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This week I’m going to go into a few social media sites. I think I did this once before when I had started, but I think I’ve learned more lately. First of all, this post is going to be an overview of ‘Social Media Marketing’ using what I’ve heard from people and my personal opinion. Key point is that all of this is opinion and things can always work differently for each person. Second of all, I’m talking about the free social media sites like WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Not the indie author promotion sites that you pay to be listed on or need to have a certain amount of reviews/ranking to be included.
A few questions and answers for this:
Is Social Media Marketing important for an Indie Author?
Yes. It may be scary, irritating, frustrating, time-consuming, or an all around pain, but it’s the only way to spread the name of your book. I’ve seen many authors write, edit, and publish their book. Then they walk away and wonder why it doesn’t sell. Even among traditional publishers, you have to do something to get attention and social media is one of the ways to do it. For indie authors, it can be the only way. I wish that the game was ‘write, release, repeat’, but marketing is the elephant in the room that you either ride or get gored by. Thankfully, there are so many paths to do this that all you have to do is find what works for you and your book. Again, what I do with my books might not work for others or might be seen as pointless/annoying? Same with me to others.
How much should I use Social Media Marketing?
I’ve been asked this a lot. There is no magic number or time. Anyone who tells you otherwise simply found something that works for them. Especially if they give you the ‘perfect time’ to post something. People live in different time zones and genres (or lack thereof) always play a factor. It’s really about your own comfort levels. Do you have the time and dedication to post on your blog every day? Maybe you’re more willing to be a weekend-only tweeter or something. It’s up to you and never let anyone tell you that you’re doing it wrong. Unless you’re posting all your promotional stuff on other people’s pages without permission. That’s wrong.
Is there any way to see how useful something is?
(MAJOR OPINION HERE) A lot of authors battle over the usefulness of Social Media Marketing. There are probably some ways to uncover is something works or not. I never looked into it because there’s something else about doing this. Even if it doesn’t net you a sale, you put your name out there and you feel like you’re trying. This might sound bizarre, but it’s frustrating to see a book fall into oblivion and not do anything to salvage it. By tweeting, Facebook posting, blogging, or anything, you can at least say that you tried and maybe something else will come out of it. Do I make a lot of sales off my blog? I have no clue. Though I’ve made many friends who support me and I support them whenever I can. Funny thing about social media is that you can be social on there. I know it’s a revolutionary concept that goes against the ‘LOOK AT WHAT I’M EATING!’ stuff.
So that’s what I’m delving into this week by going with:
- Blogging
- Facebook (I hear the boos)
- Twitter (I hear the groans)
- The Rest (I hear nothing)
- A story idea I’m toying with (What? I don’t want to do this topic on the weekend.)
Hope to see everyone tomorrow and see what people think. Preferably without cursing and yelling.
Legends of Windemere 
I’ve been trying to figure this out myself… I’m trying to find a balance and not overdue it. To be honest I would have given up all social media a couple of months ago if not for my book…
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My book is the only reason I use it so much. Beyond that I use Facebook to keep in touch with distant friends and family.
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Still don’t have the Facebook thing figured out. Maybe some day
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I touch on that Wednesday, so maybe that will help. Though I tend to look at FB promoing as more of a chore than the other sites.
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I wonder sometimes how Anne Rice posts so much and is so interactive on Facebook. She’ll post four to six times a day. Then it occurred to me. She has a fan base. She posts articles interesting to her. Makes a couple of comments and leaves it to her fans to do the rest of the interacting. Granted, she most likely has staff (or what we indies like to call our street team) giving her the content, but her actual presence there, whether she is or not..
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I think she has an assistant to help. Though, it is cool that she takes the time to interact with fans. Several authors do that through Facebook and you’re right that a fan base helps there. It means the fans can talk and you don’t have to be the only person pushing the conversation along.
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This was very interesting to me, Charles. As one contemplating publishing – one day – it gives me something to think on. I didn’t realize – or think about – increasing the amount of time I
spend on the internet.
You do a great job with your blog…I like the mixture of work and personal life you give us.
Thanks for this…I think of you often and hope your week goes well
Ellespeth
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Thanks. It’s tough to find a balance between the marketing and writing something else. Hopefully the rest of the posts this week are equally as enlightening.
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The blog can be a valuable tool to reach new readers daily through search engines. Other social media has the opportunity to reach new readers, but it’s not as easy for most authors to realize how to tap into it; I think many of the moans and groans come from those who haven’t discovered it. But the variety also makes it convenient for fans to follow you any way they prefer and thus easily learn about new releases. More and more, the trend is toward interaction, as more big businesses add blogs and chats to their websites.
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I hear a lot if groans from overuse too. Some people even say that you shouldn’t use the other social media sites for marketing. I think it really comes down to personal preference and testing the mediums.
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Social media groans. Twitter: Ughtw! Facebook: Oamfb! WordPress: Arwp! Blogger: Ooghb. LinkedIn: Uuli! Tumblr: Aout! 🙂
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Don’t forget Pinterest. Poor, forgotten Pinterest. 😀
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Whoapi! Pinterest. 🙂
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Reblogged this on Bastet and Sekhmet's Library and commented:
Thinking of publishing — are you an indie writer or about to be one? How do you propose to get knowledge of your book “out there”? Social Media just might be more than chatting with friends…
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Great overview of Social Media, Charles. I only utilizing Facebook and Twitter to post my blog posts. Like I said in another comment, I can’t even keep up with WP much less any other Social Media! lol You amaze me how you do it all!
