Instagram: pen names & pinned posts

EXCLUSIVE interview included!!

Hello my authors!! First and foremost - THANK YOU for your patience while I closed up my summer chapters, got a TON of commission work done, and took a little vacation with my husband. I am feeling massively refreshed and excited to tackle the rest of the year!

Annnnnd you know what that means with me! MORE STUFF! 😂 I am really interested in digging in with y’all and getting into the nitty gritty of what you struggle with. Questions have slowed down - so I’m asking you to think about your week. When you’re not writing, where are you struggling around your book? What info do you feel like you’re lacking? Where are you going “wtf am I doing wrong”? Are you willing to be a case study for me, where I very kindly and gently point out areas of opportunity with your accounts? 👀

Post questions (of which there are two this week) please also read on about BeNoWriMo - the best and most fun November-ish writing motivation. Beano has a lot to say. Now let’s get into it!

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Question: (paraphrased) I am ramping up a new pen name for a 2025 release, and creating all related socials, web, etc. Do you have any advice on how I can start up the socials & web for the new pen name while leveraging my current platform?

First of all, congrats!! This is really fun and exciting, and something I’ve gotten a question about a few times generally - secondary/tertiary pen name socials, that is.

Before I get into my thoughts, I’d like to also say that this sort of applies to folks writing in multiple genres, too - while many of you don’t create separate social accounts, there’s an underlying theme of “get more of what you love over here!” that we can leverage.

Now for the light lift stuff:

• Obviously, we’ll want to make sure all these secondary locations are super distinctly branded - even though you are being transparent about the pen name - so that people understand where they are and what they’re looking at by color scheme alone.

  • Consider the hypothetical differences between a Coca Cola social account and a Diet Coke social account. Same company, two very different audiences, but two honestly very similar products (sorry Diet Coke Girlies I know I know lol)

• Go ahead and post about the pen name on your existing socials! You’ll know at what frequency your existing audience will tolerate the repetition - but if you have a blog (or vlog), mention it there at least a few weeks in a row as you ramp up. Post about it on threads with keywords to attract new audiences simultaneously. Share to your existing instagram account’s stories!

I think (and this is up to you, but this is what I would do) that you should probably make the first couple of “content” posts to the NEW instagram account a collaboration post with your existing account.

Before those content posts start up though, we need to carefully introduce and lay the groundwork for the new. I would specifically recommend:

• Again, branding - just hammering this in. Make sure it’s similar but distinct. This is your Diet Coke lol

• Two introductory posts to the new account that you should pin for the time being (until you have a more robust account)

  • 1 - who are you? Explain the pen name, talk a bit about your backlist under your true name.

    • I think this is especially valuable because the discerning bookstagrammer looks at debut folks with a bit of skepticism - especially because they can’t make a judgement call regarding your writing.

    • If they instead find your new account because something about your new book caught your eye, and then they see you’re already published, they can go check out your other stuff, see your backlog, and know that they jive with your writing style!

  • 2 - What’s this book about? What are the plans (timing wise)? Series or standalone? etc!

    • Genre, tropes, who’s the FMC, what’s the romance like, all that jazz. Put all the info you think a reader might need to make their decision in one post and pin it.

    • This way, if they find New Book and New Pen Name from say, an aesthetic reel - and they come to your account to dig around for the book - they have all the tools they need to bookmark it, preorder it, whatever.

    • (I like to think about readers as two types of folks, as an aside. One type of reader is mood-based, and they’ll read anything if the reel is compelling enough, but only if it’s available right that second to download. The other is more meticulous, and wants to plan, and doesn’t need the BOOK to be available right away, but they do need to be able to easily find allll the info quickly in order for your book to make it on their TBR.)

• One pinned post to your MAIN instagram account with your headshot, ideally, that basically has “Legal Name & Pen Name” and explains what readers should expect to come out of both lanes for as long as you have planned out. This will be another way finding post for people, and you can un-pin it post-pen-name-book-release, I think.

