Sunday, January 22, 2012

Twitter - For Promotion or Not????


There has been a great deal of discussion about Twitter recently especially in regard to promotion. Joe Konrath made some very interesting points on his blog here and I tweeted the link because I felt it was well worth reading…then a new tweep came back...
@liz_fenwick Breaking Joe's rules by tweeting you but thanks for highlighting the post. Really thought provoking.
My reply
@juliastagg true but i don't tweet for publicity but for friendship and sanity...writing is a lonely business and twitter is company

This is really the point of twitter for me because the more I learn about the world of publicity and books the more I know that my efforts in the PR area will sell very few books. My activity on twitter which is not PR motivated will sell a few more, but not enough to call it a promotion tool. Lately there has been a few excellent blogs about twitter and over promotion…Nicola Morgan for one here. And if you are on Twitter you will know of a few author who are shouting about their books all the time – in one form or another and it’s a turn off even the ones I know in person. I can’t bear it.

However twitter is wonderful and it does promote books, but it’s not straight forward. I have bought many books on the recommendation of one of my twitter friends because they loved it. I trusted them and their judgement and it hasn’t sent me to a bad book yet. And I know friends have bought books on my recommendation. Let me say that again. My friends have bought on my recommendation…not on my retweet of someone else’s recommendation. A retweet can give an author or a book name recognition…but Joe Smith’s tweet that A Dark Night was the best book ever doesn’t carry any weight with me because I don’t know Joe Smith from Adam. However if Julie Cohen tells me a book kept her reading into the small hours…well I know it’s a good book.

So now to my point... Twitter for me is my community. It’s my colleagues and friends at the coffee machine. Most of my ‘work’ day is spent alone. I live in an imaginary world and wonderful though it is I need people, distraction and the brilliant procrastination.

Twitter is the place that I go to share news…I can’t call DH in the middle of the day to say I’m dancing round the dining room table because a book club has chosen my book for their summer read…so I tell twitter. I’m sure twitter thinks I’m absolutely mad and I am, but it’s wonderful to jump in a share and be a part of other people’s lives…from the exciting to frankly dull, but it’s real.

Now some would say that tweeting about being chosen by a book club is promotion and it is…but it’s not going to make anyone else go out and buy it, it’s not saying go and buy my book, but it does increase name recognition…

I have been tweeting with Colette Caddle for a while. She is a lovely person or is on Twitter. So one day browsing in a bookshop here in Dubai faced with thousands of titles and one jumped out at me. Yup, it was one of Colette's...and I bought it, but it wasn't until I was home that evening and on Twitter that I realized I knew her...name recognition in action....

I have to come clean…I, in an indirect way, ‘got’ my agent on twitter. Heaven forbid that I pitched to her on twitter…that is instant death. But we became twitter friends which led to meeting in person and drinking wine friends and of course shoe friends…So when I felt my book was ready, really ready, I pitched the proper way (letter, synopsis, and three chapters) but because of the friendship I didn’t languish on the slush pile….(it also helped that 3 other agents received the same submission at the same time and were interested...a little competition is a motivator)

At the recent RNA meeting there was an industry panel and I heard through the grapevine that Waterstones Publisher Relationship Manager, Cathy Rentzenbrink aka @cathyreadsbooks,  held up a proof copy of The Cornish House when asked… “What lifts your heart when a book lands on your desk?”…why did she do this…according to my sources the Cornish theme and twitter…

So moral of the story…twitter works but not as many would have us believe….Are you on twitter? Why?

32 comments:

  1. The most important part of Twitter is the sense of being part of a wider community that you mention. I have "met" new friends on Twitter, just as I keep in touch with many old friends on facebook. It's not the same as actually meeting them, but, via Twitter, introductions have been made, links established, jokes and ideas shared--a bit like having a pen-friend in the old days. And yes, it's also a good place to talk shop and share writing-related joys and sorrows. I love it!

