Ask Annie: The Line Between Self-Promotion and Spam
By Annie Neugebauer | July 11, 2015 |
Today I’m only tackling one question, because it’s slightly involved and also because I feel it’s an incredibly important topic for writers on Twitter. The submitter has asked to be kept anonymous, so some of the details of the writer’s specific situation have been changed or omitted to maintain privacy. Anonymous writes:
Hello Annie,
Thanks so much for the informative blogs on Twitter. Do you have an example of a line not to cross in self-promotion?
My publisher stipulated up front that they expect their writers to help with marketing, etc. No surprise there, but it’s a big job. I’m feeling a bit desperate in a way. I’ve been reaching out on social media, but I got my hand slapped the other day by a blogger/writer I’d made contact with on Twitter.
Here’s what I had sent her: [Includes a promotional image with a book review quote.] “Look what my publisher sent me today! Almost a month away!”
She said: “Please don’t spam people about your book. It results in exactly the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve.”
To be fair, I have sent her other stuff from time to time re: this novel, but I always try to make it at least interesting – with a catchy quote from a review or saying where it’s available… I hadn’t sent anything to her within the past 2 or 3 weeks…
The gaffe included the @ addresses of 3 others in the industry along with hers. Wanh – wanh. I’m so embarrassed to be called out.
I have gotten it right with some relationships, but you can’t really have a ‘relationship’ with as many people as NEED TO KNOW about my book. (Reviewers, bloggers, bookstores, distributors, libraries, etc.) So…?
Can you tell me what’s wrong with this picture?
[pullquote]Do: Tweet your news occasionally from your own profile into the general timeline.
Don’t: Tweet your news at people by tagging them.[/pullquote]First of all, Anon, let me say that I feel for you. I really, really do. Pressure and isolation and desperation: What writer hasn’t struggled with these things? It’s a crowded marketplace out there, and how is one lone writer supposed to market themselves amid the din? Not to mention that each social media platform has its own set of standards, cultural expectations, and nuances. It’s tricky to master any one of them, much less keep up with them all. We all make faux-pas sometimes.
Unfortunately, I’m afraid that’s what you’ve done here. I do think that your attempts at self-promotion have crossed that invisible, subjective line into spam. But almost equally important: the woman who “called you out” on it has committed a faux-pas of her own. In my opinion, she was extremely rude. If your tweeting bothered her she had every right to unfollow you or even, if need be, block you – but to publicly call you out and embarrass you is unnecessary and, frankly, inexcusable. She has nothing to gain from shaming you. I’m so sorry that happened.
Now let’s move on to more productive things, namely: where this line is and how to avoid crossing it in the future.
The most important thing to remember about Twitter is that it’s social media. Emphasis on social. Want an easy trick to decide if a behavior is acceptable or spammy? Pretend that Twitter is a large party. Seriously. If everyone in your timeline were in one large ballroom socializing, that’s Twitter.
So you’re at this party. Sometimes you talk; sometimes you listen. Sometimes you start a conversation amidst a crowd and see who will scoot closer to join in. Other times you wait, wandering from cluster to cluster until you find an existing conversation that you’d like to join. Not everyone in the ballroom will hear everything you have to say; not all of them will even want to. That’s impossible, so go ahead and adjust your expectations accordingly.
At this party, you might want to tell people about your book. Why not, right? Let’s get the word out and see who’s interested. How would you go about that?
You would not climb onto a table at the end of the room and scream the news over and over. You also wouldn’t walk around, tapping people on the shoulder one at a time, and tell each one of them immediately and without preamble that you have a book out. Those would all be rude, right? Well, Twitter’s the same way. Don’t constantly shout the same thing and stomp your feet when people don’t do anything with it. And don’t tweet at people.
How would you handle this at a party? One person at a time, as the conversation naturally allows for it, if and when the person shows interest. You wouldn’t walk up to someone and say, “Hi! My name is Annie and I have a book published. Would you like to buy it?” But if you’re chatting and they ask what you do, then you could tell them about the book and gauge their interest as you go. If they aren’t expressing interest, you certainly wouldn’t keep bringing it up in future conversations, would you? This is all the same on Twitter.
To break our analogy down to a slightly more practical form, let’s look at some specific dos and don’ts.
Do: Tweet your news occasionally from your own profile into the general timeline.
Don’t: Tweet your news at people by tagging them.
Do: Strike up interesting conversations and make friendly connections who might become interested enough to check out your Twitter profile (which leads to your book info, of course!). Think of your profile as your business card – which you “hand out” by talking to people who can then look at it – and your author website as your booth in the selling room – which means interested people come to you, not the other way around.
Don’t: Direct message or even @ message new followers with a book promo tweet.
Do: Share good news and review quotes from your book on your own timeline.
Don’t: Share them constantly and in the exact same form each time.
Do: Make your book easy to find by placing the pertinent information in your Twitter profile, main author website, and possibly a “pinned” tweet at the top of your timeline.
Don’t: Beg people to buy your book, directly ask people to read your book, or “share” book information directly with people who haven’t shown any interest in it.
