Facebook, Twitter, Blogs. Answer the string of e-mails, add comments, click the "like" button. Smile, say thank you for the ReTweets, the Mentions.
And that is all before breakfast!
Is it worth it, all this marketing? The being nice to people I don't know and probably will never know, in the forlorn hope that by being nice they will buy a book?
That's what it is all about - getting my name, and therefore my books, known, because, let's face it, there is no point in me writing a novel of anything between 130-170,000 words (that's a lot of words) if not a soul is going to buy a single finished copy.
But it is not considered etiquette to say outright "Hey! This is a good book! Buy it! Read it!" - although the occasional shameless plug is permissible. I had a mad weekend last weekend, plugging my Discovering the Diamond.
I did feel awkward posting up about it everywhere BUT, and this is the point, I was pushing it because it was free. A weekend special deal on Kindle. So I felt I was not asking people to spend money, I was saying "Hey, its free!"
Well yes, in the hope that these nice people would then buy another book as well...
But if you don't tootle your own trumpet occasionally, no one else is going to toot-toot it for you are they?
The thing is not to go on and on about "my (your) book". I'm afraid the endless "read my book", "take a look at my book", "hey, you'll love my book" could result in me blocking, removing, unfollowing and unfriending.
I don't want to read/buy/look at your book. I want to chat to you, find out who you are, what you do. I want to be entertained by witty conversation, share a laugh - maybe even a few tears. I want to get to know you.... then.... and only then, I might look at your book.
So that is how it works folks. The nitty-gritty facts of an author trying to jump up and down among the thousands of other authors, trying, desperately to be noticed.
On the other hand, Tweeting, Facebooking and Blogging has meant that I have met many fabulous people (you know who you are!) Who are now good acquaintances or cherished friends.
I may only sell a few books by waffling on about these things, but who cares - I have a treasure chest of friends! So yes, the marketing is worth it. 
(er .... any chance of you buying one of my books?)
Having just done the same thing (and 4 days more of free book promotion) - I know what you mean! I dislike having to parp on about it too. But I hope that most people realise that it is just a temporary thing and then tweets/statuses will return to normal.
ReplyDeleteAnd if we don't publicise our own books, who will? We don't have the luxury of advances etc from mainstream, so we have to do everything ourselves if we are to eat. I think the trick is to try and find the right balance between promotions and 'fun' tweets. Not easy though, s it?
I read your Not Just the Ink is Black on my way home from a lovely couple of days in Aylesbury - loved it. (LOL - the book as well as the couple of days!)
ReplyDeleteIt's very frustrating being an author. It means being constantly unwanted. Agents are rolling their eyes at our writing and how it sounds like everyone else. Potential readers are annoyed by us asking them to read our books. And you feel just awful trying to find critique partners, taking all that time to print out your story for them and then months later, they still haven't read a page. But we have to approach all these people anyway and hope we don't annoy the majority of them.
ReplyDeleteAnd just because we're on the topic, if you ever want to guest post on my blog about your books or need a retweet of one of those tweets you made, just let me know (by commenting on my blog or getting ahold of me some other way) and I'll be happy to help. =)
E.B. Black - you're on! I'd love to be a guest on your blog (and I'd like to return the compliment for mine) Could you e-mail me authorAThelenhollickDOTnet and we can sort something out!
ReplyDelete