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  2. Jane, I'm so pleased youse twitter the same way...we are not alone :-)

    lx

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  3. I am on Twitter partly because I work from home - and care for my father. Twitter is my way of "having a conversation" with people I think I would like if I actually met them. It is often the only conversation I get with someone other than my father. (He is still mentally agile and we can talk but sometimes it is nice to talk to someone else!) It can be fun but it can also be a support network. I like the way people will give one another a "virtual hug", listen to their tales of woe, give them support and even advice when they ask for it. Even just the act of saying hello can give someone else a boost - someone else is out there and cares enough to do that. I just ignore people who try to endlessly self-promote!

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  4. I use twitter in much the same way, it is my network of friends both virtual and IRL mixed. I live on my own and in the evenings it is nice to know I can talk about what is on TV with other folk. I also use it for the day job in terms of passing on information to like minded people.
    I will admit that I do like to figure out the shortest and funniest way to say certain things to spark a conversation on Twitter. It is good practice and great fun...
    I'm not at the selling books stage but I know as soon as I get a deal (of any sort) I'll be on Twitter to share it with everyone who has had to put up with my whinging. It is only fair.

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  5. Cat - i so agree how much those virtual hugs and are you oks can mean...and I do try ignore the promotion...haven't yet unfollowed any but may be forced too..

    Biddy - I can't wait to tweet you news when it comes and it will!

    lx

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  6. I agree, Liz. I buy a lot of books from Twitter recommendations (having a Kindle has made it far, far too easy)—but they're recommendations from people I know, whose tastes I trust. Same as if I'd seen them down the pub or in the library.

    I do follow authors and other things, like official film feeds or (ahem) the accounts of actors or pop stars I fancy and I often buy their books/see their films etc when they promote them, but that's because I've made the choice myself to stay updated and be made aware of their products. I love how magician @DerrenBrown tweets...stuff about his shows, but also little tidbits of fascinating information he's picked up on the web, and every now and then a self-deprecating insight into his life. He's not personal at all, but always interesting.

    A random RT about a book is unlikely to make me want to buy it; and if repeated, it actively turns me off. But I'll always recommend books and authors whom I love as a reader. And, assuming that my followers at least have a small interest in my job and my books, I do tweet occasionally about my books, but I try not to do it too often.

    The thing about networking, IRL or online, that first and foremost you have to be a nice person who people would like to be with and work with. My favourite tweeps are people who behave like friends, not advertising billboards.

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  7. Great post, Liz. Love that you use twitter when unable to call your hubby with good news. I also read Nicola Morgan's excellent piece on the subject and recently posted about it myself.

    Would I miss Twitter if it disappeared? You bet...

    Mari xx

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  8. Julie...you aren't a groupie are you???? Does Robert Downey Jr tweet??? It's funny I'll look at the various publishers who promote/tweet and it doesn't bother me and i usually find it interesting...being nosey I like to know what's coming out etc but those 'advertising billboards' as you so aptly put get on my nerves...

    Mari...can you give us the link? Yes, I hate to disturb DH during working hours so I share with twitter and the world :-)

    lx

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  9. That's exactly how I use Twitter, Liz. However, as I don't have an iphone or an ipad, I only use it when I'm on the laptop or the G5 working - hardly ever in the evening, even though I, too, live alone. But during the working day it's the equivalent of water cooler chat. If I post about my books I get worried I'm overdoing it - recently posted my rejacketed backlist, but only after the publisher had already tweeted them!

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  10. Lesley I think was in Nicola's post about 25% or 10%...I think either is fine although some people seems to do them all in one go???? I loved the new covers btw.

    If we are tweeting about our work and our life then what we write and what we're doing about is bound to appear...

    You have no worries Lesley!
    lx

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  11. That was a superb discussion, Liz. Thank you for it, and for the link to Nicola Morgan's excellent blog - I missed that when it came out.

    I hate it when I feel that I'm being seen as a potential customer, rather than as a friend.

