UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion
New Member introductions
>
Dos and don'ts of promoting on Goodreads groups
message 351:
by
✿Claire✿
(new)
May 20, 2016 06:56AM
I don't know of any way to just sell books on Goodreads but becoming part of a group and making friends with those in the group is a good way to gather interest in your books :)
reply
|
flag
Sorry, not through this thunder, James.
I have written several psychological novels that fit neatly into the suspense mystery thriller genres. My friends and family are not interested in fiction books of any variety and generally prefer me to sit in a dark corner and keep quiet: however my animals are attentive and appreciative when I read passages aloud to them. I wonder if any kind strangers are good with prctical actionable advice for a writer with a non existent marketing budget i.e ZERO. My work is disliked and mostly ignored by Amazon, but it is nibbled regularly on other digital platforms. You may visit my website http://smarturl.it/HAD-Novels for more information. I am looking for some UK writers in the same or similar genre to form a team
Honor wrote: "My friends and family are not interested in fiction books of any variety and generally prefer me to sit in a dark corner and keep quiet: ..."A prophet is never a prophet in his home land.
You'd think all those people would like to know what you've been using your time for all these years, but it doesn't seem to work that way. I do, occasionally, have a note from a relative or friend to say they liked my debut novel, but that's as far as it goes.
Once I'm famous, I'm sure they will remember being far more supportive - but within our own groups it's preferred we not get above our station. Odd, because I have a niece who is doing very well as a fashion designer, and everyone is very supportive of her.
Writing is suspect - maybe they worry we'll put them in our novels in a way they won't be able to complain about but everyone will still know it's them. Fashion designers don't do that.
Sorry - I don't write in your genre. I write mainstream contemporary literary fiction, so I have nothing to offer on marketing (plus I'm highly unknown). You should have no trouble finding plenty of thriller, etc., writers here - wishing you very good luck in finding a supportive group.
S'funny how one's nearest and dearest react to having a writer in their midst.My lot have been surprisingly supportive.
Beat of all is the love of my life.
He really doesn't want to read any of my books, but his pride in me shines out of his eyes.
Gods, I love that man
That's great Jane. It was through my other half's encouragement and with his help that I went in for, and completed, my Nurse training.
Jane wrote: "S'funny how one's nearest and dearest react to having a writer in their midst.My lot have been surprisingly supportive.
Beat of all is the love of my life.
He really doesn't want to read any o..."
Jane, that is lovely and that support is so important. I work full-time, often for long hours and travel quite a bit for work. The majority of the spare time I have is spent writing and on all the related activities.
My husband sounds so like yours. He carries my business cards (with pen name and book details) with him all the time and hands them out to everyone. (Bit embarrassing sometimes!)
The only thing that drives me crazy is that he has ideas for books all the time, throws the idea out there and then seems to expect me to scuttle off and write it for him 'cos he can't be assed. Er no, doesn't work that way. He'll have to do that himself!
I have been giggling at the first 2 responses, and I must say I know my friends are afraid of talking about books and literature in general! I started writing about 9 years ago and I have completed 21 novels, I am neither pushy nor belligerent sometimes I wish I could go against my natural inclinations. I have supported others but there have many bodies crushed by their efforts! I live in a remote area of Lincolnshire plenty of wildlife few humans to disturb me, so I am able to be prolific. I am grateful knowing I am not unique with these experiences, NB Husbands and Partners are excluded from the equation, never look inward. My partner is a cruel person who strips out words, criticises grammar and wordliness then gets a scalpel to the storyline! So no softness or feather cushions to ease the frustrations. I have looked at GR for 3 years, but it's a mystery to me as social media is for me in general. TYSM for showing there are some real people in this virtual world. #LLAP
You'll discover lots of very real and very lovely people in our group, Honor.I'm very pleased you've joined us.
I can not wait! I have seen too much obnoxious behaviour on FB and on other social media sites. I am a fair minded person who believes in balance and moderation, courtesy, reinforced by honesty, how you apply them is difficult to explain especially to those who get offended by the slightest criticism. I enjoy using many elements of behavioural science in my novels. Reality(Not the fantasy TV version) is often underated or even berated by those that are glued to a virtual existence. I am not a frequent flyer on #GR I live in an area of low speed internet and poor mobile(cellphone) reception I jump when it suits my writing and my tennis , I play and spectate. #LLAP #ALLIAEG
Honor wrote: "I have been giggling at the first 2 responses, and I must say I know my friends are afraid of talking about books and literature in general! I started writing about 9 years ago and I have completed..."My husband doesn't read much fiction, including my book - which is dedicated to him because I could not have written that if I'd been holding up my fair share of the sky.
