Two Writers Rambling – Street Teams: keep them from the darkside

 

Two Writers Rambling

 

Art isn’t a sport, yet one might get to thinking it was when taking in the amount of competition some authors dribble out in the endeavor to make book sales and reach a certain status on the Bestsellers list. Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes a little competition is good. It motivates us to strive harder, keep focused on our work and evolve our abilities in order to obtain our goals.

 

 

 

But is there a line that we should not cross?   Probably more than one… and often those lines can define the difference between an author who is a story teller and one who is out to make a buck. That has always existed and to each his own. But at what point did the author world take up pawns to do divvy out the low blows?

That is what today’s rambling is about:

STREET TEAMS VS CYBER BULLIES

 

 

The way of marketing for authors has certainly changed over the years. What was once limited to the few who could afford to take out an advertising ad in a magazine or the newspapers has now opened up to the internet and leveled the playing field. With a web as vast as it is, and with as many bloggers, book reviewers, ecommerce retails, and social networks as there are, its a marketing smorgasborge. Only, how does one manage to hit them all or stand out among the thousands of other authors vying for the attention of the average browser in hopes to convert them into a fan reader?

 

 

Meet the Street Teams. It’s not a new term or idea. But normally associated with the music industry, using fans to help plaster flyers, and work up interest at local social hot spots for the next up-n-coming band.

 

 

The concept is the same for authors, with only a few variations. Instead of running around the city plastering flyers of one band over another’s on  billboards  and street poles. These streets teams have taken to the cyber world to  deposit  comments and heart emicons under the Author’s latest book release, hoping sway others into taking a closer look at what all the excitement is about.  

 

 

And WOW are they great to have. In a cyber-world where you can’t always see your captive audience, a Street Team helps draw them in. They’re an author’s cheering squad as well.

Most Street Teams are comprised of awesome people who just love to read and any author is lucky to have 1, 2, 5 or how many an author may have, take the time to pimp their favorite authors out to friends and book clubs.

 

 

But there is also a dark side to this. And this is where the line of scrimmage gets crossed. It’s beyond some friendly competition. Beyond the reach of etiquette.

When this line gets crossed, it gets shady and sometimes down right back stabbing. I’m talking about when Street Teams stop cheering and start attacking, while the author sits back and plays innocent by stander.

 

 

It doesn’t take long to spot them out either, in most cases. If you happen to be browsing the reviews on Amazon or Goodreads, chances are you’ve come across a full out attack on the reviewer who didn’t like the author’s book. And it’s not just the reviewers who left 1 or 2 stars. I’ve seen some of the 3 stars and a few 4 star review deposits get maliciously attacked by that author’s Street Team and everyonce in a while even the authors go after them.

 

 

Then there is the facebook bullying.   Wall rants often left without pointing the finger, but notes are passed under the table to insure the target is implemented, where not even the Street Teams go after certain author to retaliate a battle they aren’t even aware of. Even adoring fans have been misled to participate.

 

 

It’s a sad display of sportsmanship, if you send out your Street Team to illuminate the competition.

It bothers me when I stumble across it, and I can say first hand it sucks when you’re the recipient of it too. Because as I have learned, we don’t need to do anything to provoke an attack other than maybe have written a really good book.

 

  

 

I know what you’re thinking: how do you stop the darkside from taking over?

 

 

**shrugs**  Use your force for the right reasons…

 

And that is, to get other people excited about your own books.

 

Don’t be a monkey and knock others down or scare off reviewers who maybe didn’t like your book, just because you see others do that.  And when you hear someone say  they don’t control what their Street Team does. Don’t buy into that mess. Its some bullshit salesman talking. Because if the Street Team members can’t play nice, you don’t keep them on the team. It’s that simple. So no author is innocent if their team’s actions.  

 

 

Sure there are going to be times when you wish (silently – no thinking out loud) that a certain book on the top ten would fall off a cliff so you might get a turn up there. But use that energy to write your own next bestsellers.

 

And keep your Street Team happy go lucky, and team friendly. There is no better reward to self-accomplishment than to score out of skill and hard work.

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