by Malle Vallik. Director Digital Content & Social Media, Harlequin
I said my June installment about authors and social media was going to offer blogging tips, but instead I’ve decided to take a step back and talk about the multitude of choices that social media offers.
I hear this from authors a lot: “I can’t do it all.”
Exactly.
Sometimes it worth restating the obvous. You cannot do it all. If you decide to use web 2.0 tools to help market yourself and your books (notice my choice of order: 1st you are marketing yourself and then your books) you also need to select which tools, prioritize them and adapt/change as needed.
In the social media wing of our Harlequin Digital Group (me, Jayne, Jenny and Amy) we usually suggest you start with two tools. Spend some time with each, learn how the superstars use these tools and then start. And learn. And change.
And stop if necessary. You may come across a better tool and there is no reason you can’t switch!
Which of these new media capabilities should you explore:
blogs
podcasts — audio
vodcast — video podcast
twitter
book trailer videos
facebook
myspace
shelfari
shoutlife
eHarlequin.com community
other online communities
widgets (like search inside the book)
It’s about choices, about using your most valuable resource, time, in the best manner.
My last thought about why you should spend some time observing others before you jump in with two feet is that all the social media experts (like Chris Brogan, Sean Moffitt) state “sharing”/being generous is the key to success. Watch how the successful social marketers do it.
No related posts.
“And stop if necessary. You may come across a better tool and there is no reason you can’t switch! ”
Yes, but you need to think very carefully and don’t switch too quickly. It takes a long time to build up a substantial following. You don’t want to lose half your readers because you saw something ‘Oooh, shiny!’
Absolutely. It takes at least 2 years of blogging to build up a reasonable readership and it is exponential growth (very, very slow at first, picking up speed like a snowball rolling down a snowy hill). Most bloggers give up too early.
I totally agree.
I think also that readers know when you love a tool and when you’re simply using it for the potential sales.
I love blogging. I was a blogger long before I was a novel writer. I love the linking and the comments and the movement of thought (why getting folks to register to comment or not allowing folks to comment drives me up the wall). I love visiting people in their online homes. I love that this visit lasts forever (the blog host is a best friend forever).
On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of Myspace. I set up an account there but I found myself dreading to do updates and I didn’t like the asking people to be my friend part. So I no longer have a Myspace account. It works for other authors (quite well) but it didn’t work for me.
Thanks for the post! I think utilizing social media is extremely important. I saw John Mayberry speak on this subject and he told us how his sales wouldn’t be where they were if it wasn’t for the social media tools he uses.
Thanks again for posting this!
Nisha
Great post! And it’s nice to hear someone say authors shouldn’t try to do it all. So often we feel as is we do…
Amen, Malle!
Authors who seek an easy blogging tool might try Tumblr. I just started experimenting with it in place of my usual Blogger blog. Tumblr could be particularly helpful to those who do not feel comfortable with technology.
I wish I’d seen this post before I jumped in with all THREE feet! I set up pages freakin’ everywhere
I’m doing better now, but it was touch and go there for awhile.
Choose in moderation.
Adapt as needed.
Keep your mind open.
Blogging is still my favorite. I’ve got a few other sites, and might check in on Facebook a few times away (mostly for family). Have a MySpace page, but don’t do anything with it other than mirror my blog. Likewise, pages at Author’s Den, MWA, Red Room, Book Tour.
No twitter. No book trailer videos. How can a picture sell a book — well, it might for some, but I looked at a few and was totally unimpressed. I can read an excerpt in the amount of time a trailer plays and have a much better feel for the book. I hang out at a few Yahoo groups, but have gone to digest on almost all of them. Gets to be too much same-old, same-old.
I love this idea of two tools. Doing a lot of tools poorly does seem like a waste of time! It makes sense that being deep in a few areas is better than being shallow everywhere.
Great post, just really helpful! And I echo above – Now I don’t have to feel bad that I haven’t been on facebook forEVER.
Don’t forget Second Life as one of the Social Media! In-world you have communities of writers and readers interacting on a daily basis. Readings of work, workshops for writing tips, celebrations of the written word of many kinds — you can find them all in Second Life. Hope some of you join us there!
Diana Hunter in RL (Real Life)
Diana Allandale in SL (Second Life)
Tamara, I am going to check out Tumblr! Anything to make technology simpler!
I love Twitter. In fact twitter makes me blog more often because I am reading more articles, sharing information I think others might find interesting and that spurs me on to write a blog post!
I also love twitter because it is short!!!!! I am fast!!!!!!
And I am currently following the Iranian crisis on twitter. 20 years ago it was TV and China; now it’s Twitter and Iran!
Has anyone watched a book trailer that made them want to buy/read the book? If yes, please let me know what it is.
We are creating our first videos and I have to admit I don’t totally “get” it (& I’m in charge). Why are we trying to make them like movie trailers when it’s a book? I get the interactivity, but should it not be different somehow — oh, great topic for a blog. See what short accomplishes!
Yep! Toni McGee Causey’s for Bobbie Faye’s Very (very very very) Bad Day.
Malle, I did book trailers for my first trilogy to generate buzz–and it worked. Not among potential readers (though it was there a bit because the links were sent around through the writing community) but among the buyers and industry people. At the time (fall 2005) there were not a lot of book trailers; mine were very short with both visual and text.
Now, I use trailers as an add-on benefit for fans. Some of my readers enjoy them, and I like to give back to my core fan base. That’s why I give away arcs to people on my newsletter list, or early copies, as a thank you for being a reader. I have had some blogs and other places link to my trailers or post them on their pages, not in huge numbers but enough that I think it’s a wash in terms of the cost. I happen to like them. I don’t think they necessarily are the perfect tool for “selling” the author or the book, but they’re fun and I have fun with them. I don’t do them myself. I think quality matters, just like in a website. I’m not good enough to create my own.
Now, on the flip side, I think book trailers work better for different genres. Paranormal seems to love them. Young Adult seems to love them. My daughter, an avid YA reader, creates fan trailers and gets more hits on hers than I do on mine! I think as the YA readers grow into mature readers the book trailer will be more popular . . . but again, it’s certainly not the only or best marketing tool. But they’re fun