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Post by Daniel on Aug 12, 2015 8:50:48 GMT -5
In an article on the Digital Book World site, Rob Eagar argued that publishers are focusing too much on author social media presence as a measure of their platform. Although his article has a traditional publishing perspective, some of the info he shared could be useful to indie authors as well. Stop Grading an Author’s Social Media PresenceIn the article, Rob says: I happen to agree with him. I think social networking is a great adjunct to an author's connection with readers, but by itself, I don't believe it does much to generate new sales. Done right, I do believe it does help build a stronger fan base and enhance your brand. Rob suggests that the following four metrics are a better measure of an author's platform than social networking followers and presence: - Email list and performance: Rob points out that email has been shown to be 40 times more effective than social networking for acquiring new customers.
- Monthly unique web site sessions and page views
- Speaking schedule: He claims that authors who get face-to-face with their readers "tend to be better marketers than those who camp out behind their computer screens."
- Previous sales history: Marketing is only as good as the sales it generates.
I think Rob's suggested metrics are a better measure of a successful platform than social media followers, retweets, shares, and posts. I see social networking as something that can be used to draw readers into more effective forms of engagement, such as my blog, my release notices email list, or a landing page about an event. Social networking platforms are good tools, but they are tools that are owned by someone else. We are all borrowing access to the provider's audience and that access could disappear at any time. That's why I think it's important to find ways of engaging with fans directly through your email list and blog rather than strictly through social networking. The one thing I disagree with is Rob's suggestion that speaking engagements are an important part of an author's platform. I think Joe Konrath has sufficiently debunked that myth. The problem with most in-person events is that your audience is far too limited and untargeted to be useful. Besides, although I have no problem speaking in front of large groups, I'm terrible at in-person networking and live far too remote for any kind of speaking engagement to be worthwhile from an economic standpoint. |
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Post by Pru Freda on Aug 12, 2015 9:16:00 GMT -5
Fascinating article, thanks, Daniel.
Both as reader and author I have never signed up to anyone's mailing list. If I like a particularly author's work, I'm savvy enough to follow them and discover when they have another book out that might interest me.
As an author, I've struggled to get sign-ups to my own list because, up until now, I've never offered a freebie and I've never had enough books to do that. To offer books 1 & 2 free when you only have 3 books out seems foolhardy to me, unless you really don't care about making money from your writing.
However, (and this is only my opinion) it would seem logical for sales to drive sign-ups, which in turn drives more sales, which drives the desire to find and connect with the author on whichever social media platform they have a presence. With me that's FB, and quite a few fans have made their way there and liked my page. I don't got a lot of interaction, but that's fine. I really should spend the bulk of my time writing (ha! I wish) not faffing about all day on Facebook.
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Post by vrabinec on Aug 12, 2015 9:19:48 GMT -5
Yeah, I don't agree that an author's social media skills have much impact, except in keeping the fans he already has happy. Nobody's getting a Facebook post from Bella Andre and saying, "I gotta try one of her books!" They certainly didn't say that based on her posts at KB. Don't get me wrong, she was very polite and very nice, but so are hundreds of other authors. What made her a hit was the writing. Elle Casey was a little more outgoing, but she doesn't really say much on social media any more. Usually, it's her assistant.
I think there's only so much of a person that the reader can take on social media, unless you're the girls following Hugh, hoping he flashes his six-pack abs. One of my favorite people on Facebook is George Takei. He pops up once every few weeks with something that's usually profound or hilarious, and then disappears again. I think that's an effective strategy for an author. In the end, it's the writing that sells.
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Post by Miss Terri Novelle on Aug 12, 2015 9:29:06 GMT -5
If you are good at putting out viral content or networking with other authors then you might get some benefit. Otherwise, it's a total time suck. I hardly ever post on FB and when I do, it's almost never a promo post. I do those when a new book comes out or if I am posting a new cover.
I think it would be a fun thing to get a group of cozy authors together and do a FB party but I don't have the time right now to organize it. Maybe over the winter.
