We all do it – myself included. I do try for
every promotional post to make four others that are just friendly. I actually rarely
buy books that I’ve seen promoted via social media. That’s in part because I
have so many books to read at the moment. I have forty hard copies waiting in
the bedroom, about 256 on my Kindle and I go to the library as well. Occasionally,
though, I am tempted to buy one I come across via social media. Below I’ve listed
what makes this happen:
Really interesting blog / Twitter / Facebook post elsewhere
I guess here I’m buying the book because I’m interested
in the person. Sure, the theme or topic of the book has to be interesting too -
I’m not sure I’d ever go for a western but even here there’s an exception. Caroline Lawrence’s Roman Mysteries were so good that I’m tempted a little by her Western series. Sometimes it’s just curiosity.
This person is saying a lot that is interesting here. Her books probably are too.
Right up my street
Maybe the book is very similar to something I’m writing, have
written or am thinking about, or might be really useful as a research tool. However,
if I’m proactively looking for something like that, I’m more likely to go directly
to Amazon or a review site.
Twitter remains my favourite – just.
I love the power of this platform. Retweets can be awesome. You
can soon get through the six handshakes if your post is retweeted and
retweeted. I retweet often – especially when I come across gorgeous photos,
links to interesting articles, amusing and inspiring quotes, the latest news
and opportunities for writers. All too
often though there is book promotion after book promotion and it gets a little
boring. I tend to skip those and even when I do buy one of these books because I’ve
found the writer interesting, I’ll tend to do that via another platform. I
suppose it happens partly because I follow so many other writers.
The trick, I guess, is to make yourself interesting and also
ensure that there is a way for your followers to find your books if they want
to.
Other platforms
I occasionally like to read the meatier comments on Facebook
though I initially found the whole platform counterintuitive. I like the business-like
attitude of Linked-in and intend in future to keep my CV there. I’m using
Pinterest for research and will try Instagram soon.
Serendipity
Some things do seem to come from nowhere. “How did you find
me?” I ask a teacher who has booked me for a school visit. “I used Google and
found a comment on Twitter relating to you blog post about school visits.”
There you have it.
The point is, we have to keep up our presence on social media
but never become boring. Now, there’s a challenge.
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