Does anyone out there use Twitter as a tool for promoting a book?
I'm interested in the impact of Social Media generally. Personally I rely on blogging related subjects and the odd mention on my personal Facebook page - anywhere I can get in a plug without it being too obvious or tiresome for potential readers. I don't have 'author' or 'book' pages as such.
And that's the problem. One simply can't bombard potential readers with 'BUY MY BOOK!' or everyone gets sick of it. I know I do, when other writers try the same.
So - how do you attract readers or followers without sounding like the literary version of an X-Factor contestant?
Thanks, all, for your thoughts.
My gut feeling (which, rightly or wrongly, I tend to listen to these days) is probably to leave tweeting until I have at least a couple of books out there. Promotion seems to be a numbers game and having numbers on my side to start with might be a good idea.
Have a good weekend!
Jonathan
I've been using my twitter to promote my blog since I started it and my sats show I get a lot of my hits from twitter. I don't know how it would work with a book but I think if people retweet you then it's always going to get you a wider audience.
Use Twitter as a human being. Blog as a human being. If possible, make your blog and your twitter relevant to your product or brand, so, if you've written a funny book, write a funny blog. If you've written a well researched historical novel (and that is your selling point), write about the time period, interview academics, do something which the readers of your novel will be interested in reading about. Remember, the blog is for readers, not other writers, not other people on a "self-publishing journey" - if you want one of them keep it separate from the main blog.
The idea is to get people reading your blog regularly, commenting, linking back, etc so they will then go on and find out about your product. Even discussing books or television programs in the same genre as yours in good material - written a rom-com? Write a blog entry about what a great film Legally Blond is.
Check out: http://madameguillotine.org.uk/
Melanie is a self-published author and - I think - a great example of how to market yourself well.
What your don't do is follow 13,243 other self-published authors, tweet that you have a book out, tweet about your reviews, RT praise given to your novel, beg people to follow you, have a timeline where you've tweeted the same message to 85 celebrities asking them to RT about your book, complain about your rivals or the publishing industry, be all "Self-pubbing is the new world order, get with the program losers!" about it, or do anything which makes me ignore you.
Above all, don't plug unless there is a reason to. A new cover, a special offer, a new book etc are reasons. Existence is not.