I'm closing in on 1k on my mailing list. I purged almost every name from the one promo I did that involved list sign ups so those are 99% organic. I don't give away anything as an incentive because I'm too damn lazy to set it up. Permafree and promotions are the biggest drivers for me in terms of adding new names. I thought it would slow down once the series was finished but I put a teaser in the back of the last book about the first in the spin off series and it has not slowed down much at all. Which means that I need to get it in gear and put out the book they are signing up to find out about.
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Post by scdaffron on Aug 12, 2015 9:47:02 GMT -5
Which means that I need to get it in gear and put out the book they are signing up to find out about. ^^This. Me too, in a big way  |
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Post by Daniel on Aug 12, 2015 11:59:28 GMT -5
Both as reader and author I have never signed up to anyone's mailing list. If I like a particularly author's work, I'm savvy enough to follow them and discover when they have another book out that might interest me. As an author, I've struggled to get sign-ups to my own list because, up until now, I've never offered a freebie and I've never had enough books to do that. To offer books 1 & 2 free when you only have 3 books out seems foolhardy to me, unless you really don't care about making money from your writing. I don't think you need a freebie to get people to sign up for your email list. As I've said before, I believe free incentives attract the wrong kind of subscribers. Like you, many readers don't want to sign up for an author's email list and prefer to use other options, such as following the author through social networking or signing up for notices through Amazon. My answer to that is, whatever works. I think having a new releases email list is essential, but in the end, I don't care how a reader finds out about my new releases. If readers prefer to get notices from Amazon, that's fine, but Amazon owns those contacts and that list, so it's not safe for me to build any kind of marketing strategy around it. To own is to control, and building upon something you don't control is a disaster waiting to happen. However, (and this is only my opinion) it would seem logical for sales to drive sign-ups, which in turn drives more sales, which drives the desire to find and connect with the author on whichever social media platform they have a presence. With me that's FB, and quite a few fans have made their way there and liked my page. I don't got a lot of interaction, but that's fine. I really should spend the bulk of my time writing (ha! I wish) not faffing about all day on Facebook. I'm with you on that. Like vrabinec said, an author's platform is more about cultivating a relationship with existing readers than it is about getting new readers. I'm convinced that word-of-mouth is still the best form of marketing, and you can't buy it. You have to earn it by making readers excited enough to share the word about you. Social networking, in all its forms, merely augments the thing that matters most of all: your excellent stories. |
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Post by Daniel on Aug 12, 2015 12:14:41 GMT -5
Yeah, I don't agree that an author's social media skills have much impact, except in keeping the fans he already has happy. Nobody's getting a Facebook post from Bella Andre and saying, "I gotta try one of her books!" They certainly didn't say that based on her posts at KB. Don't get me wrong, she was very polite and very nice, but so are hundreds of other authors. What made her a hit was the writing. Elle Casey was a little more outgoing, but she doesn't really say much on social media any more. Usually, it's her assistant. I think there's only so much of a person that the reader can take on social media, unless you're the girls following Hugh, hoping he flashes his six-pack abs. One of my favorite people on Facebook is George Takei. He pops up once every few weeks with something that's usually profound or hilarious, and then disappears again. I think that's an effective strategy for an author. In the end, it's the writing that sells. I totally agree that the writing is the most important thing. Social networking gives you a way to connect with readers on a personal level. For the most part, those will be readers who already know about you and like your work. I think of my platform, which includes my blog, my email list, and my social networking presence, as a kind of fan club. Only the people who really like what I write will be interested in joining. Those are the readers who are most important to me because they will tell their friends about my stories and eagerly await my next book. |
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Post by ameliasmith on Aug 12, 2015 17:34:18 GMT -5
That was a great article. I "know" a couple of authors on social media and like them but that doesn't mean I necessarily read much of their fiction -- the ones with the biggest followings in my feed are outspoken about political and/or publishing business things and I like their online presence but can see that it doesn't mean squat in terms of book sales.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2015 18:08:01 GMT -5
I agree with whoever said its a more valuable tool for networking with other writers. It seems like the informal interactions social media provides can be a minefield for potential "author behaving badly" events. Something said flippantly or in jest could easily be blown out of proportion in a public forum. Social media is not just a tool its a potential liability if not wielded mindfully. A great author platform online is a simple easy to navigate page with information about you, your books, and links to retailers. The blogs, bells and whistles can be nice, but ultimately when I discover a new author and go looking for them online, that's what I want to find: the books and where to get them!
