Hijacking Other Writers' Social Media Is Rude

You would think I wouldn't have to address this issue. Indie publishing has been pretty solid for six years now. You would think that people would know some of the etiquette rules.

So if you're new to indie publishing, let me tell you now before you piss off the wrong person: Hijacking another writers social media is plain fucking rude. It's a good way to ruin friendships and getting yourself banned from some sites.

What do I mean by hijacking?

- Leaving links and/or comments about your book on other writers' blogs
- Leaving links and/or comments about your book on other writers' Facebook account
- Spamming public boards with links and/or comments about your book in inappropriate places

Posting about your brand new book on the wrong place on Kboards especially will earn you a ton of scorn.

Not only can hijacking earn you the animosity of another writer, you're failing to take something important into account. Are you really marketing to potential readers?

Take Wild, Wicked & Wacky for example. The folks that read this blog aren't necessarily the same folks that read my books. I talk about writing craft, the publishing industry, and other tidbits that I find interesting (like Jensen Ackles lip-synching to "Eye of the Tiger"). If you parse through the last few months of posts, you'll find I rarely talk about my books here. And even when I do, it's only the books I write under the "Suzan Harden" moniker, which are firmly in the fantasy genre.

So when you add a link in my comments here for your brand-new romantic suspense, who exactly are you marketing to? Probably not to folks who read your type of story. So not only have you irritated me, you look totally clueless to a lot of the readers who might have looked at your book.

Yes, I know it's hard, really, really hard to get attention in the fragmentation that is today's publishing market. All I'm saying is don't sabotage yourself before you've gotten out of the gate.