get More Out of Facebook”, leads authors, both new and established, on the road to establishing and maintaining a successful Facebook page. The author writes: “To succeed on Facebook, indie authors have to: align their goals with Facebook goals, optimize the appearance of their pages, network with fans and friends on the right pages, AND stop listening to people who only regurgitate information that is supposed to make things look easy.”

There is nothing easy about marketing one’s book. And, it is imperative that authors associate with like-minded people. Potential fans of a children’s book author are not going to be impressed with shared links to an explicit romance or horror author. And, believe it or not, potential fans don’t want to plow through countless shared photos of someone’s cute baby. All of these will definitely defeat the purpose of even having a fan page in the first place.

As the author points out, there are a lot of pros and cons to using Facebook. And everyone should be extremely careful what they post or share. Her good advice is to share only what you would be comfortable flashing on a huge highway sign for everyone to see. But on the positive note, “Facebook doesn’t discriminate.” There is no favoritism towards best-selling authors over newbies. “Facebook simply hands you the “store keys” and it’s totally up to you what you make of it.” The bottom line: it’s a good tool if used wisely. And make use of this little book to guide you along.

Reviewed for Readers' Favorite.

[Kenna McKinnon · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a constantly changing world for authors and readers, too, and giants such as Amazon, Goodreads, and Facebook are constantly changing as well. Yesterday's rules do not apply. Authors are often stuck in the quagmire of "what do I do now to market my books?" Competition is fierce given the new self-publishing world of books, and the constellation of choices for readers has never been more. In bounces our guru of Indie authors, Gisela Hausmann, who has done extensive research into every topic she publishes under her Naked brand of books. These are more properly used as reference manuals, in my opinion, for they are books that should be referred to again and again after the first reading.

This Little Blue Book for Authors with 101 clues to get more out of Facebook presents new information as well as topics I suspected long ago were true, from my acquaintance with this social medium, as an author on Facebook. Not a non-profit institution, Facebook of course wants to make money, not support authors other than vicariously. Facebook has its own algorithms which are automatic and not generated by a human. This little eBook tips the balance more in favor of the author as Hausmann explains, in her usual no-fluff, succinct and pragmatic fashion, the ins and outs of using this ubiquitous social medium. One can do their own elbow work and put in many hours on their own, or hire a professional (out of range for those with limited budgets), but the reasoning behind this author's work is to spare us the pain and bewilderment of doing our own research in a densely populated field, and having the clarity of mind, as she does, to put it all together in a form easily understood and remembered. Thus the appeal of the Naked series of books.

As I read this Little Blue Book on my Kindle and have limited data, I could not follow the links. My only negative comment. A well deserved 5 stars for a little book with a lot of research and thought behind it!

[Jessica Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very helpful book for authors. Facebook has been changing things so much. When I first started out on Facebook, it was easy to network and get interaction on my Facebook page. Then these like ladders started to appear, and I was like, sure, more likes for my page would be great, and then I'll get even more interaction. So I liked many pages, just to get a like back. "The Little Blue Book for Authors: 101 Clues to Get more Out of Facebook," explains why that is NOT a good idea at all. This book gives great tips that I wish I had read years ago. I had liked over 3,000 other pages, and have about 600 likes on my Facebook page. When I post, I'm lucky to get a few likes. So I started to take the advice of the author that she spells out in this book, and clean up my Facebook likes. Wow, that has been taking forever! I highly recommend that authors, as well as small business owners, read this book. I had actually already known some of the information in the book, but I was too lazy to take action. Once I read the book I figured I'd better take action and clean up my news feed on Facebook. Once I did, I started to see more posts that interested me. I still have a lot of cleaning up to do, but it has helped. I just wish I had read this book years ago before I got myself into the Facebook mess. The only reason I am giving this 4 stars instead of 5 stars is because I feel that there is more research for the author to do in regards to what authors need to do if they have likes on their pages that are not their ideal customer. I have so many likes on my page that I know do not care about my books. I know they were just there for me to like their page back. So what to do now? Maybe there isn't an answer to that question. The best thing for authors is to read this book before they end up in my boat with too many likes from other people who are not your ideal client. Children's books and horror books do not mix, as the author points out in this book.
Jessica D. Adams, Author

[C.J. Rutherford · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's amazing how easy it is for an author to do things wrong on Facebook, and end up attracting the wrong sort of traffic to their book pages, and so risking the wrath of Facebook's almighty algorithms.
This short book hits you with a ton of do's and don'ts , in a perfectly straightforward way.
Already my profile and page are a much friendlier place for readers, fans, and other authors to hang out.

[Ashok · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual, there are several really helpful hints in this small package by Gisela. How to harness Facebook for marketing your book, this is also proof of her consistent bullets (meaning instructions and advice in bullet points) that work. Great work, as usual!