I have friends whose husbands read and critique their work, and friends whose husbands are writers themselves.
Is your husband's 'cruel critique' helpful?
Alicia wrote: "Honor wrote: "I have been giggling at the first 2 responses, and I must say I know my friends are afraid of talking about books and literature in general! I started writing about 9 years ago and I ..."You may have noted I did not complain, he just puts pittmans shorthand remarks and strange editors symbols, even on electronic scripts. However he does complain about newsreaders and interviewers using too many adverbs and adjectives combined with an overuse of very very very! Then minutely little! Then the everyday person is influenced negatively and then complains about the absence of "normal" English in books. So I admire his abilities, he speaks 10 other languages and has fun pinpointing the places where people originate (UK regions) So "cruelty" has a humourous face. Fortunately he's not pedantic with our friends or family. We have extensive discussions and lively banter not just about books. We survive our differences! The spice that makes life.
Andrew wrote: "I propose the following standard template for all book promotion:"I've written a tolerable book that my friends like, but I have no marketing budget. It is called [yourtitlehere]. You can buy it ..."
I liked this! Mmm, I hope my friends think my book is tolerable.
I don't know what I'd do if my friends didn't like my writing - I suspect they make up about 80% of my readership! :)
Andrew wrote: "I don't know what I'd do if my friends didn't like my writing - I suspect they make up about 80% of my readership! :)"Hi Andrew. I saved your template. Is it okay to use it for some tongue in cheek responses in the future? It makes me smile and sounds very British.
My friends TELL ME they like what I write, but I wonder if they're just being nice. What types of stories do you write?
Dawn wrote: "Hi Andrew. I saved your template. Is it okay to use it for some tongue in cheek responses in the future? It makes me smile and sounds very British. My friends TELL ME they like what I write, but I wonder if they're just being nice. What types of stories do you write?"
Hi Dawn - yes, absolutely feel free to use it, I'm glad people like it!
For my own writing, I cross quite a few genres, but most of my stories are somewhere between magical realism, fantasy, and mild horror. They're usually fairly funny, but often quite strange in their outlook.
I'm pretty sure my friends would tell me if they didn't like my stuff - they're mostly pretty blunt about that sort of thing!
Andrew wrote: "Dawn wrote: "Hi Andrew. I saved your template. Is it okay to use it for some tongue in cheek responses in the future? It makes me smile and sounds very British. My friends TELL ME they like what ..."
Hi Andrew, I took a look at your stories. I'm going to purchase the ten story book. Great premise and the stories have very entertaining titles. I'll chat with you about them when I'm done.
Honor wrote: "I can not wait! I have seen too much obnoxious behaviour on FB and on other social media sites. I am a fair minded person who believes in balance and moderation, courtesy, reinforced by honesty, ho..."Ah, another tennis player. Nice to know someone else enjoys being frustrated by both writing and tennis!
Dawn wrote: "Andrew wrote: "Dawn wrote: "Hi Andrew. I saved your template. Is it okay to use it for some tongue in cheek responses in the future? It makes me smile and sounds very British. My friends TELL ME ..."
Gosh, thank you! I hope you enjoy them, and I look forward to chatting soon!
Andrew wrote: "Dawn wrote: "Andrew wrote: "Dawn wrote: "Hi Andrew. I saved your template. Is it okay to use it for some tongue in cheek responses in the future? It makes me smile and sounds very British. My fri..."
I'm going on vacation (ah, holiday) at the start of August. I'll get a chance to read them at that time. I'm looking forward to them:)
Fusty wrote: "My scout campaign has finished. I will receive an email from Amazon within ten days. I’m braced for rejection but the wait is unpleasant and akin to removing a sticking plaster – do it quickly. Thu..."
I only heard about Kindle Scout yesterday. I'm still thinking about it. Good luck with yours.
Hey Everyone!I love this thread! I think that I've probably made a lot of these mistakes in the past. I'm new to marketing and have no real idea except following the "gurus" who tell us to do all the things you listed above NOT to do. So, I'm going to listen to YOU.
The last thing that I want to ever do is turn you all away!
So...here is my funny line:
"I'm unable to afford a marketing expert so I'm offering myself as a walking billboard."
Ask me anything you like---I love questions from readers!
Thank you for having me in your group. I'm going to hang around and follow some of your threads!
Beth Green
The Green Author
I've seen a lot of threads where author's are just posting up a generic 'Buy-me' post about their book.When I see this I get very annoyed! These threads are for proper discussions, really could do without all the spam.....
