E.E. Winston IV's Blog
August 25, 2016
Did You Know? You're not allowed to talk about the past on YouTube.
Perhaps you remember my last blog post from a while back. It was about how strict and unfair Google Adsense is. Well, guess what: they've done it again.
I finally got my account reinstated after ten years of exile, and things have been going good. I run three YouTube channels: my author channel, a hobby enthusiast channel, and an outdoors/adventure channel. The most popular of the three is "Cheap Angler Fishing," my outdoors channel. I show people how to do what is ordinarily an expensive pass time on a small budget. It's usually fishing, but sometimes the weather won't permit you to be out on the water. On those days, I post a video about something other than fishing.
In an attempt to broaden my audience, I decided to start exploring the past, doing little bits about local history that I'm familiar with. The first two videos, happened to be about historic cemeteries. The first of which, was about an abandoned cemetery containing just three graves. I found it when I was about eleven or twelve years old, and have visited it a few times over the years. It's in the middle of the woods, on an abandoned hiking trail that hasn't been used in over thirty years. A friend and I decided to go back and look for it, unfortunately to no avail. We couldn't find it, but I posted the video to YouTube anyway.
About a week later, still inspired by our expedition, we decided to visit and pay respects to some historic figures who are eternally resting in the area. There's a large, still-operating cemetery nearby, that's been in service for well over 150 years. We decided to break this idea up into short segment videos, and only visited three famous graves in the first video.
While shooting this video, I checked my stats for the exploration video, only to find that the monetization had been disabled due to it violating Adsense's terms. It was ruled ineligible because of inappropriate content. I contacted YouTube's support, and was actually pleased that they had the issue resolved by the next day. I spent that next day editing the cemetery video, and posted it. After it went live, I checked back in on the exploration video, only to find out had been disabled once again.
This time, I went through and edited the title, description, and tags to eliminate any possible confusion, and contacted YouTube again. Apparently, the automated filter system kept flagging my video because it "sounded" like it might contain violent content.
The issue took longer to resolve this time, as I was forced to wait three days rather than one. I made sure to clarify and clean up the cemetery video just to make sure this didn't happen again. I thought, "This is actually an educational video that contains a few small local history lessons, there's no way anyone can be offended by it."
I was dead wrong (pun not intended). I checked my stats this morning to find that my video (my best, family friendliest, most educational, and most entertaining video to date) had the monetization disabled due to offensive content. Apparently history lessons are not "advertiser friendly."
I cuss like a sailor in my fishing and gaming videos, and post violent images about murder, crime, and horror in video games all the time. All of that is perfectly acceptable for Google to advertise on, but if you mention anything about dead people from history, or visiting a cemetery, you are a horrible person and don't deserve to be paid for your time and effort.
I see other channels visiting celebrity graves all the time, and they earn enough money to travel the world and produce more of the same subject. So either there must be some kind of loophole they found to get around it, or Google hates me.
And every time, I get the same response:
"Hello,
Thanks for your email. We didn’t approve your video(s) for monetization because the content in your video(s) or video details may not be advertiser-friendly.
I've escalated the issue to the appropriate team, who will investigate the issue and take the necessary actions based on their investigation results. If your video is approved for monetization, a green monetization icon will show up next to your video. Note that video review can take up to two business days.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,
Andy
The YouTube Team"
Honestly, I hope Andy (and Emma, and everyone else on the YouTube team) only forwarded it to the appropriate team, instead of escalating it for investigation. That makes it sound like I'm in some kind of trouble, when I've done nothing wrong.
You be the judge, and tell me if my video is offensive and inappropriate for all audiences: https://youtu.be/sU31lCFvfcY
P.S. I'm really reluctant to post the link here, since I won't be credited with any income that it may potentially earn.
I finally got my account reinstated after ten years of exile, and things have been going good. I run three YouTube channels: my author channel, a hobby enthusiast channel, and an outdoors/adventure channel. The most popular of the three is "Cheap Angler Fishing," my outdoors channel. I show people how to do what is ordinarily an expensive pass time on a small budget. It's usually fishing, but sometimes the weather won't permit you to be out on the water. On those days, I post a video about something other than fishing.
