Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Rant: LINKS TO BUY A BOOK (S) IN THE VERY FIRST TWITTER MESSAGE!
Look, this is the discussion (rant) basically. Someone follows me and OUT OF POLITENESS I FOLLOW THEM BACK.
The only time I don't is if they are selling lino or renting apartments in Idaho okay? Or if they are going to tweet every hour with a quotation that sounds like it's straight out of a fortune cookie.
Back to my rant and those messages.
NOW THIS IS ABOUT WRITERS.
Generally the message one sends or one gets back is: THANK YOU FOR THE FOLLOW BACK.
What ticks me off is not getting that back but getting something like this instead. Remember this person CHOSE to follow me.
MY SECOND NOVEL WILL BE AVAILABLE AT BEEZLEBUB'S AT THE MEPHISTOPHELES
MALL...
HERE ARE LINKS TO MY LATEST BLOG POSTS...
I don't know about you but I find that a little nervy IN THE VERY FIRST MESSAGE!
When I wrote back (I don't always and yes, this is pretty much what happened) I got, would you believe, a message thanking me for my support and telling me about something else that was written!
HELLOO?????????? Anybody home?
I have never, ever sent anyone a link in a message period. I have only done it if they ask me.
Hard sell to me is irritating, off-putting, antagonistic and rude.
Promoting is hard sure it is. But jamming what you've done down someone's throat starts up the gag reflex!
Thanks, and writers: any feedback on this? Do you hate this too? By the way very few writers do this thank goodness!
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7 comments:
My feeling on this is, I followed you, so if I want to buy your book I will, when I can. I'm not rich and can not buy everyone's book, but I can help you promote with a retweet here and there. Don't try and push it down my throat with DM's. I really think that is rude. Another one I got the other day said, Follow me on facebook as well and I can tell you all about self publishing. Maybe she didn't mean it to, but it came across to me as, Oh follow me on facebook so I can tell you how awesome I am.
Exactly, Lisa! and thanks for commenting.
so true. I agree and i think to ( I do it for myself) we need to think about how we come across.
I agree that she did sound big-headed, that one you mentioned. otherwise she wouldn't have worded it like that.
I get nervous now with Direct Messages on TWitter, very few are just cordial 'thank yous.' they almost always see (lately to me) to be demanding and so forced (hard sell).
thanks again! it helps to rant!
I'm innocent! Still behind the curve with tweeting. I will get to it, though.
It is definitely rude to pitch on first tweet, or any tweet actually. Once you get to know a person, you'll find out they're a writer and if you wish to delve further, you will. Like Jezri says, not all writers are rich. We can't afford to buy every book from every writer. If we only sold our books to other writers while buying their books at the same time, it would be a wash. We would either break even or lose. Obviously, we must sell to readers, not writers.
Some people need to take some marketing classes.
Good rant!
That is why every now and then I tweet that I am actively seeking followers that read. Whenever I do, I pick up a few new followers. I always hope they like to read and I follow them back. I follow back writers too, because we can learn from each other, but I think it is arrogant to act as though you have all the answers. And what works for one writer may not work for another.
Blaze, that's great.
I agree. I never understood why other writers are targeted.
I mean in MOH we say what we've done but we don't go running after people with a message:BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK!
i'd rather be dead!
you are right too, what you say. agreed.
and Jezri, right. seems you've hit the right happy/medium. it's great to have follow backs, to retweet for people. that is so important.
i do that and others do that, that's great. that's what it's all about. not that hard sell yuck!
thanks again.
I follow back all writers/bloggers, but I always check their last tweets. And if those last 10 tweets are all promo of their book(s), then I don;t follow back. It's neither info I want, nor chance for an interesting conversation.
The first messages with a link to their FBpage/book-to-buy/whatever is another matter. Just as you said, Carole - it's jamming it down my throat and it gives me the gag reflex. I never click on any of these links, even if I would have had if it hadn't been done such a hard-sell way.
I hate hard sell. Yuk!
Thanks Kate!
That's a good idea to read the tweets. I don't always do that!
excellent advice.
sure, i want to follow (and do) bloggers/writers but don't want to be used for hard sell.
I agree. Hard sell: Yuk!
thanks again!
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