Keeping in Contact with Your Readers

You're just reading the title and I can already hear your skull popping like a corn kernel as your brain explodes.

It not a terrible thing. In fact, it's something that can be fun if you use a methodology you enjoy. But like the snail mailing lists of yore it can be highly valuable in the long run.

There's always social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, et al. Some writers love them; some don't.  And if you don't, you're not going to engage which makes the whole exercise pointless.

Also, which one you use really depends on your market. Adults hang out on Facebook. Teens and college-age young adults tend to  hang out on Instagram and Snapchat (aka fewer old people). Since I write for adults, I'm going to focus on those avenues.

Overall though, don't just hawk your books. Actually talk to your readers. About the weather. About books in general. About your favorite TV shows and movies. (Seriously, Alter Ego got a lot more hits on her turn on a recent multi-author giveaway on Facebook because she included a certain comic book character t-shirt in her grand prize bag.)

A prime example of the "BUY MY BOOK!!!" phenomenon is Twitter. I unfollowed a bunch of people because that's all I saw. The other issue I see is writers following other writers, then getting pissed when the followed writers don't follow in return. This was bad advice in 2011; it's worse advice now. Add in Twitter's tweaking of its algorithm and charging for top placement, and you have an unviable situation made even worse. It's gotten to the point my interaction on Twitter is practical non-existent.

A lot of writers swear by Pinterest. I'm not doubting their results, but I have extreme reservations about using it thanks to its original, draconian provisions that stole picture copyrights. Supposedly, this have been rectified, but that kind of heavy-handed tactic makes me leery about using them.

While DH made a fan page for "Suzan Harden" on Facebook, I rarely use it. I have more personal friends checking it out than readers.

The only social media I truly and regularly use is Alter Ego's Facebook account to interact with readers and other romance/erotica authors. Alter Ego has participated in a couple of giveaways. While neither resulted in a ton of sales, it allowed me to introduce myself to new readers, and kept Alter Ego visible during the two years of no new releases.

Then there's the good old fashioned mailing list. There's numerous ways to do this--MailChimp is one of the most popular. Alter Ego sends out a quarterly newsletter (or tries to) and attaches a free short story. There's a ton of other ways to handle mailing lists. Look at what other writers do, and choose the method that works for you.

While the ultimate goal is to sell more books, you can do so by treating your readers like real people. In doing so, you're already miles ahead of the traditional publishers.

When Writers Pick on Bloggers

What the hell is wrong with writers lately? First, Tina Engler, aka Jaid Black, sues the romance blog Dear Author for libel via Tina's company Ellora's Cave. Then author Kathleen Hale dove into creepy stalker territory because a book blogger gave her a one-star on Goodreads.

For the record, I've gotten a few one-stars. I have commented on a blogger (who I intentionally did not name) here at WWW, but only because she continued to read the Bloodlines series after not liking Blood Magick. My point-of-view was that I wouldn't continue reading someone's work if I didn't particularly like the first book.

But that's me trying to manage my time. I didn't track the blogger down and harass her (and "her" is meant in the generic) for disliking the book. I sure as hell didn't show up on this blogger's doorstep, a la Kathleen Hale. In fact, it's Blogger's opinion, and she has every right to write whatever kind of review she wants about my books or anyone else's.

Just like I have the right to write whatever the hell in my novels and short stories.

But the backlash from the book bloggers has landed.

First is the #notchilled hashtag flying thick and fast on Twitter. Let's face facts. The Ellora's Cave lawsuit is all about getting bloggers to shut up about the company's problems. The harder you try to shut up the public, the more the public talks about you. It's called the Streisand Effect for that very reason. A certain diva with the first name of Barbra tried to squelch coastline photos that included her mansion. No one would have paid any attention to the picture if she hadn't pitched a temper tantrum. So, instead of silencing her critics, Tina's made sure that nearly everyone in the country is talking about her, and not in a positive way.

The latest event starts today--The Blogger Blackout, aka #bloggerblackout on Twitter. Reviewer Tez Miller gives a succinct account of why book bloggers are participating.

You know what? I totally agree with Tez. No blogger should have to worry about lawsuits or their personal safety just for discussing online what they like or don't like about books they read. Or they didn't finish. Or anything else they damn well please.

Here's where advice from the late Jay Lake comes into play. When a writer publishes a book, it's no longer the writer's story. It's the public's. And each member of the public brings her own baggage and peccadillos to the party. It's neither right or wrong. It simply is.

