Does anyone here promote their writing through Twitter and/or Facebook etc? I'm just asking as I have read a couple of articles in writing magazines which are positive about the potential benefits of putting yourself out there and connecting with other writers, and would be interested if anyone has had some success stories and positive experiences through doing so.
I say only use Twitter and Facebook because you enjoy it, not for self-promotion.
Think of it this way, how many books have you bought because you saw the author promoting it on Twitter? When books are being talked about on Twitter, it's because people *have read* them.
It's also worth bearing in mind that Twitstreams which exist for self-promotion look like what they are, and I'm probably not the only person keeping track of all the self-pubbers who follow then un-follow me because I don't follow back.
I should also mention I'm deeply cynical about Twitter promoting authors because most of the self-pubbed ones I know of who are successful have a cult of personality thing going. Yeah, it probably does feel good to have 10 sycophants down-voting a 2* Amazon review, but think of all the lost sales (because people gossip). The majority of comments on Hugh Howey's recent blog could be divided into two camps, "You did nothing wrong, people need to get a sense of humour", and "I can see why people are upset but Hugh's a really nice guy!". Nice for Hugh Howey, I'm sure, but who knows how many people have made the decision not to pick up Wool because they have no time for rape culture apologists?
The best form of promotion is a backlist. People buy books from authors they've enjoyed. You'll get more sales from writing more stuff than from Twitting, "Hey, I wrote a book y'all!" 18 times a day.
I don't use Twitter. I've read pros and cons from a writer's point of view and fell in with the cons - I've got better things to do with my time.
I use FB a lot but I don't have an author page. It's just something else to regularly update and again I think such an approach is overrated. I could be wrong, though ;)
I have a website and blog, and I get traffic from other subject-related sites I frequent. I found commenting/posting on similar topics makes others regard you as something of an expert (even if you're not) as well as being useful for research.
For the time being I'll stick with that.
Hi Victoria and Sonya and thanks for your comments which are appreciated. I set up a Twitter account a few years ago but could never really see the point of it from a purely social stance. However I have recently been trying to be a bit more active and I agree Victoria, there is a whole world of advice and contacts out there if you target it from a purely writing interest perspective. I will plod on with this I think and try to build it up.
I am the world's worst Facebooker (if that's even a word!) on the other hand, having set up an account quite a few years ago, mainly just to post pictures of my wee ones when they were babies. However I must have logged in only a handful of times over the past couple of years and feel like I'm missing out on a big secret as everyone I know seems to use it! Maybe as you say though Sonya, I may feel differently if I set up a new page dedicated solely to my book(s) if I am ever fortunate enough to be published.......