DISCLAIMER:
I am not and have never been any kind of social media expert. My observations
are just that. Observations.
Last year, in September to be exact, I jumped on a
bandwagon at Goodreads. It’s a group which allows Indie authors to meet and
help each other with marketing books. I joined, knowing that I probably
wouldn’t be able to do what is required, that is, spend more time I don’t have
making the rounds on the internet.
Right now, I’m on Facebook, Linked in (finally)
and Twitter. I joined IAN - there are a few of them and I can’t even find which
one I joined :O - and the WoMen’s
Literary Café and a few other networks that are supposed to be helping me
market my books while I help others market theirs, but again, no dice. Too much
going on, you know?
To go back to the business from September, I picked
a dozen writers/bloggers from the list and decided to visit each. I read what
was posted, left what I thought was a sensible comment and to date, not one
person bothered to return my visit. I should amend that. Maybe they did check
me out and found nothing to comment on, but I thought that in keeping with the
aim of the group (making connections) that it would be a good thing to make
those initial links.
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Now I know writers have a lot going on. I didn’t
understand the magnitude of what I had to do once my book was accepted by a
publisher. The Marketing/PR shoe finally dropped when my publisher had a
teleconference with all her writers and ran though a list of things we could do
to sell books. Up to that time, I didn’t
realize I too had to hawk my books. Silly me.
Since then, I’ve been learning what a difference
networking can make to the lonely writer. For many of us, the people we network
with become of our friends. I can’t stress enough the importance of having
support among the writing crowd.
It’s foolish for the Indie/small press writer to
think he/she can exist in a bubble. Sure, we sometimes don’t have a clue as to
what to do to sell our work and for people like me, I just let things slide when I have pressing
matters, like a novel that needs to be edited into submission. But over time we
can learn so many things from others that we can put into practice.
I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, so I’ve read
everything I can get my hands on re book marketing, and I also observed what
other writers have done. The number one
thing I’ve realized is how important it is to find people of a similar mindset.
I’ve learned to:
Develop
meaningful relationships – Most, if not all, of my online
friendships have come from writing networks, taking part in
some kind of hop or challenge or just simply visiting other people’s blogs.
Even if I don’t visit every day, there are some bloggers I think about every so
often. These friendships extend to email
exchanges off the blog that tell me ‘hey, you’ve found a real friend here.’
Give
of myself & offer help – even when people don’t ask
directly. If a buddy of mine puts out a call to help someone in need, promote a
book, or just to stop by and comment, I try to respond. Our presence oftentimes
has nothing to do with what we can gain and everything to do with just being
there for someone else. What I think of as a small assist has given me
unexpected gifts, in that I’ve become part of several groups (including
Triberr) through which my work is seen by a lot more eyes. These benefits have
come because of the kindness of other bloggers.
Never
be afraid to ask for help – Last September, I made my
self-publishing debut. In typical fashion, I did nothing to build a hype for
that short story collection. I put out an S.O.S. for people to help me with
getting the word out and was bowled over by the number of blogger friends who
offered to help. I haven’t taken up most of those offers yet – Yes, I’m a
slacker – but I know that when I have a need, I can ask and my friends will show
up. Sometimes the help I get, eg. awesome covers, outweighs anything I’ve ever
done for my buddies.
I hope I never get to the point where I become so
busy that I forget to say howdy to friends, or pay random visitors the courtesy
of checking out their digs. Nothing turns me off faster than a blogger who
never shares anything of themselves, other than ‘how to’ comments when they
respond on their blog. Unless you’re Nora Roberts or Stephen King, when I take
the time to visit, I don’t expect to be talking to myself on your blog.
Kinda reminds of the one-sided conversations we
have with God, asking for this or that thing, but never really putting our
heart into a relationship.
I didn’t
mean for this to be an essay, but it’s not my intention to change the way
anybody thinks about social media, networking or platform building. The Lord
knows I can barely keep up, but the little that I do has given me more than a
ten-fold reward.
To me, the key thing is to treat ‘networking’ not
as an obligation or something a writer must do to succeed, but as a way of
being part of a community and to grow as a writer and a person.
What say you?
