tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post3865483063151967946..comments2023-10-30T00:51:36.361-11:00Comments on Diary of a Desperate Exmoor Woman: Can Twitter sell books?Exmoorjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230395732150659356noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-11635473126178289992012-01-14T02:31:53.550-11:002012-01-14T02:31:53.550-11:00I only recently started Tweeting, but even the new...I only recently started Tweeting, but even the newbie figured out rather quickly that there is a Netiquette that must be upheld. Red Pen Guy must have missed that email. For one thing, pushy sales person is not my bag, but the social-networking sites are rife with helpful blog links (such as the one that got me here) that are useful to writers and can help me find "my people." It doesn't hurt to have e-acquaintances with common interests, and to develop a mutual back-scratching relationship. As everyone seems to agree, platform is not just one outlet, it is the (exhausting) combination of a million things. Twitter/FB/You tube may not be as successful as a slot on prime-time TV, but it's free and therefore, worth the effort.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-51941117446395644272012-01-09T12:28:21.955-11:002012-01-09T12:28:21.955-11:00Thanks Jane, food for thought. Self- promotion, wh...Thanks Jane, food for thought. Self- promotion, when it comes to it, will be a total pain, but I take note of your ideas … current news stories … local newspapers … magazines … radio … think precision … The SPECIALIST thingy cracks me up, undeniably, there is power in concrete objects … here I come … mirrors, bridges, herbs, mules, horses, dogs, snakes … and polished black pebbles invested with magic – one to go with every book … But really, ideally :) I just want to be discovered and keep writing, damn it.Ashenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12394940341184140915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-11766829241078508742012-01-09T10:38:59.699-11:002012-01-09T10:38:59.699-11:00Very impressed with this post. You've given me...Very impressed with this post. You've given me idea after idea...and of course they are way outside the box...just like all of my characters. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'll see you in Field and Stream...maybe.CF Winnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14007781832326693877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-11825200850249624532012-01-09T10:38:08.167-11:002012-01-09T10:38:08.167-11:00Oh Frankie, don't assume that anyone who comes...Oh Frankie, don't assume that anyone who comes to you on Twitter knows who you are.... they might know who someone you know is or even someone who knows someone you know but it's pretty likely they have no clue unless you're an A lister (maybe you are, I don't know).... Anyhow, I think SM can be useful to get people hooked into you and your story and if you use it well you can build an email list which you can then market to in a targetted way - post tempters/ first chapters/special offers etc. Then you've really got something to go on. Twitter is good for driving people to your blog in the first place - then it's up to you to find ways to show people what you're about and why you are iresistible to them.Fiona @nlpmumhttp://www.nlpmum.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-15448288264730792972011-11-11T07:11:45.296-11:002011-11-11T07:11:45.296-11:00@saveeverystep --
I disagree. (Well, someone has t...@saveeverystep --<br />I disagree. (Well, someone has to. It's the internet after all.)<br /><br />I think it's phenomenally <i>easy</i> to strike up conversations on Twitter. You just have to read what someone else says, think about it, and respond thoughtfully.<br /><br />Some people may not continue a conversation; maybe they're shy, maybe they're self-absorbed dicks, maybe you're trying to talk to @neilgaiman or @wilw or someone with like 100K followers and untold @ messages already.<br /><br />Personally, I always enjoy when someone takes the time to read and answer a tweet of mine, and I try to respond back. I don't think I'm the only one.Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02011180576782676523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-82165749528070143842011-11-11T03:08:25.932-11:002011-11-11T03:08:25.932-11:00Jane, I was introduced to your excellent books by ...Jane, I was introduced to your excellent books by Authonomy. There are likely less than 10000 people on there, but you hooked me :)<br /><br />I would say that all publicity is good publicity. How many cable access TV channels does <b>ANYONE</b> watch? Good Lord. I haven't had Conan O'Brien ringing me up and begging me to do a spot. Silly rabbit, the internet and social media does tons of stuff. Try a facebook ad, they're cheap and reach millions.Wispy Authornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-25479110920745154362011-11-10T22:37:20.264-11:002011-11-10T22:37:20.264-11:00I have bought lots of books thanks to twitter, but...I have bought lots of books thanks to twitter, but never from authors who tweet about their own books. Twitter is a great place for people to discuss books and the best ones will get talked about a lot. Word of mouth recommendation is spread much faster on twitter than the real world. If you want to use twitter as a good marketing tool you need to a) write an outstanding book b) get it into the hands of people who tweet alot. I would argue that there isn't much point in authors being on twitter themselves. Self promotion is quite hard to avoid on twitter and is a big turn-off for me as a reader.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07698068501004755678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-89020227942450334292011-11-10T22:22:47.116-11:002011-11-10T22:22:47.116-11:00This comment has been removed by the author.Sallyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12759992873045228788noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-64043709083305087552011-11-10T22:22:30.926-11:002011-11-10T22:22:30.926-11:00Loved this post! It really hits the point home. Yo...Loved this post! It really hits the point home. Your book is your baby and only you (the Author obviously) can take reasonability for it. If you want to sell a book it primarily up too you! Well it would be rather naive to discount any marketing tool.Sallyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12759992873045228788noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-42626132099919750512011-11-10T06:55:45.694-11:002011-11-10T06:55:45.694-11:00He's got the wrong end of the stick when it co...He's got the wrong end of the stick when it comes to the social media thing, I think. No-one is much impressed by a twitter feed that purely churns out links to Amazon and Buy My Book content.<br /><br />Let's just say that you've written a book on Tarot (my area of interest).<br /><br />Let's assume that you've done the leg work and got a few tarot people as followers....so you have a blog where you can happily excerpt a bit of your newly published Tarot book. You tweet a link to that blog post either generally or directly to those Tarot people. Either ask for an rt or just hope that they do, choice is yours.<br /><br />Or you could search for the actual title of your book and chip in to someone's conversation about it?<br /><br />Or you could search for something that your book is specifically about. such as 'Tarot for a beginner' and then contact those people who have tweeted that they are beginners in Tarot and suggest your boo.... that sort of thing.<br /><br />It's about widening your range of windows to potential customers - FB, Twitter etc.<br /><br />To continually 'broadcast' links to products on amazon etc will completely turn people off. It's about creating and sustaining relationships on social networking sites.<br /><br />Oh I could talk about this for hours- and sadly my webclients have to endure it too!!!! <br /><br />It won't make you rich, but you cannot afford not to be involved in it :-)<br /><br />Ali xAlison Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06565962059926865121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-12865353157015417442011-11-10T00:31:01.219-11:002011-11-10T00:31:01.219-11:00Am currently expanding Twitter use to raise traffi...Am currently expanding Twitter use to raise traffic on my blog. Though we do not sell anything, we recently began to review books. In an attempt to earn some money from the blog, the book reviewed are linked to their Amazon page, so I can effectively track sales from the reviews. And yes, to my surprise, every review yields two or three sales, (a few cents as far a revenues for the blog is concerned) so Tweeting about a review does yield sales. To give an idea, the blog has about 10k visitors per month, so not that many sales after all, but a few nevertheless.<br />So, It got me thinking that an author's blog might increase the sales of the author's book by using Twitter to raise traffic to their blog and, since their main product is their book, they might end up selling more books. One never knows ...Patriciahttp://www.epublishabook.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-37192802535550847292011-11-09T23:02:45.562-11:002011-11-09T23:02:45.562-11:00Just like real life, it's hard to strike up co...Just like real life, it's hard to strike up conversations with Twitterspherers that you don't know, so we all end up shouting at people instead of interacting!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-49131038858226970342011-11-09T22:38:52.198-11:002011-11-09T22:38:52.198-11:00The market has 3 main problems:
