Before I share this post, I want to just put it out there. We know I’m not really that versed in social media and I’ve blogged about it sooooooooooo many times I should have had it on repeat. I try, I get frustrated, I get no interaction even when I put a prompt out there for open discussion. Waxing and Waning it seems. I also feel very terrible if I’m always throwing things in people’s face. As much as I would love to sell my book, I also don’t want to be the author that get’s on people’s nerves by virtually jumping up in the air waving my hands screaming “pick me! pick me!” It may work for other’s but apparently I’m not the only one who thinks that it’s just not for everyone and I totally feel the pain.
I’m leaving snippets but feel free to link over to the article…..one that I have no cross promotion involved in AT ALL (not even a WordPress)
Please shut up: Why self-promotion as an author doesn’t work.
Let’s talk about marketing, shall we?
It’s 2012. I’m sitting at a table in the front of the room, a microphone poised to capture my every word. At this local writing conference, I am considered a rock star. Everyone in the audience wants what I have–a three-book contract with a traditional publishing company. Their eyes are hungry, their pens poised over notebooks. We take a question from the crowd.
“How do I build a platform and make money with my blog?” a woman asks.
“Build a time machine and go back to 2005 and start your blog then,” I say.
Because it’s the truth. In this oversaturated market, the only ways to build a following and profit from it are to have been around for 5-10 years already or to already be famous. The woman sits down, unhappy with my answer. But no one else on the panel has a better one. Because there is no easy answer, no secret to building a following.
Scary, right?
It scares me, too.
From the very beginning of my writing career, I’ve been told that publishers want a writer to have a brand, a platform, a blog, a built-in army of fans. But that was 2009, and now it’s 2015, and that doesn’t work anymore. Book blogs become paid services, giveaways become chum pits, conference-goers dump purses full of business cards out in the trash to make room for more free books that they won’t read. It is virtually impossible to get your blog seen or your book discovered. We are glutted with information, and yet our answer to “How do I get people to buy my book?” is social media marketing, which is basically throwing more information out into the void.
Why?
1. Because Twitter doesn’t sell books.
2. Because Facebook hides posts for blackmail purposes.
3. Because people aren’t on Instagram to find new books.
4. Because tumblr is not a spectator sport.
5. Because book reviews are not a place for the author.
6. Because I hate newsletters and hashtag parties too much to inflict them on anyone else.
……………………..Would fishing be fun if the fish jumped out of the ocean and smacked you in the face?
Nope.
And that’s what a lot of social media by authors is starting to look like, to feel like: being smacked in the face, repeatedly, by hundreds of fish. Being pushed. Being assaulted and yelled at and chased. Being manipulated and prodded and possibly tricked. ………
Google +: all I can say is I don’t have one for my author account. In all honesty why would I? I went there with my personal page a while back in an attempt to veer from FB and all its changing but the whole flow of it just felt wrong. Not saying I won’t give it another try, but until I can figure out how to utilize it I see no real purpose.
Pinterest: OMG I am a pinaholic on a personal level. I used to be worse. The geek and humor sections alone have me pinning like crazy. But that is my personal page. They say authors have one for just them? Why? What would one do? I would think you could only go so far. I try my hardest to keep my personal life and work life separate although they tend to blend at times.
Instagram: First things first. Pictures? I’m okay with pictures, but does a person really want to see stupid images of a self-conscious me or my food? Don’t people take tons of pictures of food?
Skype: sure Its great to call dad or grandma. lol.
Youtube: on a personal level I use it okay, as long as I’m looking up something, but how would I utilize this as an author? I have nothing to really contribute. I hear people making trailers or something, but for a book? I’m so missing that point. It may be a good one, but I’m not a techie and have no clue what to do.
This brings me to a new one I was introduced to the other day. Vine. What in the world? Its youtube for ADD I think. Not in a bad way cause my attention veers quite quickly. But silly stuff in an 8 second format? What in the world? Please navigate me through this.
J.S. Riddle 