Social Networking: Does it Really Work?
By Guest | April 2, 2009 |
Kath here. Today’s post is courtesy of WU community member Lorna Suzuki. Lorna has explored the world of social networking in her quest to open up new avenues of promotion, and we invited her to share her perspectives to see if it’s worth the effort.
Visit Lorna’s website to learn more about Lorna’s books. Thank you, Lorna!
Every year thousands of new titles go on sale via bookstores and online, each vying for readership. And we all know how difficult it is for an author, especially a new one, to get the word out when it comes to promoting our work.
One cost-effective way is to create a website to showcase your latest title, display and even provide downloadable excerpts as well as post book reviews, but the real challenge is: How do you convince people who have no idea of who you are, never mind know of your spanking new book, to visit your website in the first place?
Social networking is one method, but while some sing the praises of social networking, others debate just how useful it really is.
I believe it comes down to what the author hopes to accomplish. If the sole purpose is to generate books sales, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. However, if the goal is to gain name recognition by introducing potential audiences to who you are and to reveal to the world the novel you’ve crafted, there are definite benefits to social networking, but there’s a trick to accomplishing this.
The key is to target your audience so you are not wasting your time and energy (and quite possibly your money, too) by just joining any networking site. The best ones are designed specifically to bring readers and authors together and even cater to a specific genre, whether it’s fantasy, sci-fi, historical romance, etc. And you want to consider sites with high traffic and growing membership.
One such site is https://www.authorsden.com/. It’s free to join and it’s a place for authors to showcase and sell their works as well as network with fellow authors and readers.
With over 1 million hits per month, I found that in the first month of joining this site, I’ve had over 400 unique visitors read over 1050 pages and the numbers continue to climb steadily. I consider this a major feat as I’m sure many of those stumbling onto my official website did so accidentally, probably while in search of their local Suzuki motorcycle or car dealership!
Even more have visited my website and authorsden page after Dave Tallman; published poet, accomplished sci-fi author and 2008 NaNoWriMo winner conducted an interview with me for his social networking site https://10quickquestions.ning.com/.
A tireless and passionate advocate of the promising author, Tallman went on to post this interview on a dozen other sites catering to readers and writers such as https://www.fictionwritersgroup.com/, https://reviewabook.ning.com/, https://coldcoffee.ning.com/, https://bookmarket.ning.com/ and more!
Taking full advantage of the social networking phenomenon, Tallman started 10quickquestions and fictionwritersgroup to introduce readers around the world to exciting, new authors. As a member of many other sites that provide him with a forum to post the interviews he conducts with fiction authors as well as comic and Sci-Fi Con promoters, his social networking connections are ever expanding. He estimates that he provides approximately 7,000 members at these sites (receiving 20,000+ hits per month) an opportunity to read his posts.
According to Tallman, authors he had interviewed experienced on average 20% greater traffic on their personal sites. He found that within a day of posting such interviews, a site typically experienced a surge in membership, even doubling or tripling in some cases. I experienced about a 70% spike on my official website within 48 hours of Tallman’s efforts.
The bottom line? Social networking can be a beneficial tool to introduce you and your book to the world, but care must be taken in selecting the right networking sites or you’ll likely become buried beneath the thousands of sites that have a limited audience. The best are those recommended by your fellow authors and avid fans of the literary arts. These sites should have an active, growing membership and strives to promote established authors and bring attention to promising, up and coming writers.
If anything, social networking not only allows you to introduce your work to the world, it allows you to interact with authors and readers, making you feel a part of a larger, writing community.
What social networking sites have worked for you? Are there any you’d recommend to your fellow writers?
Image by dirty-mirror.
Many thanks to today’s guest.
You can read more WU guest posts by visiting this link.
would you include Facebook as a site to get your name/stuff out there. several authors have jumped on the FB bandwagon recently and i do see the advantages of getting your name out there via that avenue. i also think writer unboxed is good this way as well. my only concerns, once published, is keeping up with all these social networks. it’s a lot of work.
I’ve been using Twitter with great success to promote my site and an independent film that I co-wrote. In the post she makes the point – it’s not always about direct sales of your book / product. I’m not selling lots of copies of the movie or the book I wrote but I am making good connections. For instance I’ve found lots of people on Twitter who run movie type blogs and are willing to review my film for free.
Seth Godin is the best example of how blogging and social networking can really work for the author. He’s an author and blogs daily and is quite active on a number of networks including Facebook. And ultimatly all the networking serves to keep people interacting with him and buying his books when they come out. He’s a master and a great example to look at for how to market yourself and your books.
