Posts
*I've just come back from the Twitter maelstrom of LOOK AT ME!
I clicked on my email account to receive a half dozen impersonal confirmations of me joining new blogs with
"NOW, YOU'LL BE AMONG THE VERY FIRST TO KNOW OF MY NEXT NOVEL AND WHEN TO BUY IT!"
No hint of interest in me as anything but a potential buyer of the next HUNGER GAMES.
I visited Facebook next and was awashed in
"WOW! AREN'T I WONDERFUL? MY BOOK IS SO AWESOME. YOU HAVE TO BUY MY BOOK! OH, TELL ME ABOUT YOU ... TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT ME!"
I got the image of an enormous basketball court with a million struggling writers racing frantically all over it,
waving their arms, and screaming, "THROW THE BALL TO ME! MAKE ME THE NEXT SUZANNE COLLINS! PLEEEEEASE!"
I heard the Great Mystery clear his throat in my mind and cringed. "Remind you of anyone we know, Roland? You know the one with the initials ROLAND D YEOMANS!"
I sighed. I just hate it when the mirror is held up to my nose.
So I am now saying to all of my poor abused friends,
"Don't throw the ball to me."
Let me know how I can help YOU. I do care about your doubts, your frustrations, and your struggles in a publishing world with a million hungry mouths and two million grasping hands.
I have tried very hard to escape the gravity of the black hole of my yearning to be a successful writer.
I've written posts on how to better craft your work, based upon my own years as a creative writing teacher.
But I have this haunting feeling that I have succumbed to LOOK-AT-ME-itis. Oops. Guess I am human after all. :-)
Yes, I do still want others to buy my books ... but only if they intrigue you. Buy them. Do not. It's all good.
Life is more than the best seller list. Friends are the only tangible wealth we have in this life ... and the only hope for it in the next.
Alex Cavanaugh
http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/
gives us all the model on how to be a giving human being in the cyberverse. (Although as a harried rare blood courier I do not have the time he invests daily visiting us all!)
* {This painting by Edvard Munch is in the public domain in the United States because it was first published more than 95 years ago.}
I clicked on my email account to receive a half dozen impersonal confirmations of me joining new blogs with
"NOW, YOU'LL BE AMONG THE VERY FIRST TO KNOW OF MY NEXT NOVEL AND WHEN TO BUY IT!"
No hint of interest in me as anything but a potential buyer of the next HUNGER GAMES.
I visited Facebook next and was awashed in
"WOW! AREN'T I WONDERFUL? MY BOOK IS SO AWESOME. YOU HAVE TO BUY MY BOOK! OH, TELL ME ABOUT YOU ... TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT ME!"
I got the image of an enormous basketball court with a million struggling writers racing frantically all over it,
waving their arms, and screaming, "THROW THE BALL TO ME! MAKE ME THE NEXT SUZANNE COLLINS! PLEEEEEASE!"
I heard the Great Mystery clear his throat in my mind and cringed. "Remind you of anyone we know, Roland? You know the one with the initials ROLAND D YEOMANS!"
I sighed. I just hate it when the mirror is held up to my nose.
So I am now saying to all of my poor abused friends,
"Don't throw the ball to me."
Let me know how I can help YOU. I do care about your doubts, your frustrations, and your struggles in a publishing world with a million hungry mouths and two million grasping hands.
I have tried very hard to escape the gravity of the black hole of my yearning to be a successful writer.
I've written posts on how to better craft your work, based upon my own years as a creative writing teacher.
But I have this haunting feeling that I have succumbed to LOOK-AT-ME-itis. Oops. Guess I am human after all. :-)
Yes, I do still want others to buy my books ... but only if they intrigue you. Buy them. Do not. It's all good.
Life is more than the best seller list. Friends are the only tangible wealth we have in this life ... and the only hope for it in the next.
Alex Cavanaugh
http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/
gives us all the model on how to be a giving human being in the cyberverse. (Although as a harried rare blood courier I do not have the time he invests daily visiting us all!)
* {This painting by Edvard Munch is in the public domain in the United States because it was first published more than 95 years ago.}
Hey, thanks Roland!
ReplyDeleteI only tout my books when they are released, and I've never sent out a buy me now Tweet. (Promise I never will. Or on Facebook. Of course, I'm not on Facebook...)
I know so many swear that sending out buy links on Twitter and stuff like that works, but my books seem to sell better when I don't mention them. Maybe one day I'll figure out the logic to that one...
Hey, at least you're not trying to force us to listen to your great karaoke rendition of My Heart Will Go On. There are worse things than wanting to be a writer, and most of them have their own TV show.
ReplyDeletemood
Alex:
ReplyDeletePeople like you that's why. I visit Twitter to see if any of my friends have asked me a questioned or have spoken of a hurt in their lives. Every time I visit, I get hammered by a waterfall of BUY ME! BUY THIS! MY BOOK WAS LIKED BETTER THAN THE HUNGER GAMES IN A REVIEW!!
My head rings from the maelstrom after I leave Twitter. It just strikes me as so needy that I did not want to become that.