(1) Quality - whe...The market has 3 main problems:<br /><br />(1) Quality - whether traditional of self-publishing, a lot of books fall short.<br /><br />(2) Subject matter - too many people writing on obscure (often self-indulgent) topics that most readers are never going to engage with.<br /><br />(3) Fragmentation - millions of Twitters, blogs, Facebook pages, etc to read. Great for everyone to have a chance to write, but so easy to get lost in all the noise.<br /><br />If you want to be read, you really need to be part of a larger "brand" (be it a website, movement, group, etc) that other people out there regard as being a portal for identifying quality reads.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-13645025238608859662011-11-09T22:04:09.369-11:002011-11-09T22:04:09.369-11:00Frankie - I might just pin that quote to my PC - &...Frankie - I might just pin that quote to my PC - 'Thou shalt not bore me' - is what every would-be writer should keep in mind At All Times! You are so right...about all of this. I should be sterner with my Twitter following really. :) <br /><br />Tattie - your specialisation came to mind when I was writing that...but the Packaging News pic came up first! Go write the book, hon!<br /><br />Esther - Damnit, yes - chance missed. I still think back, ruefully, to my chance to be on Oprah (yup,Oprah!) - but Fate said no (vid got lost in transatlantic post hey ho). <br /><br />KC - yup, some people have intriguing online presence and for sure I'd buy their stuff. <br /><br />Frankie - and again, nicely put, m'dear. :) My criteria for following people is that they engage in an interesting manner..or say things that make me stop and think or go, 'shit yeah!'<br />Mebbe time for another cull. :)Exmoorjanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09230395732150659356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-47467740227216862052011-11-09T21:46:33.394-11:002011-11-09T21:46:33.394-11:00Which isn't to say (RE: my blog post & pre...Which isn't to say (RE: my blog post & previous comment) that I don't think people should talk about or link their work and projects in Twitter. Of course you should. I'm following because I'm interested in those things.<br /><br />Just make it personal, something I can interact with (Jane does this really well). That means more than just a title and link--ask a question or make a comment that adds value to what you're linking. (And don't link too often. :)<br /><br />And talk about other things besides. I've started looking at past tweets of people that follow me, rather than just profile blurbs, before I follow them back. If it's just a stream of plugs for their work, I skip them.<br /><br />(Just wanted to add that.)Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02011180576782676523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-73022584005049477222011-11-09T21:46:25.879-11:002011-11-09T21:46:25.879-11:00Thanks for voicing my thoughts (and voicing them s...Thanks for voicing my thoughts (and voicing them so well. =) )<br /><br />I've never bought a book from someone who keeps spamming 'buy my book'. If they do so all the time, I wouldn't follow them; if they start doing it too often, I unfollow them without guilt (which really means something!)<br /><br />However, I've bought quite a few books - or will buy, when they are published - from people I got to know online as people who've got something to say I'm interested in hearing.K.C. Woolfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04047055661710059161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-64377913842431482011-11-09T11:39:54.728-11:002011-11-09T11:39:54.728-11:00Have no experience of this but reckon everything i...Have no experience of this but reckon everything is so new on the internet (almost) everything is worth a try -as long as it's not too distracting.<br /><br />Otherwise, everything is a mystery.<br /><br />Many years ago, there was a two or three sentence article in The Times which told everyone the job I was doing. Don't think I am secretly interesting. I am not. Nor was the job interesting or exceptional. Were the sentences worth printing? No. Totally bizarre - yet on the strength of them a Daily Mail journalist came and waited outside my house to interview me when I got home and photographers came to my place of work. If only I had had a book to promote at the time.<br /><br />Randomness and mystery!Esther Montgomeryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05412078991551799972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-78694807522286816812011-11-09T08:43:39.778-11:002011-11-09T08:43:39.778-11:00Exactly don't write anything off socila media ...Exactly don't write anything off socila media local media peculiar trade magazines.... I have yet to write my bestseller....Tattieweaslehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10723634612274763884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-8406425042169565322011-11-09T06:50:30.070-11:002011-11-09T06:50:30.070-11:00To me, social media is a place where readers and w...To me, social media is a place where readers and writers can have a conversation. Of course if you have a book out there, you're always selling on some level, but I think the essential point is this:<br /><br />If someone comes to my Twitter or my Tumblr, it's because they already found out about me!