Words from a Reader

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Sunday, June 5, 2011

Do you use Twitter and Facebook to promote your writing?

I ran across a great blog tonight. http://writerunboxed.com/2011/05/23/why-i-dont-count-followers-mentions-google-alerts-or-blog-hits-anymore/

This writer is not a fan of social media except blogging. She is an introvert writer, and only wants to use FB and Twitter for social reasons not for selling a product. That is what they were meant to be -- social networks where people interacted and made friends.

Now we are all told we must have a platform in order to get work published. Although I spend a little time on Facebook and none on Twitter, mostly because I haven't had the time to learn to use it properly, if I had a novel coming out, I'd be out there making sure folks knew about it. You have to, I think.

My blogs are more for my enjoyment than for promoting my work. I want people to know my voice, my online voice rather than my platfom.
The joy of blogging is meeting people you might never see in person, but I can develop a friendship.

I want an editor to look at my blog and see who I am. Of course he can see what I've published, but I hope my posts show the person who wrote those poems, those stories and essays.

What do you think about social media? Does it help sell books?
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3 comments:

  1. Joan Ellen Gage AdminJune 12, 2011 at 4:36 PM

    I'm unsure about selling books with social media, Glenda. Although that is supposed to be the "thing".
    I think that ebooks, whether we like them or not, are part of our future. I have a writer friend who advised me to put a book on amazon reader for free. The book would then be uploaded so much (as it is free), that it would then appear on the top 100 (or 200?) books. This is an interesting concept. I may do this.

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  2. Glenda BeallJune 12, 2011 at 11:26 PM

    Yes, Joan. I hear that with e-books writers are making more money than with conventional publishing. I seldome buy an e-book, but I am of the old school. I ordered two books this week, the kind with paper pages and a hard back.
    I'd like to learn more about e-books and I might want to do something like that.

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  3. AnonymousJuly 23, 2011 at 10:37 PM

    I'm not too sure about social media either. I use facebook but mostly to communicate with family and friends. I occasionally mention poems or stories I'm working on but have never used it to promote my work. Except for indicating that I am the author of We Shall Overcome and giving the URL to my Web site at the bottom of all my blog posts, I don't use my blog to promote my work, either. I agree that an editor or anyone else should look at my blog and see me for who I am. Please feel free to check out my blog at http://abbiescorneroftheworld.blogspot.com

    Abbie Taylor

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I really appreciate your comments, and I love reading what you say.

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