A STAGGERING 12 LIKES ON FACEBOOK AND A WEBSITE BESIDES
JULIE ISRAEL, self
It doesn’t take much to excite an unpublished author.
“Twelve likes!” Julie Israel, one such aspiring novelist exclaims. “That’s almost a baker’s dozen!”
Israel, the author of various WIP, has been working on her author platform since early this year. Or last year, if you include her blog which has grown to an impressively mediocre 373 followers.
“God, I’m even on Twitter now,” she laughs, bemoaning her recently-developed urge to hashtag anything that reads. #likeJulie #followJulie #JULZRULEZ4EVA </end shameless self-promotion>
In efforts to bolster her following and connect with fellow authors, artists, and readers – developing what Murray Hewitt, fictionally-portrayed-from-actual musical representation of Flight of the Conchords, sagaciously calls a fan base – Israel has gradually constructed a social media and internet presence: first a blog, then a Twitter account, and a few weeks ago an author website and Facebook fan page.
The problem?
“Getting people to read and follow and generally be interested in my work without being a total taco-copter*. I mean, I want to share what I’m doing and yes, social media are embraced by authors specifically as marketing tools, but I don’t want to be a robot, or a billboard, or that yap-flapping, Jedward-esk** salesman people cross the street to avoid having to talk to.”
As of this article, Israel has 373 followers on WordPress, 807 followers on Twitter, and a staggering 12 likes on Facebook. She also has an RSS feed for her website – www.julieisrael.com – but has not yet figured out how to tell who’s following. Quite possibly because nobody is yet.
Of course, as the author says, “Numbers are just numbers,” – she’d take authentic interest over copious digits any day.
That’s why, with this article – and because she finds a brand-building strategy of automated replies and relentlessly-spammed links to be acutely soul-destroying – Israel is imploringly, laughingly, kowtowingly, self-deprecatingly, Stephen-King-would-despise-all-these-adverbs-aware-ically asking for your help: check out her work. If you like it – any of it, including but not limited to this article – show your love: follow. Comment. Retweet. Press This. Mention it to another human being. For the love of Cheese, like her and stoke her ego a smidge!
“What wouldn’t I do for more Facebook likes! Well…a lot of things. I’ll tell you what I would do: I would dole the liker a snazzy internet high-five, I would dance a jig in the privacy of my bedroom, and I would raise my glass…es to said liker. I could also be persuaded to eat a celebratory doughnut.”
If, dear reader, you require further convincing to give a nature’s summons about her work, consider these 12 Reasons to Read Julie Israel. You’re welcome.
In the meantime, this Julie will keep writing and doing her creative thang – including dreaming up more enjoyable and less spork-in-the-eye annoying ways to promote herself/expand her fan base.
*
*taco-copter. Is any advert more obnoxious than a friggin’ helicopter?
**Jedward. The author’s guilty admission is that she secretly likes this notoriously annoying duo – or at least their catchy song “Lipstick” as entered in Eurovision.
Julie Israel 
What’s the word?