Do you see what I’m getting at, Anon? Your original tweet was spam because it was directly addressed to people who hadn’t asked about your book or expressed interest in learning more. If you were to tweet the same promotional image/quote from your own timeline with no one’s @ handle tagged, it wouldn’t have crossed that line because anyone who wasn’t interested could easily ignore it and scroll right past it – no offense taken.
I think the root issue here is in your very understandable and honest desire to get the word out to all of the people who “NEED TO KNOW” about your book. The problem is that, I’m sorry to say, no one needs to know about it. Do you want them to? Yes, of course. Would they be interested if they knew? Maybe some. Does that mean you should tell each of them personally and directly? I’m sorry, but no. That’s simply not how social media is done. If you want direct contact, you’ll need direct, paid advertising, and even that doesn’t have a high return rate.
Remember, no one on Twitter owes you anything. You have every right to tweet how you want, but the better you tweet the better your results will be. Spammy tweets are actually counter-productive. Try to hold onto this “If I were at a party…” perspective and you’ll be on the right track.
And don’t let this negative experience scare you away from Twitter. If you tweet well and kindly, there are plenty of people out there interested in chatting, and that’s how connections are built. I wish you the very best of luck, Anon.
Do you have a question about Twitter that you’d like answered here on Writer Unboxed? You can leave your question in the comments below, fill out this quick, easy online form – there’s an anonymous option if you’re shy – or simply tweet your question with the hashtag #AskAnnieWU. (You can send them to me directly @AnnieNeugebauer as well.) I look forward to getting more of your questions!
What do you say, writers? The line is subjective: when do you think self-promotion becomes Spam? Follow-up questions, additions, and thoughts are welcome below!
[coffee]
Annie Neugebauer is a two-time Bram Stoker Award-nominated author with work appearing and forthcoming in more than a hundred publications, including magazines such as Cemetery Dance, Apex, and Black Static, as well as anthologies such as Year’s Best Hardcore Horror Volumes 3 & 4 and #1 Amazon bestsellers Killing It Softly & Fire. She’s a member of the Horror Writers Association and a columnist for Writer Unboxed and LitReactor. She’s represented by Alec Shane of Writers House. She lives in Texas with two crazy cute cats and a husband who’s exceptionally well-prepared for the zombie apocalypse. You can visit her at www.AnnieNeugebauer.com for news, poems, organizational tools for writers, and more.
Hello Annie. Thanks for your analysis of what’s kosher and what isn’t in Twitterland. I think you are probably right in the way you distinguish spam from the legitimate use of social media for the author’s purposes.
But I would like to unpack your party analogy a little more. When I go to a party, and someone starts spouting political or other hokum at me–an equivalent of being shouted at on social media about a book–I shut the person down, politely but directly. I don’t sneak away (unfollowing, blocking). I tell them I’m not interested. Personally, and only when it’s called for, I’m in favor of public shaming. In this instance, it worked well: the person who contacted you never would have, had she not gotten the message loud and clear. It occasioned the discussion we’re having.
But the whole business of turning social media into just that–business–is where the problem lies. As you say, no one “needs” to know about our books, only the writer needs this. The key is to actually pay attention to others as persons, not as potential marks to be pitched/exploited. It’s a little like being in a forest, either as a visitor or a logger. The visitor pays attention in an entirely different way; the logger sees only trees worth money. If the writer tweets funny, or interesting or useful, others will want to know more about who’s doing it. In my view, that’s how Twitter should work for authors. If they can’t be any of those things–funny, interesting or useful–better to leave Twitter alone.
Hi Barry! Thanks for your comment. I know what you mean, but I have to disagree to some extent. When someone is talking like that at a party, I don’t tell them to stop. I leave, turn away, join in a better, more interesting conversation nearby, etc. The only time I would actually engage them or confront them is if they were harassing me. So maybe it’s simply a difference in social norms, but I don’t feel the need to “call someone out” on behavior I don’t like. I just distance myself from it and they get the picture. I think Twitter is much the same way: Non-response or unfollowing is usually plenty of sign that their tactics aren’t working. If they persist the point of nuisance, I block. The only time I would ever call someone out is if they were harassing me in a very active, pointed way. I think the vast majority of Twitter mis-users are well-intentioned, and I always choose kindness and the benefit of the doubt first. But again, this could just be a difference in where people draw social lines.
I think your analogy to loggers versus hikers is a great one. And I totally agree that writers should offer Twitter followers something of substance. Contrary to desired beliefs, “my great book they haven’t read yet” doesn’t really count. (Would that it did!) So yes, less logging and more… what? Tour guiding, maybe. :)
Great post, with clear examples of Dos and Don’ts. I hope Anon isn’t beating her/himself up too much. Clearly the faux pas was one of ignorance. Like any skill, social media comes with a learning curve.
Thank you so much, Maria! I hope so too; I told them as much privately as well. That’s what this column is for, after all!
Annie, there’s a debate out there about how long a tweet actually lives before it gets buried in the scroll and is unseen forever. I’ve heard a tweet lives for 90 seconds and that’s it. Do you have any accurate info on how long a tweet lives?