If you're a writer, remember Jay's wise words. Readers have every right to dislike your book and talk about it as they do to like your book and talk about it.

Writers and Social Media, Redux

There's a myth going around writer circles, egged on by trad editors and agents, that a writer HAS to do every, single type of social media available, and if you don't, then your writing career will fail miserably!

(Say that sentence all in one breath. I'll have an oxygen tank waiting for you.)

No, you don't have to do every single one. (Hold the mask to face and inhale.)

There's no measurable, predictable way to know which social media will work for you specifically. None. What worked for Amanda Hocking or J.A. Konrath or Bella Andre may or may not work you.

Why do I say this?

Because Suzan Harden DID everything and couldn't sell shit for her first year. Alter Ego did NOTHING, she had no plans to do so either, and sales took off in the second month.

Why did Alter Ego's sales take off with no social media? I published her first novella the month before everyone and their grandmother went apeshit for Fifty Shades of Grey. And that first novella happened to be a BDSM romance. So all those ladies needed a fix until Book 2 in the FSoG series came out. It all came to down to luck and timing.

As for the Suzan Harden books? Well, frankly, I burned myself out trying to do a zillion marketing things everyone insisted HAD to be DONE in order to be successful. And they didn't do jackshit for me.

So how do I decide what social media to engage in? I go where I am having fun.

Blogs

1) Alter Ego has a blog, but it acts as a surrogate website with announcements of releases, a mailing list sign-up, catalog of available books, and buy links. She doesn't anything more than that.

2) Suzan has two blogs. One is publishing business and other things she finds cool (i.e. the one you're reading right now). The other is for readers, where she posts short stories and samples from current wips. She also comments on the blogs of other folks actively involved in indie publishing.

Facebook

1) Alter Ego has a very active FB account. She loves talking to readers and other writers!

2) Suzan thinks FB sucks. Her husband insisted on creating a fan page. She tries to post something funny once a day, but often forgets. Even then she gets nasty messages from people she doesn't know (and sometimes from people she does know) who think she sucks. She'd chuck it all if a handful of fans hadn't started visiting the page this year.

Twitter

1) Alter Ego gets on Twitter once in a while, but for the most part has her FB posts going to her Twitter account.

2) Suzan has given up on Twitter because the only folks who follow her are other writers hawking their books and third party vendors trying to sell her their overpriced services for indie writers.


Yep, that's it. That's all I do. This isn't a slam against other social media you might enjoy.

Well, wait. That's not true. I won't do LinkedIn because they have a very bad habit of harvesting e-mails from your address book. (Or they did. I'll retract that last statement if someone can prove to me they've stopped.) I also won't do Pinterest because they made a blatant rights grab in their original terms of service. If that's changed, send me the link. But I refuse to go back to their website because they seriously pissed me off the first time.

The big thing you need to remember to BICHOK, aka Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard. (If you don't use a computer, then change the fucking acronym!) The best publicity/marketing is putting out a new story. All the promotion in the world won't help you if you do gain fans, and there's nothing else for them to buy.

Which means I need to get back to work!

Flogging Social Media to Death

Once upon a time, a writer could use social media to connect with her readers, build a fan base and sell more books.

What's the key words in that last sentence? Trust me, it's not "sell more books."

Today, I don't even get on Twitter anymore. No one talks. Every single tweet screams, "BUY MY BOOK!"

Something a lot of writers don't seem to understand is that following other writers, then demanding the other writers follow them back IS NOT BUILDING AN AUDIENCE. It becomes one ginormous echo chamber.

Even worse, half the new followers on my Twitter account are companies trying to sell their "special services" to indie publishers. Sorry folks, I know how to format, and I already have editors lined up. And I'm sure as hell not paying four-to-five figures for someone with no internet marketing experience to promote my books.

(Though if anyone can recommend a good fantasy digital artist, I'd love to hear about them.)

Facebook isn't much better. With the company going public, the shareholders are pressuring Zuckerberg to show them the money. Over half of posts don't show up on my family and friends' feeds, much less my fans. I'm sure as hell not paying $20 bucks to contact my family! And I don't trust Facebook's analytics for advertising when they keep telling me I need to improve my love life by joining a dating website, and I should earn my degree in medical transcription.

Oh, and I need to increase the size of my penis.

(Seriously, dudes?)