    I think of twitter as an on-going conversation with a number of like-minded people, who become friends over the passage of time, some of whom, thanks to the contact made in twitter, one gets to meet at venues such as the RNA conferences. I like to think that this is how my twitter mates think of twitter, too.

    Liz X

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  12. Great post. I enjoy twitter discussions, but the constant self promotion thing drives me crazy. In fact, I think there are a couple authors whose books I'll never buy because of their constant promotion. I don't mind people tweeting about their books, but I do mind when I'm bombarded by 50 tweets about those books and nothing else.

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  13. Liz - i think you hit the nail on head...being seen as a customer rather than a friend...

    Mary Beth - I agree it's so annoying...you'd think they'd realized but I think some of them don't actually really use twitter or hadn't...I know of one who came one like lion tweeting and DMing left right and centre...thankfully now seems to have calmed down and be using twitter sensibly...not as a purely promo tool.

    lx

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  14. (I may slightly be a Derren Brown groupie. But it's not just whether I fancy them...they have to tweet well. The gorgeous John Cusack can't tweet for toffee so I unfollowed him, much as I fancy him...his incoherence was destroying my mental lustful image.

    I haven't found The Downey on Twitter.)

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  15. Julie - you dumped Cusack. I am in shock but totally understand...the hunt for the Downey is on :-)

    lx

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  16. Terrific post, Liz. And that's exactly how I feel about Twitter -- it's like the biggest and best cocktail party/open plan office going. I can wander around and listen at the edge of conversations, then sidle over to my friends and say, 'Hey, that bunch over there was just talking about X, what are your thoughts on it?'

    It's also awesome for Instant Gratification research, as when I made Biddy twitpic me photos of Festa (her car) and when Elizabeth Chadwick was looking for a pic of a Russian squirrel and I just happened to have one right there on my computer..

    Mostly, because I'm stuck in a room by myself on this side of the pond, and all my fellow Heroine Addicts are on the other side of the pond (*sniffle*) it helps me feel you're in the room with me, when I most need it -- giving me advice, cheering me on, making me smile.

    And that's better than a promo tool, in my opinion.

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    1. You do sell books, though, Susanna. I know we'd both been on the RNA loop for some time, but it was something on Twitter that had me buying yours. Mind you it was someone else who said it - I only discovered you there last week!

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  17. Susanna - forgot about the research bit and it's so true! have used it so many times for that...

    And it is a like a cocktail party...

    And we are all in the room with because even though we do get together every so often...we all work alone. Are you coming for the conference this year???

    lx

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  18. The only reason I tweet so much about my books (7 times a day, spaced out over three hours) is that a lot of the experts said you had to tweet that much because nobody is on twitter all the time. The theory, and it makes sense, is at any given time your tweet will reach people who weren't looking at twitter the last time you tweeted your book since the timeline constantly streams. So you tweet often so that different people checking at various times during the day will all see the book info you are tweeting.

    Just curious, what do you as a buyer think is an effective number of times to post about your book to catch the highest number of eyes, but not become annoying?

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  19. Once. Once a day, Pamela. If that. I would unfollow someone who posted the same (or essentially the same) message seven times a day, every day. To me, that's using Twitter as spam, not as a conversation. And I go on Twitter to talk.

    See Liz H's comment, above, about wanting to interact as a friend, not a customer.

    We all have books to promote. If we all tweeted about them seven times a day, we would never get the chance to actually interact.

    If you're concerned about missing people when they happen to be on Twitter, why not tweet once about your book on Monday at 9, once on Tuesday at 10, once on Wednesday at 11, etc...people tend to go on Twitter at more or less the same times each day, as their schedules allow. Then you have more chance of being seen, but you're not bombarding. (I personally think this is still too much, but it's WAY better than seven times a day.)

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    1. I agree with Julie. I have purposefully NOT bought books (even by friends) who are constantly self-promoting on Twitter or Facebook. I also don't retweet or share if I feel that person is using what are social networking sites as marketing tools and nothing more.