In an attempt to broaden my audience, I decided to start exploring the past, doing little bits about local history that I'm familiar with. The first two videos, happened to be about historic cemeteries. The first of which, was about an abandoned cemetery containing just three graves. I found it when I was about eleven or twelve years old, and have visited it a few times over the years. It's in the middle of the woods, on an abandoned hiking trail that hasn't been used in over thirty years. A friend and I decided to go back and look for it, unfortunately to no avail. We couldn't find it, but I posted the video to YouTube anyway.
About a week later, still inspired by our expedition, we decided to visit and pay respects to some historic figures who are eternally resting in the area. There's a large, still-operating cemetery nearby, that's been in service for well over 150 years. We decided to break this idea up into short segment videos, and only visited three famous graves in the first video.
While shooting this video, I checked my stats for the exploration video, only to find that the monetization had been disabled due to it violating Adsense's terms. It was ruled ineligible because of inappropriate content. I contacted YouTube's support, and was actually pleased that they had the issue resolved by the next day. I spent that next day editing the cemetery video, and posted it. After it went live, I checked back in on the exploration video, only to find out had been disabled once again.
This time, I went through and edited the title, description, and tags to eliminate any possible confusion, and contacted YouTube again. Apparently, the automated filter system kept flagging my video because it "sounded" like it might contain violent content.
The issue took longer to resolve this time, as I was forced to wait three days rather than one. I made sure to clarify and clean up the cemetery video just to make sure this didn't happen again. I thought, "This is actually an educational video that contains a few small local history lessons, there's no way anyone can be offended by it."
I was dead wrong (pun not intended). I checked my stats this morning to find that my video (my best, family friendliest, most educational, and most entertaining video to date) had the monetization disabled due to offensive content. Apparently history lessons are not "advertiser friendly."
I cuss like a sailor in my fishing and gaming videos, and post violent images about murder, crime, and horror in video games all the time. All of that is perfectly acceptable for Google to advertise on, but if you mention anything about dead people from history, or visiting a cemetery, you are a horrible person and don't deserve to be paid for your time and effort.
I see other channels visiting celebrity graves all the time, and they earn enough money to travel the world and produce more of the same subject. So either there must be some kind of loophole they found to get around it, or Google hates me.
And every time, I get the same response:
"Hello,
Thanks for your email. We didn’t approve your video(s) for monetization because the content in your video(s) or video details may not be advertiser-friendly.
I've escalated the issue to the appropriate team, who will investigate the issue and take the necessary actions based on their investigation results. If your video is approved for monetization, a green monetization icon will show up next to your video. Note that video review can take up to two business days.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,
Andy
The YouTube Team"
Honestly, I hope Andy (and Emma, and everyone else on the YouTube team) only forwarded it to the appropriate team, instead of escalating it for investigation. That makes it sound like I'm in some kind of trouble, when I've done nothing wrong.
You be the judge, and tell me if my video is offensive and inappropriate for all audiences: https://youtu.be/sU31lCFvfcY
P.S. I'm really reluctant to post the link here, since I won't be credited with any income that it may potentially earn.
February 22, 2016
Has Anyone Ever Successfully Appealed a Google Adsense Ban?
Google Adsense is the most popular, easiest way to make money online. It's simple, just add an html code to your website, and voila, it's generating a supplemental income. It's even easier if you run a YouTube channel, just turn it on.
But, as a lot of people have found out, Adsense is also one of the strictest, most unfair, and uncooperative companies online. Anything they perceive as an infraction results in a permanent lifetime ban. There was a YouTuber recently who received a ban because Adsense found it suspicious that there were multiple clicks on their ads coming from the same IP address. The YouTuber had nothing to do with it, and later found out they had a fan who thought they were doing them a favor by clicking the ads. Adsense didn't care about the reason, and denied the user's appeal. They also told the user not to contact them about it again.
Anyone appealing their ban gets the same stock response, with no details or reasons:
Re: [5-0392000010440] Invalid Activity Appeal
Hello,
Thanks for the additional information provided in your appeal, we appreciate your continued interest in the AdSense program. After thoroughly reviewing your account data and taking your feedback into consideration, our specialists have confirmed that we're unable to reinstate your AdSense account.
If you'd like more details on our invalid activity policies or review process, please visit http://www.google.com/adsense/support.... As a reminder, further participation in the AdSense program by publishers whose accounts have been disabled is not permitted.
