I’d really like to turn thirty…again.

Only, this time, not in a way celebrated with a cake sitting beneath the blazing halo of far too many candles; or with a surprise party that someone (in my case, the host) accidentally reveals in advance; and certainly not with that depressing (albeit fleeting) realization the morning after that the words “twenty-something” no longer apply. 

In my do-over, I hope to turn thirty in the “you’re only as old as the photo you choose” world of Facebook.

Why Facebook?

For the statistics. Not mine—yours.   

A Facebook Author Page, a tool intended for business use, automatically provides the page owner with general demographic details. Then, once a page reaches the magic “people are talking about this” number of thirty, additional demographic details are provided.

Nothing personal, private, or embarrassing is revealed. More, it’s to find out where the fans are located, and to find out their age ranges and genders. Is Cincinnati a hot spot for your books? How about San Antonio? Or Calgary? Maybe Miami? Could it be Boston? Potentially Seattle? All of the above?

I’ve heard that Amazon provides traditional publishers with this type of demographic information about the people who purchase their authors’ books. I don’t know for certain if it’s true but, if it is, how fantastic!

How do self-published and indie published authors get a hold of that information, too?

For example: If the clear majority of the people willing to shell out their hard-earned money to purchase your books live in St. Louis and New York City, why in the heck are you doing radio shows and public appearances anywhere but those two cities? Why are you investing the bulk of your precious marketing dollars and your time anywhere but there?

Secure the base.

It’s politics (and business) 101.

I’ve taken screen shots of the existing data for my Facebook Author Page and, provided the magic number of thirty is reached, will post them alongside new screen shots showing whatever mysterious new general demographic information is revealed.

Here is the exact sentence Facebook uses: “Demographic data for People Talking About This is only available when more than 30 people were talking about this Page in the 7 days preceding the last day of your selected date range.”

If you’re thinking about creating a Facebook Page, this could be a good opportunity to get a look at what additional business tools setting up a separate page for your novels will provide.

I’m not entirely certain how the “talking about this” feature works on my Facebook Author Page, so I’ve posted a question about books, naturally, and invite you to stop by and answer it.

Q: If you could add one book to the Good Reads list of every person who has one, what would it be?

Here is the link to my Facebook Author Page. Thank you for helping to unlock the mystery.