      The best way to use Twitter for promotional purposes (in my opinion) is to make friends and drop your new book into the 'conversation' as it were. I've bought lots of books from friends I've made on Twitter because I feel I know them, what they have to say is interesting/fun/informative and the book looks my sort of read. If they started relentlessly banging on about their book it would turn me off, that's for sure.

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    2. I would have thought the blog post itself and the subsequent replies would have alerted you to the fact that 7 a day is far, far too much. All that will happen is any followers you have will unfollow you. I ALWAYS unfollow relentless self-promoters.

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  20. Hi Pamela. I agree with Julie. Once is normally enough especially if anyone else picks it up and re-tweets....

    I think the 'professionals' forget what the buyers think and what's a turn off. As I said in the post I will buy a book based on a friend's recommendation but never because an author has tweeted to buy their book. So one tweet or ten won't entice me to buy the book...but a good conversation with an author and next time I'm in a shop and see there book I will probably buy it....

    lx

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  21. An example of the way people buy books from Twitter...yesterday I was tweeting with someone (we'll call her Z) about a TV programme we both watch, and at the same time, Z was tweeting with someone else we both follow about one of her favourite authors and how much she loves his books. Z doesn't know him, I don't think; she just loves his books. Because I knew we had some tastes in common from our TV discussion, I eavesdropped on their tweets, jumped in and asked Z for a title recommendation, and then another one of my followers jumped in too. Z recommended some titles, and within minutes, all three of the rest of us had downloaded one of the books and we're planning on talking about it once we've read it—again, on Twitter, where others will probably see it.

    The author himself was nowhere to be found—don't even know if he's on Twitter.

    That's how Twitter sells books. You can't buy or nag people into that sort of word-of-mouth, genuine discussion. It's great.

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  22. I threw myself into Twitter in the summer, when I was incapacitated and stuck indoors following surgery. I can honestly say I have never laughed so often and because the interaction is instant, it's as good as participating in a 'real' conversation. I love books, I love writing and I love music and I have met like-minded people who I now consider friends. Yes, I occasionally point people in the direction of my blog, but mostly I'm there because I enjoy the wit, the conversation and the sharing of information.
    It reminds me of old CB radio days...

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  23. Laura...haven't heard of CB radios in sooooooooooooo long. Makes me smile but you're right. It is a bit like that from what i can remember :-)
    lx

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  24. I'm on twitter because it keeps me sane. I follow almost all of you on there as I am an avid reader and I blog about books, sometimes with too much enthusiasm. I give recommendations, I also take them. I reckon my spend on books since I joined Twitter has trippled. But I don't mind because I have the chance to push my reading boundaries and those of my followers. I am not the world's biggest romance reader, but those I have read reccommended to me, I have loved. Same with science fiction - to me it's about personal connection, which is so important - so once I've got a writer or author sussed (in my head at least) I am happy to buy and try something of theirs.

    And I know a lot of people have bought books because I managed to sell it to them in 140 characters or less. I think the majority of people on twitter "gets" how to do it. Those who don't find themselves figuring it out very quickly find that they get unfollowed and blocked.

    It has a great sense of community and the geeklevels are overwhelming and I love it!

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  26. I agree with much of what has been said. I too feel irritated by people - even friends - who constantly drone on 'Buy my book!' But .... as an Indie author, you're stuck between a rock and a hard place. You have an ebook out there, a book that won't sell unless you somehow create a building wave of interest. How do you do that? It seems to me that the indie authors who are doing the best are the most repetitive and constant self-promoters. Like Lesley, I only tweet on the desktop PC. This means I am not usually chatting in real-time with anyone. I end up commenting on conversations which have probably already run out of steam. I do try to promote, flagging up good reviews etc, but I do it,I hope sparingly. I hope for the best, but I haven't the slightest idea if any of it does any good.

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