Sorry for the rant, but you can see some people just posting over the whole site and not engaging in the discussions at all...
GRRRRRR......
We delete those posts in our group, Jonathan.I really can't understand why any author would post spam like that. It doesn't sell books and alienates potential readers.
I've deleted a couple today... they seem to come in a flurry
They do, don't they? We don't get nearly as many as we used to, though. I think people are learning it's not worth the effort.
Patti (baconater) wrote: "They do, don't they? We don't get nearly as many as we used to, though. I think people are learning it's not worth the effort."Given the number of derogatory comments about it, you'd have to be very thick skinned or just never bother actually reading forums, to keep doing it
Jim wrote: "Patti (baconater) wrote: "They do, don't they? We don't get nearly as many as we used to, though. I think people are learning it's not worth the effort."Given the number of derogatory comments ab..."
Thick-skinned or thick-skulled?
Patti (baconater) wrote: "We delete those posts in our group, Jonathan.I really can't understand why any author would post spam like that. It doesn't sell books and alienates potential readers."
MOST importantly, it annoys the moderators - and you NEVER want to annoy a moderator. They have a tough enough job as it is.
I dunno. I quite like annoying Patti...(ok, I know that's a different situation)
I think the mentality is the same as the one I've seen on most of the FB "writer" groups I joined - these groups are just drop-link sites. Probably no one reads anyone's post so it seems completely futile.
Yeah, I've looked at a couple of book pages on Facebook and quickly decided they were a waste of time.There must be at least a couple of worthwhile ones but I've not found them.
Patti (baconater) wrote: "Yeah, I've looked at a couple of book pages on Facebook and quickly decided they were a waste of time.There must be at least a couple of worthwhile ones but I've not found them."
Hmmm. Maybe it's time for a "no one wants to read your stupid book(s)" forum...
It'd still get spammed, David.
I'm an admin on a FB group. We have one authors' offers thread, renewed weekly, where people can promote. We welcome reviews and I do a twice weekly Know Your Author feature so people are promoted and supported by the group. We rarely get spammed but with eight admins, they don't last long. Good balance of writers, readers and bloggers, too. It's genre specific, though, not general like this place.
What's the genre, Kath? You're welcome to give us a link. It sounds really good. Some of us might be interested.
UK Crime Book Club. It covers psychological thrillers and police procedurals too. As I don't write those I'm neutral :) All by British writers and set in the UK. Most of the admins are enthusiastic readers and bloggers. It's a closed group so you have to ask to join. That helps to prevent fly-by spamming too.
I like those!I'm gonna ask to join. I'll behave. Promise. ;)
Hi Kath I like that genre! Could you recommend something good, please!
Join the Facebook group Jagriti. There's loads of great books in there.
Patti (baconater) wrote: "Yeah, I've looked at a couple of book pages on Facebook and quickly decided they were a waste of time.There must be at least a couple of worthwhile ones but I've not found them."
I suspect that's the triumph of hope over experience. I don't think there are any worthwhile ones. Basically if there were they'd have been spammed to hell by authors anyway :-(
Kath wrote: "It's a closed group so you have to ask to join. That helps to prevent fly-by spamming too. .."
that's probably the only way you can do it to be honest
From our authors here, you can get the first of a trilogy by Andrew Barrett - A Long Time Dead as a permanently free book. David Staniforth has a couple of psychological thrillers -Imoerfect Strangers and Void. Silver by Mark Fowler is free at the moment. Anything by Maggue James...
Patti (baconater) wrote: "I like those!I'm gonna ask to join. I'll behave. Promise. ;)"
You can dip out at any time if you find it's not for you.
I'm loving the updates on my newsfeed so far. And so nice to see Mel Comley in there!Andy and David are great.
Looking forward to trying some new authors, too.
I'm like a kid in a candy store. :)
You know, it's worth opening a thread to let people know, I reckon.
Please do so, if you agree.
Okay - might tomorrow - I've been out and I'm playing catchup! Our Kelly is a member too.
Patti (baconater) wrote: "I like those!I'm gonna ask to join. I'll behave. Promise. ;)"
Can you?????? Maybe I will have to revise my impression of you Patti!! ;-)
I'm not a particular fan of Crime - but two of my Sisters are - I'd welcome some suggestions from the better ones Kath.
See my post no. 404 above, Flo - or my blog. I read a lot of these.
UK Amazon Kindle Forum
Books mentioned in this topic
Raised by Hand, Lifted by the Tides: A Southern Child's Memoir (other topics)The Silver Eggheads (other topics)
