Is anyone else intimidated by social media?

[Megan]

http://www.megancyrulewski.com/1/post...

[H.M.]

Megan, I am definitely one person who is intimidated by social media. You talk about being 35 years old ........ well multiple that by two and you have my age ........... so you can see where I am coming from. I am presently trying to learn how to use Facebook on which I have 60 friends, all of whom I know in person. I have not at this point gottten near Twitter. I am trying to use Goodreads but I don't know how to make connections here either. Perhaps someone can help me out. I have one friend whom I know in person but how does one go from there? How does one promote their book? How does one acquire a following? I did a giveaway - gave away 4 books- got 2 ratings and 1 review with over 800 entered in the giveaway and that was the end of that. Help!!!

[Robert]

H.M. I can emphasize. I am 64 but learning as fast as I can. Your experience with giveaways on GR sounds like success to one who has given away 4 books and gotten zero response so far. Furthermore, I got at least 800 who put it on their "to-read" shelf, yet I know from tracking sales that at least 799 of these have not bothered to buy it! The inescapable conclusion is that "to-read" does not equate "to-buy". Jikes!
I have a theory that social media must be looked at in the big picture, not the minute: for example:
How many of our peers come into these forums announcing that they have written books, and try to sell said books to us, authors all? Wrong pew, I would argue, when the audience is already book-weary, book-saturated and all booked up.
Personally the last thing I want is to know about is another book, nor do I have the time or money to entertain getting it.
Re: selling our books to OTHERS, which is the real reason these forums exist, I think we all have to be doggedly persistent and try many avenues, not just the easiest path that is closest to hand.
I have moved my giveaway campaign to LibraryThing for the present, I'll let you know if that works any better!

[Justin]

What's age got to do with it? I'm 26 and at time social media scares me silly! It's all about timing, quality and perception. If any of those things aren't quite right, it makes social media sites like facebook and Twitter quite intimidating.

[Rory]

Wow! All that is said is true. The whole book publishing industry has been tipped on its head these past few years. I think it is an exciting time for new authors but it is also a huge challenge. And, yes sometimes you can work and work and get nothing. Fortunately with my give-away I did get two very nice reviews and I think I went into it prepared for nothing and hoping for something. I was happy :-) Sooo I don't know what we can do but just keep our noses to the ground and keep snifing out any opportunity. Some will pan-out, but many won't. Generally I have liked the goodreads experience.

[Kim]

I wasn't so much "intimidated" by social media -- I've been a computer industry professional for my entire adult life, ever since computers were booted by flipping a sequence of toggle switches, so this stuff isn't exactly rocket science for me -- as I was disgusted by it because of the mind-boggling selfishness of a family member several years ago, who basically used social media to rip a huge hole in our hearts. But back in 2010 I realized the usefulness of Facebook for keeping track of my kids & friends, and in April of this year I finally made the decision to use it for promotional purposes (https://www.facebook.com/KimIversonHeadlee). And I started a blog. And I got on LinkedIn and Google+. And I started uploading book trailers and other content to my YouTube channel. And I joined Pinterest. But I had resisted TwitR... until yesterday. Now I'm there too.

I guess you could subtitle this experience, "Dr. Strangemedia, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the #".
:D

[Faye]

This is not quite in line with what you're asking, but I wondered if anyone has experience with press release distribution through www.prnewschannel.com? The services they offer look good... I just wondered if anyone has actually made sales by hiring them?

[Sorcha]

I havent written a book, but I review a lot and am still disheartened by the seeming lack of page hits (I average about 10 a day at the moment, but am working in 2014 to make that happen better).

Something I'm trying to do to help smaller writers out is when writing a review and then tweeting about it, remember to either include a link to their website, a link to how to buy a copy of the book and/or their twitter address (so they know they have a review they can make use of). It does help me help you if I can point readers in your direction!

Now as to getting books to people.....as a reviewer I have LOADS of books to review for people and I get them from various sources - Netgalley, Librarything ERs, the publishers (via twitter and some even email me direct going "will you review this book please?"). I've also had authors contact me direct.

So search sites like Twitter, Google+, Facebook etc for words like #book #review and see who is already producing reviews. See if they have their own blog sites, READ THEIR REVIEW POLICY and see if they can help you out.

Look for those willing to host giveaways and interviews

People are, by nature, rather lazy. They're not going to spend too much time looking for places to buy your book. Make people know where they can buy it - at the end of the day you'd like to make some income, right? So is it through Amazon, your own website, through a publisher, or an indie book shop? Make sure people know where to get hold of it! (and please note, Amazon sites are country specific, so UK residents cant download ebooks from the US f'instance so if you plan to market international, make sure people can get hold of the book!). So make sure it's on your twitter bio, your goodreads bio, you have a FB page for you or your books, links are included in any and all signature lines that goes out for each and every email you send etc.

Dont rely on one website only to be the only channel to get your books out there - make use of as many channels as possible. One of the benefits of the big publishing companies is that they will promote your book for you in the relevant channels - if you're not signed up to one, you have to do this work for yourself I'm afraid.

My review website is http://nordie.wordpress.com and my twitter id is @brumnordie

[Robert]

Lots of good tips from Sorcha….I might add that for the Amazon pages in other countries, you can sometimes, with a little detective work, figure out how to add biography, non-hot links, and even editorial reviews. Not all foreign Amazon sites have the equivalent of "Author Central" but some do.

Re giving books away, I have just done this on LibraryThing. Through wild ambition (or temporary insanity) I offered books worldwide and now some man in India is the proud owner of my book. Oddly, there were 4 or 5 from Canada and 4 or 5 from the UK, so that may show where the concentration of the LibraryThing population is.

I also gave away a few on BookLikes. This minor entry in the field started in Poland but has gained a following in the US. What I like about this site is that YOU get to pick the winners. I liked that.