Thanks for your understanding,
The Google AdSense Team
Now, I want everyone to read the above message very carefully. I received this after my appeal (I'll explain my infraction after). Notice that last sentence? They basically just told me their appeals process is just for show, and no one ever gets reinstated.
Now, for my story:
I started using Adsense over 10 years ago. I used it on my blogs and a few hobby oriented websites I ran. In an attempt to increase traffic and income, I began using a website (that no longer exists, and I can't remember the name) that was a special kind of "traffic exchange."
Most traffic exchange sites are a complete waste of time. You view other members' websites, they view yours. It's legitimate, but doesn't work. It just raises your hit count. The particular traffic exchange I used was different. It guaranteed an increase in traffic, and clicks on my ads. So I paid a small amount for the service, and it seemed to be working. Until I looked at my adsense stats. All the views (and more importantly, the clicks) came from the same ip and geographic areas. Before I could stop the service, I was banned from Adsense. I immediately appealed, trying desperately to explain the situation, but they wouldn't listen. I got the same stock message you see above.
This was about EIGHT YEARS AGO. I recently started a YouTube channel, under a different email than the one I used at the time of the ban, and through legitimate channels, Adsense knows the emails are associated. I'm not trying to create any scams here, one is a personal email, one is business. Regardless, both emails are banned. I guess I could go and create a new one under a new name with my new address, but that's a serious infraction. I want everything to be clean and clear, and professional. This is my reputation, I'm not the same 19 year old kid with a blog listing all the bands I like and how cruel parents can be. I've grown up, served an unreasonable suspension, and now I want back in. I'd like to think Google has grown up since then too, but I guess I'd be wrong.
I went through the Adsense Appeal form, explained my situation as best I could, and heard back the next day:
Hello,
Thanks for your email.
We've searched our system, but we haven't been able to find your AdSense account with the information that you've provided. Please respond to this email from the email address currently associated with your AdSense account and we'll be happy to help you.
If you don't know the email address that you've used for your AdSense account, please reply directly to this email with the contact name, URL or other account details. This will make it easier for us to locate your account.
Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team.
At first, I thought, "Well, good. No record of me having an account, there shouldn't be an issue getting reinstated then." So, I replied with the same information I had given them the first time; my full name, my original email, and the new email I would like to use for YouTube.
Then I got that stock letter about all bans being for life, and appeals actually being against their rules.
What's the purpose of having an appeal process, if appeals are automatically denied anyway? Even if I was guilty of the infractions stated above, it's been EIGHT YEARS. I'm not the same person anymore, and I don't think asking for a second chance is so unreasonable. But no, Adsense refuses to work with me, and the only way to contact them is through the appeals. So, unless you have a good friend on the inside, you're banned for life with no explanations of any kind.
**EDIT**
Within hours of this blog being posted, my Adsense account was mysteriously reinstated without notice. I'd like to thank the Adsense Fairy for coming through.
But, as a lot of people have found out, Adsense is also one of the strictest, most unfair, and uncooperative companies online. Anything they perceive as an infraction results in a permanent lifetime ban. There was a YouTuber recently who received a ban because Adsense found it suspicious that there were multiple clicks on their ads coming from the same IP address. The YouTuber had nothing to do with it, and later found out they had a fan who thought they were doing them a favor by clicking the ads. Adsense didn't care about the reason, and denied the user's appeal. They also told the user not to contact them about it again.
Anyone appealing their ban gets the same stock response, with no details or reasons:
Re: [5-0392000010440] Invalid Activity Appeal
Hello,
Thanks for the additional information provided in your appeal, we appreciate your continued interest in the AdSense program. After thoroughly reviewing your account data and taking your feedback into consideration, our specialists have confirmed that we're unable to reinstate your AdSense account.
If you'd like more details on our invalid activity policies or review process, please visit http://www.google.com/adsense/support.... As a reminder, further participation in the AdSense program by publishers whose accounts have been disabled is not permitted.
Thanks for your understanding,
The Google AdSense Team
Now, I want everyone to read the above message very carefully. I received this after my appeal (I'll explain my infraction after). Notice that last sentence? They basically just told me their appeals process is just for show, and no one ever gets reinstated.
Now, for my story:
I started using Adsense over 10 years ago. I used it on my blogs and a few hobby oriented websites I ran. In an attempt to increase traffic and income, I began using a website (that no longer exists, and I can't remember the name) that was a special kind of "traffic exchange."
