Please don’t be THIS guy…

Part of being an author is selling books. Oooh boy, do I get that. See, I’m an author too, and nothing makes my little author heart sing than seeing the steady climb of sales on my Amazon account. So I understand. It’s hard to get your book baby noticed amongst the millions of other books available online and in the bookstore.

But please authors; please don’t be this guy:

You may not think you’re being this guy when you send everyone in your address book a plea once a month to buy your book. But you are.

You may not think you’re being this guy when you message other authors you don’t know on social media and ask them to buy your book AND help promote it. But you are.

You may not think you’re being this guy when you ask me (someone you’ve never met or even said hello to online) to read and leave a 5 star review of your book. But you are.

You may not think you’re being this guy when you send me unsolicited e-mails asking the same, or adding me to your newsletter list without permission, or filling your own social media pages with BUY MY FREAKING BOOK messages. But you are.

And here’s what’ll happen in my particular case when you are being that guy. I can’t speak for others, because some might just say ‘Meh, whatever’ and maybe if they’ve got a spare couple of bucks, buy your damn book. But as for me? I will never, NEVER buy your book. Not even if it sounds like the most awesome, page-turning, rip-roaring, book ever described (and FYI, that guy never seems to write a book like that, because authors that do tend to know their ass from their elbow when it comes to marketing it). I will not buy it, I will not review it, and I sure as hell won’t help you promote it. Not even if you say please. And if any one of my many social media friends or real life friends by some miracle stumble onto your book and ask for my opinion? I’ll tell them that you’re a pain-in-the-ass spammer, read at your own risk.

On the flipside. If you bother to genuinely interact with me on social media – comment on my posts, say hi, be friendly, be AUTHENTIC—and if you’ve written a book that interests me (key word here peeps, I only read books I’m genuinely interested in, no matter how great online buddies we are – and I expect the same in return from my online buddies) then I will buy your book, I will review it, and I will pimp the hell out of it for you. Heck, even if your book isn’t my cuppa tea and I think you’re a pretty cool person, I’ll still tell people about it as it’s bound to appeal to many other readers (but please don’t bug me to read/review it as that’s just, ya know, awkward, and I really don’t wanna hurt your feelings).

End of mini rant. Now go and write more great books and learn from others more experienced than me about the proper way to market them without pissing people off.

I’d love to hear your worst spamming stories – both readers and authors. Readers, what marketing effort from authors really turn you off? Authors, any advice to ‘that guy’ to help him/her not keep repeating the same old spamming methods?

Tracey