This is a sort of open letter/ PSA to the writing community regarding social media, and holding our friends accountable.
Are we the company we keep? If our publishing house sister is spamming the crap out of Twitter, does that reflect poorly on the house, and ourselves?
There is a fine line between self-promotion and spam.
Some writers are fine dancers, courting the line but never stepping on its toes.
Other writers pole vault right over that line, straight into the land of ZOMGLOOKATMELOOKATMELOOKATMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Whenever I see one of these pole vaulters, I can't help but wonder where their friends are. Where are their crit partners? Where are their friends? Agents? Anyone? ANYONE?!
This writer is alienating their fan base/ followers. They are engaging in social media practices that are detrimental to their success.
So why aren't their friends saying anything to them?
We can be happy for our friends while holding them accountable for the things they are doing/ saying. If one of my CP's/ friends was constantly Following/ Unfollowing people to try to get their attention, or spamming my Twitter/ Facebook feed with shameless self promotion I would SAY SOMETHING!
Maybe these people's friends HAVE said something, and they didn't care to listen.
If that's the case, then we need to spread awareness about this. When I see a mention of your book, I should be excited, and happy for you. I shouldn't roll my eyes and go, 'oh fuck, here we go AGAIN. I hate this book and I haven't even read it...'
Friends don't let friends sabotage themselves. Friends shouldn't let friends self-promote to the point of Spamming. You may think one or ten posts a day isn't a big deal.
But when it's the SAME post, or a slightly different worded version of the same post, it's like gum we've already chewed. We're going to spit you out. We want something fresh.
Interact WITH us, don't talk AT us. It's a much better way to promote yourself, and your work.
Hold your friends, and yourselves accountable. We're all in this together.
Thanks.
Gotcha. Friends don't let friends make asses of themselves in public. Check. :D
ReplyDeleteAlso, whenever I read a PSA post for writers, I get all twitchy, and hope to Glob I'm not the target! :) Phew, this time I'm off the hook. No book to plug. Yet. Someday when I'm published, I'm sure you're going to have to put a muzzle on me.
So this is the entry I tried to post to unsuccessfully. I can't recreate the long version...but in short- I agree, and I hope that I have that someone in my life. Just in case I don't you leash me , ok? The line is fine indeed. Its something you have to do- but...oh yeah the thing called taste.
ReplyDeleteUgh, yes. I also hate the same scheduled tweets over and over and over again.
ReplyDeleteGreetings!
ReplyDeleteI'm hopping over from GUTGAA and wanted to start visiting some blogs early! Nice to meet you...you have a lovely blog!
Donna L Martin
www.donnalmartin.com
www.donasdays.blogspot.com
This was great advice, I'm nowhere near published but your words struck me. You are right, it's all about the friendship building not the shameless plugging.
ReplyDeleteOne of my goals this year is to get to know more writers so I couldn't resist following your blog. Russo @ www.threegnomes.blogspot.com
Hi, I'm here from GUTGAA. Nice to meet you! You are so right about this. Last year an author I followed did over the top promo. In addition to the constant self-promo tweets, she randomly jumped to my blog (among hundreds or thousands of others) and put her info with a link to buy the book in the comments. It turned me off so much that I wouldn't ever buy the book. Things calmed down after a few months, so I assume someone finally stepped up and told her to cut it out.
ReplyDeleteI see people who only tweet about their book, sending out the same tweets at the same time every day...almost hourly, now that I think about it. I tweet about my book so sporadically (once every 3-5 days) so sometimes I copy and paste tweets, but mostly new ones.
ReplyDeleteNow I feel bad for copying and pasting! LOL
Great post, and important for ALL authors.