Most traffic exchange sites are a complete waste of time. You view other members' websites, they view yours. It's legitimate, but doesn't work. It just raises your hit count. The particular traffic exchange I used was different. It guaranteed an increase in traffic, and clicks on my ads. So I paid a small amount for the service, and it seemed to be working. Until I looked at my adsense stats. All the views (and more importantly, the clicks) came from the same ip and geographic areas. Before I could stop the service, I was banned from Adsense. I immediately appealed, trying desperately to explain the situation, but they wouldn't listen. I got the same stock message you see above.
This was about EIGHT YEARS AGO. I recently started a YouTube channel, under a different email than the one I used at the time of the ban, and through legitimate channels, Adsense knows the emails are associated. I'm not trying to create any scams here, one is a personal email, one is business. Regardless, both emails are banned. I guess I could go and create a new one under a new name with my new address, but that's a serious infraction. I want everything to be clean and clear, and professional. This is my reputation, I'm not the same 19 year old kid with a blog listing all the bands I like and how cruel parents can be. I've grown up, served an unreasonable suspension, and now I want back in. I'd like to think Google has grown up since then too, but I guess I'd be wrong.
I went through the Adsense Appeal form, explained my situation as best I could, and heard back the next day:
Hello,
Thanks for your email.
We've searched our system, but we haven't been able to find your AdSense account with the information that you've provided. Please respond to this email from the email address currently associated with your AdSense account and we'll be happy to help you.
If you don't know the email address that you've used for your AdSense account, please reply directly to this email with the contact name, URL or other account details. This will make it easier for us to locate your account.
Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team.
At first, I thought, "Well, good. No record of me having an account, there shouldn't be an issue getting reinstated then." So, I replied with the same information I had given them the first time; my full name, my original email, and the new email I would like to use for YouTube.
Then I got that stock letter about all bans being for life, and appeals actually being against their rules.
What's the purpose of having an appeal process, if appeals are automatically denied anyway? Even if I was guilty of the infractions stated above, it's been EIGHT YEARS. I'm not the same person anymore, and I don't think asking for a second chance is so unreasonable. But no, Adsense refuses to work with me, and the only way to contact them is through the appeals. So, unless you have a good friend on the inside, you're banned for life with no explanations of any kind.
**EDIT**
Within hours of this blog being posted, my Adsense account was mysteriously reinstated without notice. I'd like to thank the Adsense Fairy for coming through.
February 13, 2016
Just some thoughts on Signed Books
I have hundreds of books in my personal library, and its constantly growing. I couldn't count them if I wanted to. It seems like I'm buying another bookshelf every couple months. But my favorite thing to do besides reading a book, is having it signed. I find it a lot of fun to go through the used books in a thrift store or a garage sale, and find something signed by the author. Sometimes they have inscriptions in them that have a story behind them almost as good as the one in the book. I have one signed by legendary comedian Bob Hope that says, "To Paul Z, You already know all of this. -Bob H."
I also love getting books signed in person, and getting to meet and talk with authors about their past, present, and future projects. Just the other day I met LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow and Star Trek fame at a lecture he was giving a few days ago, but unfortunately I didn't have a copy of any of his books with me. Being that he inspired me as a child to read, which directly resulted in a love of writing, I decided to ask him to sign my own book. After I explained this to him, he looked at the cover, opened it, signed the title page, then said, "The Cold Dead, eh? Whats it about?"
When LeVar Burton asks you about your book, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. You better have a good response prepared. I did not. I froze and stuttered my way through a brief synopsis, and he was nice about it, "Well, there you go."
I've also seen some authors offering free signed bookplates, to stick to the inside cover or title page to turn your copy into a signed copy, to people who can't make it to the author's events. It's usually a form to fill out on their website, or an email address to send your address to. I love this idea, since I don't travel much, and authors never seem to come here unless its part of a major convention. I always look for this feature when visiting an author's website. I also offer free signed bookplates on my website as well, to anyone, whether they've bought my book or not. It seems to work as a promotional tool, especially for me. If an author sends me a bookplate, whether it's completely free or with a small fee, I go out and buy their book immediately if I don't already have it. This works for me when I get the occasional email from someone who stumbled onto my site or was referred by a friend, whatever the case may be, and is interested in a book. I've sent bookplates to people who hadn't bought a copy yet, and had them order a copy.
