Secrets of Indie Success

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Oh, I see what you mean.

I saw someone the other day actually embed the "look inside this book" feature on their site, so the reader could flip-flip-flip-read the Amazon sample right there, without leaving the page. I thought you meant that.

I'd like to know how to do that -- it was cool looking.

Yeah but if they do it on Amazon instead it's there for them to buy when they click on the X. Unless they're foreign anyway, I haven't worked that bit out yet.

[davidwfleming]

My posts on here are somewhat random, so I apologize for constantly stearing in different directions. I've been noticing some tactics that seem to work on Goodreads.

1. working the SEO aspects of "tagging" for pictures and blog posts
2. posting on the walls of newly added friends a brief message of appreciation.
3. sending "marketing messages" to other indie authors. (I just received one of these). The person began by talking all about me and my writing and that she'd became a fan of mine and ended with links to her book and a request that I add her as a fan. I didn't find it intrusive and perhaps this is what is meant by "author networking".

In regard to Twitter, I'm beginning to see that fellow author tweeps are the foundation of most indie author twitter platforms.

It also helps on Twitter to use JustUnfollow (google it) to remove people from your profile who haven't followed back. A Twitter stream with too many non-reciprical tweeps becomes too cluttered and I think potential collaborators understand this and scrutinze follow to follower ratios accordingly.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by davidwfleming

It also helps on Twitter to use JustUnfollow (google it) to remove people from your profile who haven't followed back. A Twitter stream with too many non-reciprical tweeps becomes too cluttered and I think potential collaborators understand this and scrutinze follow to follower ratios accordingly.

I disagree... I follow lots of people who I never expect would even know I exist. NASA, Tyndale House, Nelson, and so on. Also, I do not see how that impacts "potential collaborators" at all?

[davidwfleming]

My thinking on the impact of potential collaborators is this: if you follow 1000 people and 100 of those you follow actually follow you back, then most of your twitter stream will be full of people who never read your tweets. It's hard to collaborate with people who never read your tweets.

Lists can be used to keep tabs on celebrities.

[kennyc]

I think an author's time is better spent writing than tweeting.

yeah you can quote me.....

[davidwfleming]

Twitter can be a very frustrating experience to many serious writers for just this reason. It feels like a waste of time and it may be for many and in many cases.

It has not been proven to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that my time spent on Twitter is value-added toward my goals.

One of the things I like about Twitter is that it's a good way to reach and connect to virtually everybody and, beyond a few generous regulations, there aren't many limitations placed upon a Twitter user.

I write my tweets in my down-time in a designated notebook.

[davidwfleming]

BTW here's some of the best advice I've read on Twitter yet:
http://www.molly-greene.com/how-to-succeed-on-twitter/

Thanks to Molly Greene!

[gmw]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I think an author's time is better spent writing than tweeting.

yeah you can quote me.....

I thought I would. I find it really hard to imagine participating all that much on social media with respect to my writing - it's all so distracting. I already spend way too much time on MR - I stopped posting here much for several months simply because my writing was going well and I wanted to avoid the distraction. (The fact that I am participating more now (and really just on this part of the forum) relates to the fact that my writing has reached a difficult point and I'm having trouble going forward, so I'm finding it easier than usual to get distracted.) If I start adding Facebook, Twitter, a blog and all these other things, just how would I have time to write?

I'm wondering if it is one of the chicken-and-egg problems: If your books sell and make enough money to let you write full time, then perhaps there is some spare time to spend being social. But until then you need to work at a paid job, so writing time is limited and leaves little time for social sites and other marketing. But the books will never start selling enough until they are marketed ... (etc. etc. etc.).

[VydorScope]

I enjoy twitter... as a twitter user. I get news through it, keep in touch with people, reach out to companies...etc.

As a marketing tool? Not so much. But I suck at marketing so I am a bad person to ask if twitter is good for that.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by gmw

I'm wondering if it is one of the chicken-and-egg problems: If your books sell and make enough money to let you write full time, then perhaps there is some spare time to spend being social. But until then you need to work at a paid job, so writing time is limited and leaves little time for social sites and other marketing. But the books will never start selling enough until they are marketed ... (etc. etc. etc.).

Social media seems to be the best advertising tool available to independent authors right now: You can build a fan base, and if you get lucky, a major media outlet will notice you and give you some mass exposure (a NYT article, appearance on a talk show, etc).

So spending time using SM is valuable. The key does seem to be choosing the right SM to use, and to spend your effort wisely. I don't twitter, but I use a blog, facebook, and an occasional online newsletter, plus making myself visible on sites like this. Consciously meter out your time, and it can be manageable (though some would say saturating the market with yourself is what's required to get those sales numbers you want).

[mr ploppy]

I think those sort of sites are useful to make you look approachable, but I doubt they're any use as a promotional vehicle. Only people who are already aware of you will see anything you put on them. I use them the same way any "normal" person would, for my own amusement.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I think those sort of sites are useful to make you look approachable, but I doubt they're any use as a promotional vehicle. Only people who are already aware of you will see anything you put on them. I use them the same way any "normal" person would, for my own amusement.

Yeah, I tend to agree. I know to look for AT&T page on FB/Twitter because I know who AT&T is. I would not know to look for Billy Joe McGuffey's page who just wrote a book I will love if I ever read it because I dunno who he is.

How ever I have several blogs, and people do find them through Google/etc because I write on topics people happen to be looking for. I just got a deal with someone biggish to write blogs for and link back to my site, so I expect that to help my traffic too.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I think those sort of sites are useful to make you look approachable, but I doubt they're any use as a promotional vehicle. Only people who are already aware of you will see anything you put on them. I use them the same way any "normal" person would, for my own amusement.

Don't forget: The point to blogs, Facebook, YouTube, etc, is for those who do know about them to share with others who don't... that's how they're designed. When news sites quote something from, say, Amanda Hocking's blog, more people check it out from the news site, and share it with their friends. That's how the fanbase grows.

It's the Digital Media model of promotion, and it is quickly replacing the old "paid ads" promotional method. The key is posting something people will share; the hope is for that posting to "go viral," and be shared with a lot of people, either directly or through notice from a more popular site. The theory is that some of those people, once convinced that you're a good guy, will buy your books... and, of course, tell others about them.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Don't forget: The point to blogs, Facebook, YouTube, etc, is for those who do know about them to share with others who don't... that's how they're designed. When news sites quote something from, say, Amanda Hocking's blog, more people check it out from the news site, and share it with their friends. That's how the fanbase grows.

It's the Digital Media model of promotion, and it is quickly replacing the old "paid ads" promotional method. The key is posting something people will share; the hope is for that posting to "go viral," and be shared with a lot of people, either directly or through notice from a more popular site. The theory is that some of those people, once convinced that you're a good guy, will buy your books... and, of course, tell others about them.

I believe this model works for blogs much better then FB and Twitter.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

I believe this model works for blogs much better then FB and Twitter.

True, but FB and Twitter can drive more people to the blogs. The point is, you should be using all the media you can or want to, and create connections between all of them that eventually lead to your books.