[Anita Kovacevic · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is never anything little about Gisela's books. I've read plenty, and the occasional faults in my writing career are due to not following her advice, and some others.

Writing anything is never easy and you can verify that with any high school student out there, not to mention writers. Marketing what you write can either depress you with its abundance of traps, turn you into a proper merchant who eventually disregards art in favour of money, or you can thrust yourself into the battle with a little bit of help from the able book promoters (not any, but able, pls notice the difference) and some timely tips from marketing specialists such as Gisela Hausmann. My simile to battle is inspired by the book Hausmann quotes in her first chapter - The Art of War. I have to admit I often feel like an untrained soldier in the marketing battlefield, so I consider books such as this one good training. "...ask yourself if you can even become a player?" Hausmann says. So... see what I mean?

Now I have to say I like things explained to me as if I were a six-year-old, so this piece of advice was a wake up call:

“Don’t post anything on Facebook you would not post on a billboard next to the busiest highway in your hometown.”

The Mark Cuban video was another, slightly scary one. By tip 25 I was making notes on what I had to do about my own social media presence, and fast. What further complicated things is this:

"Though it is your business if and how you use your personal profile page, you can comment in Facebook network groups only with your personal profile page."

I had always known this book would add more work to my to-do list, but at least now I am not wandering around in fog any more. The advice about potential employers, as scary as it may seem, is truer than we'd like to think, which adds importance to this book - it is not only for authors, but all entrepreneurs who plan their media presence.

"To succeed in this cut-throat business, you need to own your writing, your research, your knowledge, your “everything”!"

I'm in for a lot of work. Better start!

[Kazz Mossman · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book. We are are so busy complaining about all the things we can't do on Facebook and this highlights the fact that we should work with Facebook to get the very best out of it. It has made me much more positive about what I can do rather than what I can do.

I know a lot about Facebook and how to set things up and get them to work, so I wasn't sure just how much I could learn from this.

I learnt about pages and it was a revelation. My one biggest bug bear is that you can't read your like pages in a newsfeed like you can your friends. Well you can! It was there all the time, on the left of the screen where the groups are, it says pages. You can easily access your own pages as well as the pages feed. Why did no one tell me this before! lol!

As I ready this helpful little book, my own ideas came to me and as I result, I now have a page for my online blog . Why I never thought of that before? I don't know, but after what the author said, it makes perfect sense. So if you are a book lover, please come and join me on the link below.

The little blue book is definitely worth reading to get the most out of your platform. It's worth working with it positively rather than against and complaining. After all they are a business and they allow you to use it for free.

https://www.facebook.com/KarensBooksB...

[Chelle Cordero · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, Ms. Hausmann is right on target!

Gisela Hausmann doesn't mince words, she doesn't waste time building your ego, but she does put a lot of time building expertise. I've read several of her books and each one has presented an Ah-hah moment and made me examine how I've done things to date and how I could improve.
She certainly says it best, "Unhinge the Titanic's doors and use them to build rafts!" - Gisela Hausmann

[Chequer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a social media manager, I can confirm this book is sound in its philosophy. It’s well worth the read to learn a little bit about how Facebook works and how it’s constantly changing to support its personal business acumen, which is to make money.

[Donna Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick read with common sense information that is so often over looked. Information that opened my eyes to the way Facebook works.

[Prakash Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little book but full of wisdom.

As always, Gisela produced one more book with well researched contents about Facebook which is not only essential but beneficial for authors.
Gisela pointed out the problems and advised how to get best out of Facebook news feed.
"No professional in any industry became a professional by asking questions in Facebook groups!

Follow the people who want to help you to “unhinge doors and turn them into rafts.” - Gisela Hausmann

I loved #66, and #71.

[Stuart Aken · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little book, like all of this author’s output, is direct, straightforward, and full of common sense corralled by her personal research and experience.
Gisela Hausmann is thorough in her search for useful advice for the users of social media, especially those who write for a living. This book is no exception. Eager to pass on her knowledge and results of her personal findings, she gives clear, easy to follow advice.
This book uncovers many of the hidden aspects for Facebook use for authors, illuminating readers in the process and revealing things most of us never know about.
I’ve barely started to apply the advice (like all who write, I’m generally busy with the words and other aspects of creating a work of fiction) but already the changes are evident. I’m getting more comments, more readers and new followers of the page.
When I have time to go more deeply into the process, I fully expect it to bear fruit and increase my influence and exposure on this popular social media site.
So, a book that does what it says on the cover; just like the rest of the volumes in this writer’s extensive stable.

[W.M. Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must have for every author

Ms Hausmann has done it again. Every author will need this book at least once. She is straight to the point and offers sound advice based on solid research.
I highly recommend this little book not only to authors, but to their P.A.'s as well.