I’ve mentioned before about having my family spread out all
over the country, and sharing pictures, videos, and notes on Facebook. As many
people have pointed out, FB has become a marketing tool, or curse, depending on
your point of view. I’ve always been able to scroll and ignore what I don’t
like, so I haven’t had any moments of outrage or angst because someone pushes a
book or product on FB. There’s a tool on it when you get nothing but spam from
a source that enables you to block their stuff. I’ve blocked a couple of
friends’ posts because they write their posts in complete four letter word rants
which are neither funny nor impressive. I can still go on their page and see
how they’re doing. It’s kind of funny in a way because they’re both women
writers with families, who I know probably don’t speak like they post… at least
I hope they don’t. :)
The reason for this post is a neat comment posted on my
partner RJ Parker’s ad on Facebook for THE PROTECTORS from a reader named Jeanie. He has a
much wider range of friends and followers than I do, and his marketing skills
far surpass mine. Since I’m not a household name yet, any comments I get from
readers are a thrill. If an author can handle the inevitable bad with the good,
Facebook allows interaction with readers on a personal level I really like.
Anyway, I just wanted to mention FB is not the devil it’s portrayed as. One
thing on it I stay away from is apps and invitations to their extracurricular games.
That opens you up to spam central. I passed 50,000 words in the third book of my
YA trilogy. They’ll be titled DEMON, DEMON INC, and DEMON AT WAR. I already
have the pictures picked out I want to use for each of the covers. I just need
to work on the lettering. I’m releasing the PG rated LANCELOT at the beginning
of September, and then LAYLA around Christmas. The DEMON trilogy will be
released in March through August. I’ll also be blogging the link to my full
page ad in Book Trailers Showcase E-mag in September for HARD CASE. They did a great job on
it. Not much money on the horizon, but there’s at least some excitement.
Congratulations on keeping everything moving along nicely. I envy that word count. ;)
ReplyDeleteAs for FB, I'm still pretty sure it's hellspawn, but I'm glad you like it. *ggg :)
One of my younger sisters thinks it's the hellspawn too, Jordan. :)
ReplyDeleteAs always, the writing's going very well, but the selling is another story. :)
Will never be into FB, but best to those who are.
ReplyDeleteAnd wtg on all the hard work, Bernard. I think keeping busy helps the motivation.
Yep, Raine, keeping busy is the key to life. I have to admit, it is neat getting notes from readers on FB. It's not for everyone, but the marketers have certainly discovered it. :) Then there's the real treats like communicating with a guy I won the city playground horseshoes championship with in the 9-12 age group fifty years ago. I scanned in the clipping from the newspaper my Mom saved for me with the two of us kneeling holding horseshoes. It would be an understatement to say he got a kick out of that. :)
ReplyDeleteI think the more an author is involved into these social media, the better it is for advertising his work. Not just Facebook, but other stuff too. I'm not into this at all, but I'm glad you're using it, Bernard. Something good will come out of it.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely not for everyone, Vesper. I've seen people get upset about the strangest stuff on these social pages, and get so mad they drop out of everything. The really neat thing is actually getting personal notes of feedback from readers. I belong to all of them FB, Twitter, Linked-In, My Space, etc. Name recognition is what draws interest to an Author's novels, and social sites do provide an inexpensive venue for achieving it to some extent. Then it's up to the writing to keep it. :)
ReplyDeleteYou've got a solid "up" trajectory, Bernard- and that means victory is coming!
ReplyDeleteAs you know, it's a real shot in the dark now, Rick. The sheer number of new releases every month on Amazon is staggering. :)
ReplyDelete