There's been a few times where I contacted an author about the possibility of receiving a bookplate, and I've gotten mostly positive responses from it. Stuart Woods (or the person representing him) was unnecessarily rude about it. Even though I explained I couldn't go to a signing, and even offered to cover all shipping and handling expenses, they told me to go to a signing a buy another copy of a book I already own, but not so politely. Others, like David S. Brody, hadn't offered them before, and gave me their address to send a bookplate of my own. I included a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope, and he signed and returned it quickly. Since then, he and some others, have started offering them.
Additionally, if you prefer the book itself signed (rather than a sticker inside of it, which seems to be the case with most people), some authors offer signed copies directly through their website, or have links on where to order them. My site has the option to buy one directly from me. It seems like it costs more on my site, but I have to cover shipping as well. A few even have an address listed online just so people can ship their physical copies to the author to have signed. This is a little messy though, as the return shipping has to be covered by you, and sometimes the postal service is unreliable. It's no big deal when a bookplate that's not worth anything gets lost or damaged, but when your brand new hardcover that cost $30 or more never comes back, it's pretty frustrating.
This was kind of a random blog post. I'm still a little excited after meeting one of my idols, Mr. Burton, and just wanted to talk about signed books. I did get a bookplate signed by Mr. Burton as well, because the copy of Aftermath I ordered didn't make it here in time. I grew up as an avid reader, and an avid sports fan. I starting collecting autographed sports memorabilia around 20 years ago, and it was only a matter of time before the two world's collided. I currently have over 50 signed books, and probably a lot more that were left behind at my parent's house when I struck out on my own for the first time as a young adult.
Anyway, that's it for now. Happy Valentine's Day. Or not, if you're one of the many who seem to hate it.
I also love getting books signed in person, and getting to meet and talk with authors about their past, present, and future projects. Just the other day I met LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow and Star Trek fame at a lecture he was giving a few days ago, but unfortunately I didn't have a copy of any of his books with me. Being that he inspired me as a child to read, which directly resulted in a love of writing, I decided to ask him to sign my own book. After I explained this to him, he looked at the cover, opened it, signed the title page, then said, "The Cold Dead, eh? Whats it about?"
When LeVar Burton asks you about your book, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. You better have a good response prepared. I did not. I froze and stuttered my way through a brief synopsis, and he was nice about it, "Well, there you go."
I've also seen some authors offering free signed bookplates, to stick to the inside cover or title page to turn your copy into a signed copy, to people who can't make it to the author's events. It's usually a form to fill out on their website, or an email address to send your address to. I love this idea, since I don't travel much, and authors never seem to come here unless its part of a major convention. I always look for this feature when visiting an author's website. I also offer free signed bookplates on my website as well, to anyone, whether they've bought my book or not. It seems to work as a promotional tool, especially for me. If an author sends me a bookplate, whether it's completely free or with a small fee, I go out and buy their book immediately if I don't already have it. This works for me when I get the occasional email from someone who stumbled onto my site or was referred by a friend, whatever the case may be, and is interested in a book. I've sent bookplates to people who hadn't bought a copy yet, and had them order a copy.
There's been a few times where I contacted an author about the possibility of receiving a bookplate, and I've gotten mostly positive responses from it. Stuart Woods (or the person representing him) was unnecessarily rude about it. Even though I explained I couldn't go to a signing, and even offered to cover all shipping and handling expenses, they told me to go to a signing a buy another copy of a book I already own, but not so politely. Others, like David S. Brody, hadn't offered them before, and gave me their address to send a bookplate of my own. I included a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope, and he signed and returned it quickly. Since then, he and some others, have started offering them.
Additionally, if you prefer the book itself signed (rather than a sticker inside of it, which seems to be the case with most people), some authors offer signed copies directly through their website, or have links on where to order them. My site has the option to buy one directly from me. It seems like it costs more on my site, but I have to cover shipping as well. A few even have an address listed online just so people can ship their physical copies to the author to have signed. This is a little messy though, as the return shipping has to be covered by you, and sometimes the postal service is unreliable. It's no big deal when a bookplate that's not worth anything gets lost or damaged, but when your brand new hardcover that cost $30 or more never comes back, it's pretty frustrating.