(!!)<br /><br />So why would I waste the opportunity to develop that relationship by shouting, "Look at me! Buy my book!" over and over and driving them off.<br /><br />There's nothing of <i>substance</i> in "[insert title here]" by [insert my name here] now .99 in the Kindle store! [insert link]" and there's no personality there. There's nothing to interact with or connect to.<br /><br />I get tired of seeing it a dozen or more times a day <i>each</i> from some writers I follow. If it bores me silly, and I <i>know</i> how cool these people are and how hard they're trying just to keep their books afloat out there, it must be deadly dull to casual reader that doesn't even have that sympathy.<br /><br />And I think that is the unbreakable commandment in the reader-writer relationship.<br /><br /><i>Thou shalt not bore me.</i>Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02011180576782676523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-4610966873235200852011-11-09T06:31:26.671-11:002011-11-09T06:31:26.671-11:00EPM: Ah, I obviously didn't make that point cl...EPM: Ah, I obviously didn't make that point clearly enough. Absolutely right - there is very little marketing budget in traditional publishing, unless you're a guaranteed bestseller in the first place. Great, huh? <br />How would you suggest identifying and going after your target readership? Think a lot of people would love some tips on that.Exmoorjanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09230395732150659356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-5806088688568005412011-11-09T06:22:42.292-11:002011-11-09T06:22:42.292-11:00Great post. I have to warn though, that if anyone ...Great post. I have to warn though, that if anyone does get a good, traditional publisher, there still won't be much in the way of marketing. They tend not to spend much money on authors unless they're already A listers, or as you've said, have a hook that they know will grab everyone.<br />Social media can attract people to your blog, but that still doesn't mean they're going to buy your book. You really have to sit and think about your intended audience and then go after them specifically. No point marketing a book to the masses, if you know it doesn't have mass appeal. How many books really have mass appeal anyway?Expat mumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17798190669591053390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-83954039312600207722011-11-09T05:49:52.431-11:002011-11-09T05:49:52.431-11:00Sessh: Ah, but you have the speciality market sewn...Sessh: Ah, but you have the speciality market sewn up (so to speak). :) Whole loada gay mags AND sex mags AND martial arts mags out there...not to mention Japanese history/culture etc. So flay 'em!Exmoorjanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09230395732150659356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-59648366882275988902011-11-09T05:43:05.853-11:002011-11-09T05:43:05.853-11:00Somehow I doubt the sex lives of gay ninja will su...Somehow I doubt the sex lives of gay ninja will suddenly become a locally (or nationally or anywhere to be honest) trending topic ;) But if it does I swear I will jump on the bandwagon . . . really!!Sessha Battohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15569927397738788073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-50284935104607313092011-11-09T05:09:24.313-11:002011-11-09T05:09:24.313-11:00DD: let's face it, hon, you and I put far more...DD: let's face it, hon, you and I put far more effort into our hypothetical re-enactment of the Tooting Popular Front than we do to our book marketing.. :) <br /><br />Phil: I suspect you will! Your writing is a clear case in point - you could easily go the local --> national route with huge success, I'd imagine. Keep me posted.Exmoorjanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09230395732150659356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-62079112143717185722011-11-09T04:53:12.272-11:002011-11-09T04:53:12.272-11:00Typically well thought out and well written. I re...Typically well thought out and well written. I read the original TRPOD post and pretty much agreed with what he said, without the hyperbole and Americanisms. I've been going through much the same thought process and had come to much the same conclusion as you. Oddly enough, I might actually do something about it!Philip Whitelandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16135730865476903056noreply@blogger.com