Dance as if no one is watching, for most likely they aren't! :-)
Mood:
ReplyDeleteLOL. You made me laugh. I stay away from reality or talent shows. It's easy since I do not have cable! Thanks for visiting, Roland
My Twitter stream is looking much better since I blasted all those 'Look at me' Twitter people out of my waters. There should be an etiquette agreement signed before people enter the Twitter arena. Do you really courier rare blood? Fascinating.
ReplyDeleteLook- at- me- itis....You really crack me up. Can I use that one in the future? LOL...I have a journal with all sorts of strange made up names that make sence. I have a feeling you would have a knack for gibberish after all..Another hidden talent perhaps :) That basketball court image is going to stay in my head for awhile...big smile...
ReplyDeleteRosalind:
ReplyDeleteI may have to do what you did. My Twitter stream is getting me depressed. :-)
Yes, I am a courier of rare blood. I drove many miles in the darkness last night. Now, I am just about to start the day part of my blood runs.
It is fascinating in a draining way, but I and my co-workers are helping ill people. I wrote a novella of the life a blood courier in BLOOD WILL TELL in a Stephen King style. Thanks for making my day better. Roland
Thanks, Siv:
ReplyDeleteSandra says she would like to be an invisible visitor inside my mind ... but not for long! :-)
You always make me feel better for visiting here, Roland
Oh my gosh, Twitter can be such a headache. I swear, the "buy my book" tweets drive me mad. I won't even follow someone who does them more than once a day. Grr...
ReplyDeleteI hardly even go on Twitter anymore. I'd much rather visit people's blogs.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! You made me laugh. But I've never thought of you as a Look-at-me-itis. :)
Hi Roland .. I do hate - I-itis .. and you certainly don't fall into that category by any manner of means .. most people sadly are that way inclined .. thankfully we have a great group of blogging friends who don't seem to behave in that way ..
ReplyDeleteLook after yourself .. cheers Hilary
Marketing is based on a 'Look at Me' philosophy. It's hard to do that job without drinking the koolade occasionally.
ReplyDeleteI know I was here earlier, commenting on another post...but when I saw this come up on my feed, I just had to read it. Because I uh..can't relate or anything...no not me. ;)
ReplyDeleteRoland, I don't think of you as one of the bombarders! But I kknow what you mean. There is one in particular that I recently "liked" on FB and now I am bombarded and thinking about unliking them. I like that 80/20 rule that I learned from you.
ReplyDeleteP.S., I am doing a post later today of the Indie authors I read last month - just sort of a cover/blurb thing to show my support for Indies - and you're one of them:)
This made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteWhat does annoy the utter crap out of me is when you follow someone on twitter and then you are bombarded with messages pimping their books. I would never ever do that - and I don't understand what possesses other writers to behave in that way.
I think so many people miss the point about Twitter, its not enough of a clue to say its 'social' networking,.
ReplyDeleteI hate the ones that send a DM, asking you to review their book on Amazon - why would I do that? After little or no interaction.
I think we're all needing a break from the constant promotion. I feel for authors though. If you don't tell people about your book they won't know it's out there. I do my best to promote authors, but I really like it when those authors aren't just 'me, me, me'...which is rare unfortunately. We need strong blogging relationships before asking for too many favours.
ReplyDeleteEmily:
ReplyDeleteTwitter saddens me lately with all the constant self-promotion. I want folks to buy my books, but arm-twisting seldom does that!
Kathy:
I'm glad I don't seem to have the symptoms of Look-At-Me-Itis to you. Glad I made you laugh! :-)
Hilary:
Yes, all the blogging friends you and I have seem to be more centered and rational, don't they?
D.G.:
Marketing I can understand. Well, no, I don't, or I would use it better and wiser! But Twitter strikes me as a dialogue not a monologue set-up. I beleive most think they can do what Amanad Hocking did ... but it was a matter of timing for her. She was the first to utilize Twitter in such a way.
But you're right: we as authors have to come up with some way to market our books or no one will know about them! LOL.
Amie:
I love your sense of humor about this topic. We have to walk a fine line, but sometimes it seems to be drawn in invisible ink, doesn't it?
Gwen:
Thanks for putting me on your blog with those others! This is the way we will get noticed.
Will Rogers wrote: "Having someone else tooting your horn will always draw more attention!" :-)
Donna:
I'm glad I made you laugh. Like the 80/20 Rule of mine Gwen alluded to: we should talk about others 80% of the time & talk about ourselves the other 20%.
Maria:
That is a great point. So many miss the whole "Social" part to social networking. Me, me, me is not being social. It is being a two year old emotionally.
Denise:
I am getting shell-shocked from all the constant promotion as well.
There is a book, MAKE A KILLING ON KINDLE by Michael Alvear, which may or may not be accurate. But the author says that authors must be like hunters.
We must understand the eco-system of Amazon if we are to score the highest sales.
He talks about the importance of choosing the right categories, the right 7 search words, and how to choose them using Amazon itself and Google Ad Words.
I believe it is worth the $4.99 to read some of his hints. Look at the Amazon book pages of BURNT OFFERINGS and BRING ME THE HEAD OF McCORD to see how he helped me make them stand apart from many book pages.
I try not to ask favors. It is why I do my contests for reviews ... at least my friends have a shot at neat prizes!