Hey Paula! I’ve added this question to my list. Hopefully I can get to it in a future column; Thanks!
Great guidelines, Annie. Thanks!
Dee Willson
Author of A Keeper’s Truth and GOT
Oh, it’s my pleasure. Thanks for stopping by!
Great advice, succinctly put. But the gem is the party analogy. Of course, many writers are introverts, or are socially awkward, or in many other ways find parties excruciating. But that’s Twitter, and it’s only one of many tools you can use. But that’s the best description of the Twitter zeitgeist I’ve seen. Thanks!
Thank you, David! That’s so true. For some people that type of interaction is social torture. (On the other hand, people like me who are less comfortable in real life are sometimes more comfortable on Twitter because we have the buffer of replying at our speed, etc.) And each platform has it’s own “flavor,” so to speak, so there are always others to try out if this one’s not their speed.
I know that woman who criticized her. She drove me out of her writers group by being nasty.
Nice article, Annie. Thanks for sharing.
I think, self-promotion becomes spam when you’re starting to be annoying.
Thanks! Yep, I tend to agree.
I thought this was very informative. I hate to be spammed, so I would also hate to do it. My question is a “newbie” one: Does spam only consist of something to purchase or can it be anything? For instance, I always thank new followers and RT their tweets if I find them interesting. I look at their profiles, etc. I am working on my first novel, so I have nothing to sell yet, but I do have a Facebook author page and a blog. Is it a faux pas to invite them to those sites, or is that still considered spam? I was told that I shouldn’t do that. I review debut authors on my blog. Any suggestions?
Hi Rebecca! Thanks so much. The short answer to your question is “don’t do that.” Just because you’re not directly selling something doesn’t mean it doesn’t apply, in my opinion. Introducing yourself is great, but inviting people directly to go visit other sites, etc., does become spammy. If you put pertinent info and links in your Twitter profile and make a good connection with someone, they’ll often go check you out elsewhere on their own! And of course you can occasionally tweet to the general timeline little reminders that you’re also on Facebook, blog, or wherever. That’s my suggestion. Good luck with it!
Thanks, Annie! That makes a lot of sense, I’ll try that. I appreciate the help! :)
This is so useful to me for I’ve finished a novel that I’m pitching. I’ve been ‘sharing’ my blog posts on Twitter thinking that is what people did. I will be careful of presenting anything spammy in the future for sure! Your post really woke me up! Thanks Rebecca for an excellent question and to you Annie for an excellent answer. I hate it when people are rude as in how this blog post began with the offensive shaming tweet. But I’m grateful for the good that came out from it. I thank Anonymous for sharing. I send Anonymous a ‘Thank You Much!” from me!
I like the party analogy, too. It is a great way to explain how to use social media and not come across as the annoying sales person who doesn’t know how to treat a potential customer. Last month we discussed BSP at The Blood-Red Pencil blog, and I think a consensus was that people misuse the “blatant” part of self-promotion. Sadly, when new writers see seasoned writers making some of the mistakes you pointed out, they think it is okay to act the same way.
Thanks! Yeah, I’ve seen that quite a bit too, and agree that it’s problematic. When authors are *already* famous by the time they get on Twitter, they don’t need to follow best practices to get amazing results; people will follow them no matter how spammy they act, because they already like the product. So yes, new tweeters see those famous authors tweeting poorly and use it as a model, which is unfortunate, as it’s not a good way to *build* a following. But, hey, what can we do? Talk more about good etiquette and hope the words gets around to interested parties, I suppose. Check! :)
Thanks for the info Annie. Great post! I’m not always that great at mingling at a cocktail party, so….need to practice.
I also have a question – when you retweet a tweet that contains hashtags and @, do the hashtags and @ retweet as well, or should you add them to your comments too?
Thank you!
You’re welcome! Practice really does help, even with cocktail party mingling. :) As to your question: yes, the @ handles and hashtags retweet as well; you don’t have to add them as commentary. Thanks!
Thank you, Annie. I found this helpful. I might be a line voice in the wilderness here, but I find authors a but harsh on newbie authors. Yes I know there are cranks that need to be disciplined. But I don’t feel any compelling need to play gotcha. But it can be a mean business
I’m so glad! I’m with you on the “gotcha” game. Kindness is always preferable to me; we all start somewhere, right? Twitter definitely has a learning curve!
I gave you a thumbs up but now the icon is showing as thumbs down?? :( I liked your article, thanks!
Hm, I’m not sure what that’s about; I think it’s just a little glitch. No worries, and thank you!
Thanks, Annie. The analogy and the do’s and don’t’s are extremely helpful to someone like me who is new to the games.
That’s great to hear! You’re very welcome.
Great article. Will save in my “marketing” folder to review when it’s time to promote my yet-to-be-finished book!
Thank you! I’m happy to hear it. :)
This is a fantastic post. The party analogy is useful. All those spammy tweets and DMs to buy buy buy make me mute, block, and unfollow folks, most of whom I’m sure are actually lovely people. :)
Thanks for providing clear guidelines!