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Post by Victoria on Aug 17, 2015 14:00:25 GMT -5
Do we have a list somewhere of everyone's Facebook and Twitter pages/handles? I think I'm following quite a few people here on Twitter but I haven't done much with my FB page.
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Post by ameliasmith on Aug 17, 2015 14:51:01 GMT -5
I don't know. I clicked on your twitter link, though, and have followed you there.
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Post by Daniel on Aug 17, 2015 14:59:40 GMT -5
Do we have a list somewhere of everyone's Facebook and Twitter pages/handles? I think I'm following quite a few people here on Twitter but I haven't done much with my FB page. That's a good question. I don't think so, but I could be wrong. If we start a thread with member social networking handles, should we put it in Main Discussions or the Snug? I'm thinking we pin it in Main Discussions because most of us make that info publicly available on our web sites anyway. |
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Post by Victoria on Aug 17, 2015 15:01:37 GMT -5
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Post by Suzy on Aug 17, 2015 15:37:23 GMT -5
Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Just off to bed but if you start the thread, I'll pin it tomorrow
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Post by Victoria on Aug 17, 2015 15:51:16 GMT -5
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Post by vrabinec on Aug 17, 2015 16:02:00 GMT -5
That whole Twitter thing, that doesn't involve live birds and cleaning cages, does it?
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Post by celinagrace on Aug 26, 2015 15:40:34 GMT -5
From talking to a few traditionally published authors, they seem to have the impression that indies spend most of their time on social media drumming up readers. I enlightened them that I tend to use Facebook as any right-minded person does: to watch funny cat videos and post late night drunken rants about stupid endings in films.
Caveat: I do actually have an FB author page but I don't use it much.
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Post by whdean on Aug 28, 2015 11:22:08 GMT -5
Konrath has always claimed that social media didn't help him. I don't know that that's true because he only used a one-to-one correlation as evidence; e.g., he has said that he doesn't get a sales bump when he publishes to his blog or does an interview. I've also heard that from other people with a media presence. In the latter cases, however, the books they were selling were unrelated to their media persona (e.g., one was a TV media guy who sells children's books).
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Post by vrabinec on Aug 28, 2015 11:30:26 GMT -5
Konrath has always claimed that social media didn't help him. I don't know that that's true because he only used a one-to-one correlation as evidence; e.g., he has said that he doesn't get a sales bump when he publishes to his blog or does an interview. I've also heard that from other people with a media presence. In the latter cases, however, the books they were selling were unrelated to their media persona (e.g., one was a TV media guy who sells children's books). I tend to think he's probably right. I've read his blog posts a couple of times, but I've never bought one of his books. I think authors go there to read his stuff, but it's probably boring as shit to the casual reader. And authors often claim to buy so-an-so's book, but I suspect that a lot of times, that's just sucking up and maybe hoping to get a sale of their own out of it. Let's face it, authors are full of shit. |
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Post by whdean on Aug 28, 2015 11:36:04 GMT -5
Konrath has always claimed that social media didn't help him. I don't know that that's true because he only used a one-to-one correlation as evidence; e.g., he has said that he doesn't get a sales bump when he publishes to his blog or does an interview. I've also heard that from other people with a media presence. In the latter cases, however, the books they were selling were unrelated to their media persona (e.g., one was a TV media guy who sells children's books). I tend to think he's probably right. I've read his blog posts a couple of times, but I've never bought one of his books. I think authors go there to read his stuff, but it's probably boring as shit to the casual reader. And authors often claim to buy so-an-so's book, but I suspect that a lot of times, that's just sucking up and maybe hoping to get a sale of their own out of it. Let's face it, authors are full of shit. That seems right to me, too. But I still wonder about the indirect influence of his media presence, namely, that he does get name recognition out of it. Still, I don't know; it's more guessing than anything else on my part. As for authors being full of shit, no truer words were probably spoken. Judging by the way Konrath interacts with his admirers, I'd say he believes that too. |
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