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I’m still trying to figure it out. I know a few tips, but the hard part is building the motivation to use them. They’re becoming more of a chore for me.
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Back in the day before Facebook really took off I had books go out of print because my publisher didn’t want to spend the marketing dollars on someone midlist like me. So I totally get this: “I’ve seen many authors write, edit, and publish their book. Then they walk away and wonder why it doesn’t sell.” We have to be our own media company. Social media allows us to do that. I get overwhelmed by it sometimes. But at least it allows people to meet you and see your books.
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It really does confuse me when authors go through all that work to publish their book then walk away. I know it’s not the fun part of the job, but it’s the only way to pull yourself out of the flood of self-published books.
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It’s an eternal struggle, finding out what you have time for (while actually still writing), what you enjoy, and what actually sells books. There’s no one answer. Everyone needs to find the balance on their own. My only advice is to start slow and add things as you have time. Otherwise you start a whole bunch of blog, tweet, post, etc. and then have to drop some because you don’t have time or it isn’t any fun.
The most important thing for writers is we should be having fun. If we aren’t having fun, our readers won’t have any fun. And, this being about social media, they’ll tell all their friends your books are no fun. So, always have fun!
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Fun is key. Though, there are some days where the social media stuff feels like a chore. I know I’ve mellowed on it a bunch over the last few months. At least with FB and Twitter.
Having a blog connected to everything certainly helps make it easier. You’re still ‘active’ on the connected sites without having to go there. So off days can be handled a little easier.
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Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog….. An Author Promotions Enterprise!.
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The key to using social media the right way lies in your excellent line, “I’ve made many friends who support me and I support them whenever I can.”
Even if you don’t combine it with that old saying, “Even bestsellers are sold one at a time,” to me these connections are far more important than an extra sale.
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Definitely. One really can’t go it alone in this business.
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I enjoyed your post. Recently I deleted some accounts because as you say, you learn what works and what are annoyingly unecessary. All I can say is social media is at times fun, often same old crap, the “likes” become a token and frankly an unecessary way of feeling overly or under appreciated. You have to be strong and try not to be too sensitive about the “likes” that you don’t get. Remain encouraged and believe in your work
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I’ve begun looking at ‘likes’ as acknowledgment that people are looking at what I do. Comments are about people actually reading. It’s more about snagging what little positive energy I can especially during the slow periods.
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“Do I make sales off my blog?” Interesting question and one I answered for myself last week. I put my book sales into an excel spread sheet and then overlaid it with my blog posts for the past two years (yeah – I was bored). What a shock! The chart revealed that the more I posted, the more books I sold (even though I don’t ‘hard-sell’ my books on my blog). Until this time I didn’t believe my blog had anything to do with with sales. I’m stunned and still not sure what to make of it. The numbers were too precise to be coincidental.
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Interesting. I do one post every day and I do have at least 1 sale every day. I rarely push my own books beyond debuts or if I can fit them into an example of what I’m talking about. So I guess there is some power behind the posting. Very cool exercise that you did to uncover the pattern.
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Actually, I think I may make sales off my blog too. I have noticed quite a few people read it, including people I actually know in the flesh, so to speak, so I have to be quite careful what I say. I wrote a poignant one about my folks the other day and one of McOther’s colleagues sent me a bunch of flowers. Which was unbelievably sweet but also made me think I need to be careful. But yes, the more active I am on my blog or commenting on other people’s blogs, the more traffic I seem to get and books I seem to sell… although I have just made the first book in my series perma free and I think that may have helped a tad! 😉 And I think there may be a number of people who wouldn’t touch my books with a barge pole who enjoy my blog.
Cheers
MTM
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The blog seems to be the key more often than the other sites.
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That’s lucky. I think I do it marginally less badly than the other bits! 😉
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Bum and forgot to say what I was going to say originally which is that personally, I go for less is more but I do think that the secret is to blog when you have something to say. So if you have something to say every day (eg Charles, here) then booyacka, post it all but if, like me, you can only think of anything diverting once a week, it’s probably to post once a week rather than try too hard. I reckon quality is key. But I may be talking out of my bottom.
Cheers
MTM
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The strange thing is that I can never tell what will get reactions and what won’t. If the issue was that I posted every day and people were sick of it then I’d never get anywhere. Yet, my ‘fantasy non-rules’ post today launched my visitors and views to the best its been in months. In the past, my poetry did it, but this week of poetry has been kind of ‘meh’.
Honestly, I do wonder how many people would notice if I vanished for a day. Might try it a month or so after the book debut.
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I think people would wonder where you were petty quickly. I hear you about which blog posts work. I think it was Lord Sainsbury who said that he knew half his marketing strategy was working really well. He just didn’t know which half. That seems to be the case with blog posts, too. My posts about McMini used to get the most hits now they don’t.
Cheers
MTM
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Yeah. Anything with my son seems to get major attention. Should probably use that to my advantage one day. :p
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I’ve been thinking that but he’s quite reserved and I doubt he’d like his moniker plastered all over the internet. I haven’t knowingly posted a picture of him on facebook since he was 8 months old.
Cheers
MTM
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I have those as ‘Friends Only’, but I’ve used a few on my blog. Not sure if I’ve mentioned his real name or not on here.
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