Monday, February 11, 2013

What NOT to do as a new author....



By RaeBeth McGee- Buda



Being a new author is exciting. You took the time to sit down and bring an idea for a book to life. The process takes you months or even years to complete. Your new baby has gone through the extensive process of editing and then formatting. Once the cover design is complete you’re thrilled and excited to get your book into the hands of your soon to be fans.

How does one go about it? 

How do you get your target audience to notice your book?

There are several ways on the Internet to do this. Nevertheless, what ways are the right ways? I’m here to share my experience as an author and blogger. I have seen a few things within the past few months since my books release. 

One of the things I see some authors doing is spamming pages & groups on Facebook with their book information and purchase links. This is okay to do providing you share on the right pages. Always ask for permission before you decide to share your link on another profile, unless it has been stated within the description that authors can freely share their book information. 

I highly dislike when an author comes to my page, which I have set up for my fans and my work, and shares their links. As an example, “I’ve stopped by to like your page. Here’s mine for you to like.” Sharing this is okay providing you DO NOT message the author a few hours later and ask them AGAIN if they liked your page. When you like someone’s book/author page, don’t automatically expect him or her to like your page in return. Perhaps the genre you write isn’t one they enjoy or a topic their not interested in. One message is enough. Plain and simple.
The second thing I have seen new authors do is jump from event to event on Facebook spamming their book cover, description, and purchase links regardless of what the events are about. You NEVER share your book information in ANY way on an event unless you contacted the host and they gave you permission. Most events are hosting and highlighting another author’s work. Therefore, when you do this... you’re taking the spotlight off them. That is like going to someone birthday party with you’re own cake to celebrate your birthday.  So not the right thing to do.

The third thing is you NEVER create a group or event and automatically add someone to it without asking first. Most authors are part of so many groups; they have a hard time keeping up with them. Adding them to another one without asking is a great way to create a dislike between that author and you. 

So in conclusion to this article the best way to begin getting your work out there is to always ask. Never just do. This could lead into a very bad situation for you and your reputation. 

To find out more about RaeBeth, visit her on her website here.

5 comments:

Michael Seese said...

I have not as yet received Facebook author spamming. But I do see authors on Twitter who post, literally every minute, "Here's a link to my book on Amazon."

Wendy said...

This is good advice. I doubt that a spam message is going to be much help to that author at any rate. People don't buy books based on spam, they buy based on reviews from friends or people that they trust. It is better to cultivate good relationships on the net and in the real world to promote your book.

Elisa said...

Also, don't say mean things to reviewers that don't like your book. There are some crazy author/book blogger/review fights going on these days - quite amazingly ridiculous actually.

Brita Addams said...

This is advice that sadly many seasoned authors don't adhere to. The "Buy My Book!" crowd is alive and well. Sadly, those are the ones I automatically ignore.

"Don't engage," is the bywords by which all authors should approach reviews. Many times "trolls" leave bad reviews or baiting comments so that authors will have no choice but to reply. Not wise, as Elisa points out.

Very well written post here and great advice. Sometime such advice is hard won. Maybe you saved some authors from embarrassing themselves, which is easy to do in the zealousness to sell their book.

Best of luck with your sales!

Best,
Brita Addams

Anastasia Vitsky said...

Sigh. I wish these kinds of posts weren't necessary, but sadly they are drowned out by scores of new authors who are sure *they* are the exception. It's true we can't become personal best friends of every person on social media, but it's also true that annoying acquaintances is a bad idea. Annoying perfect strangers is even worse. Nothing makes me block a person faster than repeated spamming of book and blog post links.

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