MySpace is officially dead. YouTube's become a joke since Google took it over. And Google+ is selling what info they can collect about you to any scam artist willing to buy it.

(Guess what? My penis still does not need to be enlarged. Thank you very much.)

If I haven't responded to you LinkedIn invite, I apologize. What do you mean you didn't send me one? Didn't you realize they mined your entire address book?

Instagram, Tumblr and Pinterest simply don't appeal to me. I write. I don't take pictures. And I really don't want Pinterest reselling pictures of my adorable beagle around the internet.

So for now, I'm sticking with Blogger. Hey, I'm a writer, so why not write?

Or I will until Google takes all my blogs and uses them as evidence of why a middle-aged mother of a teen needs her penis enlarged.

Social Media - Twitter

This post is dedicated to Ivy at The Happy Whisk.


Twitter appeared on the social networking scene less than five years ago.  It was quickly made popular by celebrities such as Aston Kutcher and Demi Moore.

Twitter is essentially real-time micro-blogging.  A user sends "tweets," a 140-character message through twitter.com or by text messaging to a Twitter gateway number.  By default, all tweets are public, but they can be addressed to a particular person or blocked from public view.

Like any social media, Twitter has its proponents and detractors.  The service has received a bad rap for some inane chatter along the lines of "I ate a banana for breakfast" or "My dog pooped on my carpet."  On the other hand, Iranian civilians were able to send out word through Twitter about the 2010 election protests and the subequent government crackdowns.

My $0.02--

Writers can use the service to stay connected to readers, but that goes back to building social relationships.  Tell them something that would be interesting to them, something that makes you human.  If you use Twitter to just sell your books, the high-pressure tactic not only turns off potential readers, but some of your regular followers as well.

Part of my tirade last week concerned someone (and I will not mention names) who started following me on Twitter, so I followed in return.  But then I started getting tweets every two seconds.  I'm not kidding.  And it was the same five tweets over and over again.

Please understand, I don't have a problem with writers tweeting about their books.  That's how I discovered the wonderful Jon F. Merz and his Lawson vampire series.  But don't drown out everyone else in the process.

If you want to play with Twitter a little bit, here's my shortlist of writers with a clue on how to use it:

Jim Butcher
Felicia Day
Neil Gaiman
Amanda Hocking
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Kim Lennox
Wil Wheaton

Like I've said before, if you're not comfortable with a social media format, don't use it.  But as I tell GK when faced with a new food, try it before you make a face and claim it sucks.

(Edit to add:  Ivy had a lot of good questions in her comment, so I'm answering them here.)

Why did you follow them back?

In general, if someone follows me, I'll follow back as a courtesy and out of curiosity.


Have you since stopped following that person?

Oooh, yeah.  Immediately.  And that person unfollowed me less than an hour later, which is fine.


Did that five in row Tweet come directly to your email or did you have to go read it on their page?


All tweets for the people I follow go to my Twitter homepage.  I'm on an ancient cell plan, so I don't use texting.  Once you unfollow someone, their tweets disappear from your page.

The thing you want to remember is tweets need to have a purpose, just like a blog.  Here, my purpose is to inform and entertain, and I try to carry that over to my tweets.


Good luck. I don't think you're going to get people to stop Tweeting about doggy doo or how many cookies they ate for lunch. That's what they like to do.  Why not stop following those kinds of Twitter folks?

You're totally right on that count, Ivy.  I don't plan on trying to stop these people.  I simply don't follow them.

That's part of the reason I posted my shortlist of writers who I think use Twitter effectively.  A writer's goal for his/her Twitter account should be the same at his/her goal for a blog.  In your case, Ivy, I read your blog because anyone who loves Wonder Woman is automatically cool in my book and because I love to cook as well.  You captured my interest, and you've kept me interested for a long time now.  I think that's every writer's ultimate goal.

Marketing Addendum - Twitter Tip

If you are tweeting every two seconds and all you're doing is selling your shit, by Grabthar's hammer, by the sons of Warvan, I SHALL UNFOLLOW YOU!*

And I really doubt I'm the only one doing this.


*With all due respect to the marvelous Alan Rickman.

Tweet Tweet

Currently reading - Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni P. L. Kelner

I broke down and opened a Twitter account.  I'd like to think of it as networking.  Something necessary to keep up with industry news, what agents want, new trends editors are looking for, etc.

Oh, let's face it.  I wanna be one of the cool kids.