I decided yesterday to boldly go where every author but me has gone before. When my advance review copies for Let the Guilty Pay came in, I decided it was time for me to start utilizing two excellent tools to reach new readers: Facebook Live and YouTube. And, while I was already on Instagram, I will now be posting to Instagram TV.

I’d already noticed that I was one of the last commercial authors I know not using any of the popular video platforms (I’m not including the Salinger types who aren’t in the public eye at all, obviously), but the country’s need to self-isolate made me realize just how important using video to connect with readers will become.

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It did not go as smoothly as I’d hoped. I tried first from my author Facebook page. But because I wanted to use my phone, which has a far superior camera, I soon had a false start.

The Facebook page, likely because it is tied to my Instagram, required my camera to be vertical. I disagree with Facebook on this issue, so I switched to my personal page, which is fine, since I have plenty of the same friends on both.

But even though I was flustered, I could not have been happier to see my book for the first time, and I think it shows on the video.

I also plan on going live again on April 1 when my novella, Live with the Truth (a prequel to Let the Guilty Pay), is live on Amazon.

(Note: You can download the novella for free through March 31 by subscribing to my newsletter.)