This was kind of a random blog post. I'm still a little excited after meeting one of my idols, Mr. Burton, and just wanted to talk about signed books. I did get a bookplate signed by Mr. Burton as well, because the copy of Aftermath I ordered didn't make it here in time. I grew up as an avid reader, and an avid sports fan. I starting collecting autographed sports memorabilia around 20 years ago, and it was only a matter of time before the two world's collided. I currently have over 50 signed books, and probably a lot more that were left behind at my parent's house when I struck out on my own for the first time as a young adult.
Anyway, that's it for now. Happy Valentine's Day. Or not, if you're one of the many who seem to hate it.
February 3, 2016
Don't Follow Their Bad Advice
Don't Follow Their Bad Advice - Four Social Media and Marketing Tips for New Authors They Either Didn't Mention, or Lied About.
by E. E. Winston IV
Thursday, February 4, 2016.
New authors are coming out everyday, it's easy to get lost in the flood. And for each new author, another “Tips for New Authors” article gets published. 99% of those articles are just repeating the same messages as the one before it. Hell, I'm still relatively new to this whole thing, but there are a few lessons I learned rather quickly that didn't seem to get covered by those other articles. So I'm just going to cut straight to the point and give you some tips that others may have missed.
Advertising and Promotion Isn't Free:
There are hundreds of ways to advertise and promote your book for free, but I still haven't found one that actually works. The best results are from paid advertisements. I'm not rich, and if you're in the same boat, you just don't have the money to throw around on promotions. Yet, it's necessary. Set some money off to the side, and save up. A couple dollars here or there is all you need to advertise on Facebook and Twitter, and there are other inexpensive options as well. You might want to look into “Affiliate Marketing.” That's where you give your advertisement to a company, who then pays other websites to display it for you. Google Adsense is the most popular, but they're getting more and more strict about their applicants.
Your Facebook and Twitter Followers Don't Want You to Sell Them Your Book:
They don't. It's simple. Put all the links to your website and your books where they can be easily found on your profile, but don't flood their feeds with “My book is only $.99!!!!” followed by an Amazon link. Post like you're talking to friends, post about news, make jokes, share photos, pretty much anything other than advertisements. Chances are, if they're genuinely following you as a fan, they already have your book. Make the occasional promotional tweet or Facebook post, and pay to advertise those as mentioned in the previous tip, but try to keep a limit on how many you make. You can always promote the same older post multiple times. A lot of reviewers will tweet your links for you, so Liking and Retweeting/Sharing those aren't as annoying, but even that should be limited. Your fans will like it more if you post a review and link to someone else's book, than a review and link to your own.
Automated Twitter DMs Drive People Away:
Every one of us have gotten a Direct Message on Twitter saying “Thanks for following” and containing a link to someone's book, and almost every one of those messages ends with “via @crowdfire.” Now, before you jump on me for trashing Crowdfire, I'm not. It's a useful tool. I use it mainly to keep track of people who unfollowed me, and to see new followers I might have missed on Twitter’s Notifications page. The app (and several other apps) also has a feature to automatically send a welcome message to all of your new followers. This sounds like a good idea, until you begin noticing that all of your followers start unfollowing you the instant they receive an impersonal and generic form letter. I personally stopped looking at my inbox altogether because it's full of this junk. If someone were to send me a genuine message, I'd never know it. I've had to disable most of Twitter’s email and Push Notifications because it gets really annoying when my phone pings every two minutes from someone setting a computer program to send me a message. I can see how you might think it's useful to update your followers on new events, or to thank them for the support, but that's what your Twitter Feed is actually for. Not the Direct Messages. Make posts about your news, that's why people follow you in the first place. I guarantee that a genuine thank you in a regular post will garner a much more positive response. I wouldn't go overboard in tagging all of your followers and thanking them either, but it's still better than automated DMs.
Be Careful Which Facebook Author Groups You Join:
Every article tells you to use Facebook to spread the word about your projects, and that's very important, but a lot of those articles also tell you to join as many author groups as you possibly can to help you out. This is where they're wrong. There are tons of helpful groups to join (anything from BooksGoSocial and the like) that actually will help you out, but I learned the hard way that devoting time and effort into “Advertise Your Book Here” groups is a complete and utter waste. Those groups may have good intentions, and you might even get a sale or two out of them, but you will be almost instantly drowned out by the barrage of other authors screaming “Buy my book! Buy my book!” These groups focus on the wrong aspects, and their members are more interested in selling you their book rather than buying yours. Look for groups that are targeted at readers instead of writers to promote yourself, and look for groups that don't allow spamming and advertising to get advice from other authors.
