I’m excited to report the publication of Mastodon for Dummies, my new collaboration with Chris Minnick. This book will help you escape from Elon Musk’s Twitter — or any other corporate social media platform. You’ll get started with the open-source Mastodon alternative.

Check out the Books page for the story of how this book came to be. After an extended hiatus from book authoring, I couldn’t ask for a more worthwhile topic.

What’s different about Mastodon?

Mastodon differs from corporate social media platforms in these important ways: Book cover for "Mastodon for Dummies" by Chris Minnick and Michael McCallister.

  • No one owns Mastodon, and anyone can set up a community.
  • You are a valued member of the community, not an advertising target.
  • There’s no algorithm that decides what you see. Your feed depends solely on who you follow.
  • Community and conversation come first, not virality.

What else is in the book?

Chris and I quickly (the book is just 150 pages) walk you through the process of choosing a homebase on Mastodon. You’ll learn how to connect with other users, including your Tweeps who’ve joined the platform. Not sure how to be conversational on social media? We can help you post effectively too.

We tell you how to build a business on Mastodon too. You’ll find that it’s a very different vibe than Twitter, but if you really put your customers first, you’ll do well.

Besides all the good information we provide, you’ll find all the features — and fun — you expect from a For Dummies book. (Confession: With apologies to the publishers I’ve worked with over the years, I’ve always wanted to write one of these. Another bucket list item checked off!)

Working on Mastodon for Dummies

I’m honored to partner with Chris Minnick on this project, and I can tell you he’s a great guy and a writing dynamo! He has called Mastodon for Dummies his “most important” book, and I have to agree with him.

Anyway, if you’re on Mastodon, do give me a follow: @workingwriter. You can also follow MichaelMcCallister.com directly at https://www.michaelmccallister.com/author/mike/.

Let me know if you have questions about the book, Mastodon, or anything else.

Pamela K. Johnson, who edits the NWUsletter of the National Writers Union (USA), asked me for some words of wisdom on building a writer platform. As a member since 2000, I was happy to oblige. You can find the story here.

National Writers Union

The NWU, an affiliate of the United Auto Workers, offers freelance writers of all genres a way to band together in this ever-changing world of publishing. Members receive contract advice, help with missing payments from clients, magazines, websites and traditional publishers. Go check it out!

The Great Chicago Fire, an artists rendering, ...
Chicago was on Fire! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I had a terrific time with the Independent Writers of Chicago last week. What a lively group! They took my instructions that this was an interactive presentation to heart. Folks were so engaged, and asked so many questions, I barely got halfway through my planned talk. Nonetheless, have a look at the complete slide deck (click the link if the embed isn’t working):

Build Your Author Platform talk at Independent Writers of Chicago

To those of you who attended, you’ll enjoy these slides  more than what you saw that night.

The Big Four social media sites

I focused my talk on why having a website (like this one) is important, and connecting with the most important social media sites:

The slides will give you a hint on why these are the most important, and pros and cons for each service.

But can you make money with it?

Karma as action and reaction: if we sow goodne...
Karma as action and reaction: if we sow goodness, we will reap goodness. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Much of the conversation focused on the fundamental question for any freelance writer: Is social media really a valuable investment in time? One writer noted that she set and achieved a goal to get 10,000 Twitter followers, but that she found it impossible to communicate effectively with that size crowd. Not discouraged, she divided her followers into lists based on who shared her content and other criteria. She, in turn, spent more time reading and sharing posts from the folks who supported her.

I also pointed out that many agents and publishers use audience size as a way to decide whether a new author is willing to do the marketing work needed to sell books today. No audience, no sale.

 New places to build platform

One thing I wish I could have shared is my time-honored advice for social media success: get in early! I’ve told this story often, learned by way of the Most Influential Person in Technical Communication, Tom Johnson.  In short: One of the main reasons I was once on the list of Most Influential that Tom was #1 on is that Tom and I both discovered – and posted to – Twitter early.

Eight years ago this month, some friends came back from South by Southwest to spread the word of the usefulness and fun quotient of the 140-character mini-blog tool. I signed up, and the rest is certainly history. (Psst…you can follow me using the button on the right).

So let me hook you up with two (relatively) new services that I’m on. I have no idea whether they will become household names over time, but if they do, I want to say I helped.

  • Ello: This service was the hottest thing in the blogosphere for a week or so late last year. Not unlike Google+, this ad-free zone was torched by the same bloggers and journalists for not dethroning Facebook quickly enough. Nonetheless, this beta service continues to grow, add features, and remains pretty interesting. I’ve got invites…
  • Known: I learned about this site by way of a comment on an article by Dan Gillmor

    Dan Gillmor, American technology writer and fo...
    Dan Gillmor, American technology writer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    on Medium. I haven’t done much here, and don’t entirely get its purpose yet, but you might find it interesting too. Gillmor (one of my tech-journalist heroes, BTW) calls himself “a big fan.”

Thanks again to the Independent Writers of Chicago (especially Tom Kepler, James Kepler and David Steinkraus) for inviting me to speak, and providing such a great audience. Oh, the pizza was great, too!