Hi Thea! I agree it can be very difficult to keep up with all the various sites and I imagine for some, it can also be very addictive! I find I have to be vigilant in restricting how much time I devote to this to make sure I spend more time writing.
As for twittering, Ashley, this is something I’ve only heard about in the last few weeks! Maybe we’re behind in Canada when it comes to the latest craze or perhaps I’ve been too busy writing to notice this form of networking. I’ll have to pay closer attention.
Thanks!
You’re right, Thea, it’s a lot of work. I know some writer friends who are pretty overwhelmed with trying to keep up with everything–blog, twitter, facebook, myspace, goodreads and more. I think the key is to pick the social networks that are going to connect you most directly with your peers and your audience. My two cents!
Thanks for taking time out to post with us, Lorna!
Thanks Therese. I feel honored to be included in this esteemed writing community. Looking forward to your next post!
Lorna – I’m behind the times too, I’ve only been using Twitter for a month or so. I’ve really found that it packs the most punch for the time spent. There’s lots of WordPress Twitter plugins so automatically post your blog posts to Twitter or there’s twitterfeed.com which will post your feed via RSS. Even if that’s all you do it’ll add traffic to your site and won’t take any time at all (after the set up).
And the Twitter search feature is another great way to find like minded people. Most people will add you as a friend if you add them first so just find people tweeting about what ever niche you’re in.
It can be overwhelming, and I agree that it can be addictive (as is the entire internet). I’m not allowed to sign on until I’ve done at least a few hours of work, and then limit myself (with a timer).
Lorna, first let me just say thank you for including me in your article, I am humbled and flattered to know that I am making a difference.
I would have to agree with your assessment, social networking is a great way to increase your name recognition and bring your works to the forefront of people’s attention as long as you know where to go and which sites are of value.
There are literally hundreds of promotional sites out there, but some are nothing more than an ego booster for the host and or owners. So a bit of caution is in order when dealing with sites you don’t know. My suggestion is to check around, ask questions, trust your instincts, and mostly if something seems too good to be true, believe me it is.
Thanks and all my best, Dave T.
You could literally destroy your day going from Facebook to Twitter to blogs. Thanks, Lorna, for helping us decide which is more worthwhile!
Hi Kath, thanks again and just to let you know, on the day you posted this article, I received a huge spike in visits to my official website! Not only does it count unique visitors, it keeps track of what pages have been read and how long they visited.
My goal was to take my agent Jenoyne Adams’ advice and get my name out there so when the day comes I go mainstream, people will be familiar with my name. Thank you!
Many thanks for the pointers and guidance! I find this and similar articles very useful tool in my endeavours to promote my work. Thanks again to all.
As a published author and the creator of reivewabook.ning I first want to say thanks for the plug. Second I agree that as indie authors we have a gold mine if we just take the time to find it. We have something the traditional publishers are still trying to figure out. We have the network. Yes, it is alot of work. I have lost count of the sites I have built and maintain. However, it necesary in order to be read – MySpace is a great one, as well as the profile on Amazon. You can build a site there and post blogs, about anything. I use it to promote my new releases and re-releases with different covers. I publish through Lulu and it is great.
Another wonderful way to get exposure is to get on blog talk radio there are several shows who interview indie authors. The Odd Mind is one of those.
We as Indie authors have done something that is unheard of in the publishing world. We have banded together to not only promote ourselves but to promote each other. We not only promote each other we encourage and uplift each other to succeed. Only by allowing the other to succeed will we succeed. We pay it forward.
the reviewabook.ning site is open to one and all. It is more than just book reviews. It is groups, book covers, places to purchase books and so much more. We have almost 400 family members and yes we call it a family and almost 1000 book covers. So join us we are linked to other ning site and we all share a common bond- books and the love of writing as well as reading them-
So thank you for your plug and your interview was wonderful. Join Us
Yvonne Mason, Author
Silent Scream, A True Crime
Brilliant Insanity
Tangled Minds
Stan’s Story, A touch of Love
Dream Catcher, Failure was Never An Option
Thank you so much for the information. I am going to look into author’s den. I am trying to create my website and have put book reviews on it and some blogs. It is hard to get people to know that it is there. I have also put my books on fread.com which seems to be a great site for authors new and experienced too. Fran
Thank you for the insight. I have a blog and a new website coming out next month to promote my work. I use FB, Twitter and a variety of other networks. The author’s den sounds fab.
I came up with a great learning concept after years of self help study. I wrote a simple book about it with a publisher that encouraged me to market on myspace. My background is in construction and myspace has turned out to be a fun waste of time. I have many interesting friends but I know nothing about network marketing and I have spent so much unproductive time with no real real results. Dissapointed.