E. E. Winston IV is the Author of The Cold Dead and Reversion Series.
Visit him online here.
by E. E. Winston IV
Thursday, February 4, 2016.
New authors are coming out everyday, it's easy to get lost in the flood. And for each new author, another “Tips for New Authors” article gets published. 99% of those articles are just repeating the same messages as the one before it. Hell, I'm still relatively new to this whole thing, but there are a few lessons I learned rather quickly that didn't seem to get covered by those other articles. So I'm just going to cut straight to the point and give you some tips that others may have missed.
Advertising and Promotion Isn't Free:
There are hundreds of ways to advertise and promote your book for free, but I still haven't found one that actually works. The best results are from paid advertisements. I'm not rich, and if you're in the same boat, you just don't have the money to throw around on promotions. Yet, it's necessary. Set some money off to the side, and save up. A couple dollars here or there is all you need to advertise on Facebook and Twitter, and there are other inexpensive options as well. You might want to look into “Affiliate Marketing.” That's where you give your advertisement to a company, who then pays other websites to display it for you. Google Adsense is the most popular, but they're getting more and more strict about their applicants.
Your Facebook and Twitter Followers Don't Want You to Sell Them Your Book:
They don't. It's simple. Put all the links to your website and your books where they can be easily found on your profile, but don't flood their feeds with “My book is only $.99!!!!” followed by an Amazon link. Post like you're talking to friends, post about news, make jokes, share photos, pretty much anything other than advertisements. Chances are, if they're genuinely following you as a fan, they already have your book. Make the occasional promotional tweet or Facebook post, and pay to advertise those as mentioned in the previous tip, but try to keep a limit on how many you make. You can always promote the same older post multiple times. A lot of reviewers will tweet your links for you, so Liking and Retweeting/Sharing those aren't as annoying, but even that should be limited. Your fans will like it more if you post a review and link to someone else's book, than a review and link to your own.
Automated Twitter DMs Drive People Away:
Every one of us have gotten a Direct Message on Twitter saying “Thanks for following” and containing a link to someone's book, and almost every one of those messages ends with “via @crowdfire.” Now, before you jump on me for trashing Crowdfire, I'm not. It's a useful tool. I use it mainly to keep track of people who unfollowed me, and to see new followers I might have missed on Twitter’s Notifications page. The app (and several other apps) also has a feature to automatically send a welcome message to all of your new followers. This sounds like a good idea, until you begin noticing that all of your followers start unfollowing you the instant they receive an impersonal and generic form letter. I personally stopped looking at my inbox altogether because it's full of this junk. If someone were to send me a genuine message, I'd never know it. I've had to disable most of Twitter’s email and Push Notifications because it gets really annoying when my phone pings every two minutes from someone setting a computer program to send me a message. I can see how you might think it's useful to update your followers on new events, or to thank them for the support, but that's what your Twitter Feed is actually for. Not the Direct Messages. Make posts about your news, that's why people follow you in the first place. I guarantee that a genuine thank you in a regular post will garner a much more positive response. I wouldn't go overboard in tagging all of your followers and thanking them either, but it's still better than automated DMs.
Be Careful Which Facebook Author Groups You Join:
Every article tells you to use Facebook to spread the word about your projects, and that's very important, but a lot of those articles also tell you to join as many author groups as you possibly can to help you out. This is where they're wrong. There are tons of helpful groups to join (anything from BooksGoSocial and the like) that actually will help you out, but I learned the hard way that devoting time and effort into “Advertise Your Book Here” groups is a complete and utter waste. Those groups may have good intentions, and you might even get a sale or two out of them, but you will be almost instantly drowned out by the barrage of other authors screaming “Buy my book! Buy my book!” These groups focus on the wrong aspects, and their members are more interested in selling you their book rather than buying yours. Look for groups that are targeted at readers instead of writers to promote yourself, and look for groups that don't allow spamming and advertising to get advice from other authors.
E. E. Winston IV is the Author of The Cold Dead and Reversion Series.
Visit him online here.
