When Everyone Says You’re A Dumbass, Guess What? You’re A Dumbass.

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I wasn’t going to even bother with this whole scenario that occurred on Twitter yesterday, but several of my followers were honestly so shocked by this, they asked me to write about it. So here ya go: 

I received another mass tweet from someone I’ve never met, who doesn’t follow me, telling me to purchase his poetry, retweet his tweet, and get others to support him.

Normally, I just unfollow these folks – it’s obvious they don’t ‘get’ the social in social media. But for whatever reason, his aggressive manner rubbed me the wrong way. So I tweeted him back: ‘you might want to interact, engage, perhaps follow people, not just spamming the same link to hundreds.’

He was not pleased. He decided to tell me how Twitter works. Yea, I know.

(I’m thinking maybe he didn’t read my bio. Not that I say I’m sort of guru, because I’m not. But because maybe he would see that I own a media company and was really just trying to help him.)

Let’s deconstruct.

WHEN EVERYONE SAYS YOU’RE A DUMBASS, GUESS WHAT? YOU’RE A DUMBASS

Growing up, my older sister used to say this: if enough people say you’re an asshole, you’re an asshole. Being young, and a sibling, I disagreed – ya know, just to be contrary. Anyway, back to the guy: multiple people engaged in the conversation, and to a one, we all suggested that he spend time interacting, curating interesting content, being generous to others, and connect with readers — as opposed to making his timeline singularly self-focused.

Instead of taking the advice of other authors, he insisted that there was something wrong with US – that he has every right to spam links (he called it advertising) etc., and we have no business making suggestions that he try a different tactic. (Hint: read the Twitter Rules on spam). He even went so far as to say how sad it is that authors won’t support each other, a ‘subtweet’ jab directed at me. Whatevs.

Sigh. I directed him to my @BadRedheadMedia stream, where I give out hundreds of free tips weekly. To authors. To support authors.

JOE WILSON TV

One lovely new friend suggested I watch this hilarious (and stingingly honest) video (Stop Spamming Me With Your Work On Twitter) from @JoeWilsonTV. Every author, musician, actor, screenwriter, and businessperson needs to watch this video and take it to heart. (In fact, I love it so much, I just asked Joe’s permission to use the clip for this post — I promised not to spam it. And he laughed. Score!)

What I loved about Joe’s video was this: I’m not (he’s not, you’re not) the Twitter police. Do whatever the hell you want. But if you want to sell some damn books:

 Stop spamming us with your links. Once every few days is plenty. 
Don’t rationalize your spamming because you look like a dumbass
We support you when you’re not being a dumbass – when you are, not even your mother wants to be around you or read your books.

POINTLESS

I ended up blocking this guy (after I wished him all the best. What.), because he just kept going on and on about his amazingness, his right to spam, but mostly because he didn’t bother to admit or consider for a moment, that perhaps, just maybe, he might be oh, just a tiny bit mistaken in his marketing efforts.

Actually, the main reason I blocked his ass was this line: my own stats prove that Twitter sells my books.

This is patently false. Nobody has those kinds of stats — not because Twitter isn’t effective for book sales – it absolutely is – um, we think. But because there’s no way to check click-through rates to one’s book link (unless you’re using a customized link shortener like bit.ly – which he isn’t),  because Twitter nor Amazon provides us ANY data about that. We also don’t know how many clicks from Twitter (or anywhere) result in sales. All we know: our sales and rankings (updated hourly) on Amazon.

Listen, it’s just Twitter. Use some common sense – if you wouldn’t do something in real life, don’t do it on Twitter.

If this guy wants to actually sell some books, I suggest he take free advice from people who can and want to help him. Maybe he’ll learn a little something.

I know I did. I learned my sister is always right. Dammit.

 

 

If you’d like to read a free sample of my third release, Broken Pieces, here’s the link to Amazon. It’s also available on Barnes and Noble. The print version will be out before Christmas from Booktrope.