For the pen name website, I tried to find an example, but I cannot for the life of me right now… but imagine a website where you “toggle” between two main pages. I’m thinking it might be very cool to have your pen name as a specific link in the main header navigation of your existing website and vice-versa, with the main page of each hopefully laid out to explain who they’re looking at and what the books associated are. If that doesn’t make sense, please let me know - and I’ll update this post when I finally find an example!

I hope this all gives you a good place to start and digs in slightly beyond the obvious - but please let me know if you have any follow up questions!!

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Question: On the pinned post for IG (and I'm thinking also Threads) - is there any author who does the "about" post really well that you can point to?

Yes! Here’s some examples from Instagram:

bynicoleplatania

A post shared by @bynicoleplatania

I love this book guide by Nicole Platania. It’s not an AUTHOR about post, but it is something I would force every author to create and post if I could. I would argue for most readers, it’s actually MORE important than a strictly “about me” post.

by_victoriamier

A post shared by @by_victoriamier

This post by Victoria Mier is a bit of a blend - it covers a lot of ground, and includes her duology, but it’s a very good way (in my opinion) to create a pinned post that functions as an about in many ways.

authornicolefiorina

A post shared by @authornicolefiorina

ANYWAY Miss Nicole Fiorina might win the prize here because her THREE pinned posts are literally perfect IMO. Her branding, her aesthetic, chef’s kiss. You know exactly what you’re getting over there and you can peruse her About & FAQ pinned post, her “how to connect” pinned post (bonus points for newsletter!!), and a book-specific pinned post, too. If I could make y’all do anything, it would be to consider at least doing two of the three! It also will make a really pleasant looking “banner” at the top of your grid, but that’s just my personal preference haha.

If you have any other examples you love, please put them in the comments so we can all share the wealth!

Now, on to the nonsense.

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BeNoWriMo: An exclusive interview with Beano

Beano, the mascot and menace of “BeNoWriMo”, short for Better Novel Writing Month, sits down with CMR to discuss his coming back to the scene after NaNoWriMo is more-or-less officially cancelled by the authors of the internet. Only one year old, Beano is ready to change the world.

CMR: Thank you so much for joining us, Beano! Can you tell us a little more about BeNoWriMo?

Beano: Beano would love to. Beano was born because last year, Nano did some horrible things. This year Nano decided also to say some things about using Generative AI that made all the authors (and Beano) upset. Beano loves the authors! Beano wants to consume the words of the authors.

So Beano was born to encourage and terrorize the authors during November so they write words for Beano. Here are Beano’s posters from last year.

Beano 2023

CMR: I see it says there that you have no rules, sign up, organization, or anything of the sort. “Only Beano” and good vibes. What does that mean?

Beano: Beano just wants you to write words. When you write words for Beano, Beano is happy. When you don’t write words for Beano, Beano might show up at your house. Beano will know. Beano needs you to write words. Beano doesn’t care if it’s 5 words or 50k words.

Beano looks… hungry. He is a little menacing, honestly. But as he finishes he settles back into a sort of calm, though bean-like, demeanor.

Beano: For example, you’re writing right now. So Beano won’t harm you.

CMR: Would you harm authors who don’t write words for you? That doesn’t seem light hearted, motivating, or like “good vibes”.

Beano: Only psychological harm. Have you ever seen Nightmare on Elmstreet? Beano loves that movie.

CMR: Okay Beano I think that’s plenty. I’ll ask before we go - if authors want to be….motivated by you….during the fall this year, how can they get in touch?

Beano: They can follow Beano on threads. If you tag Beano, Beano will find you. Beano asks questions about writing and chats with the authors. They write replies, which Beano loves. The beanies there love Beano. Beano hopes to help many authors this year.

Find Beano's Threads account here

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Okay that’s it this week! I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. If you’re looking at me sideways for Beano… I want you to introspect about the characters YOU’VE created. Don’t look at me with that look!! 😂

Can’t wait to hear your questions for next week - pop them in the comments here - and have a lovely day!!

xoxo, Charlie (&Beano)