O.k. let me lob another grenade into the debate which seems to be gaining momentum at the moment.
Isn't that what they call 'trending' on Twitter?
Maybe it is.
Personally I couldn't give a hanging participle.
It's a topic which concerns me now because I find myself at that time when I'm about to push my children's book into a saturated market, so I have a vested interest in getting my publicity loaded, aimed and fired in at least a general hint of the right direction.
So to para-phrase a seventies classic - 'social media, huh yeah, what is it good for?'
What indeed!?
Now I'm not an expert.
Thank God!
As the saying goes, an 'ex' is a has-been and a 'spurt' is a drip under pressure! The old 'un's are the best eh?
If you remember this is my first book, which is self published, so I'm not drawing on a canon of previous experience here.
But, and I've blogged on this subject before, who exactly is my target audience?
As I ripped my MS from the printer I joined Facebook. Because that's what you do. Isn't it? I had vowed in my previous life as a normal human being never to join the league of automatons plugged into their I's and androids. Apologies if that's you by the way, each to their own - it's just not my idea of fun. As soon as I became 'an author' I sold my soul, signed up and gave up my old ways to join in the universal curse at the lack of an accessible wi-fi signal.
All in the name of plugging this tome, this sheaf of earth shattering insight. Honestly, nothing like it has been written before.
Ever!
And hopefully nothing like it will ever be written again.
Oops, is that a 'Ratner' moment? Remember him, that doyen of marketing excellence?
Never mind because I'm not going to sell that many with the help of this media revolution.
'Why not?' you sound strangely incredulous. 'Best thing since sliced bread and all that.'
Because I'm trying to sell it to my Facebook group, dear reader, of which you are a part. And, my friend, if you are in any group that I'm a part of it stands a very good chance indeed that you're a writer too.
And I've seen the books that you've written because you've posted them in my timeline. It's a very nice cover, can I compliment you on that at least, but it is not, nor ever is likely to be, my genre. So good luck with that but I ain't going to buy it, not even now it's only 99p on Kindle.
Sorry about that.
And then, once I had a handle on this Facebook effect, I immediately compounded the error and signed up to Twitter too.
WTF!
I don't understand that at all!
No, please don't explain it again - I'm too old, jaded and frankly far too uninterested to care. All I know is that in the space of no time at all I seem to have amassed an enormous following and the tweets that I recieve daily would require at least a year to read.
Life's too short!
And so I have me a cunning marketing plan. I'll let you know how it goes. It's hardly a new idea, but hopefully it could net me a fair good number of sales.
Sorry, what's that? 'What's is this 'big idea' I've had?'
Well I'm hardly going to divulge that little nugget of information, am I? That way we'd all be dashing off to do exactly the same thing again and creating yet another Facebook/ Twitterlike bottleneck and ending up in exactly the same mess we're in now, wouldn't we.
No, I'm keeping it to myself until I've made my first million - I'm not greedy - before I let you know how I did it. Then you can do it too whilst I'm lying on a sun-drenched beach.
I'll send you a post - on Facebook or Twitter.
Well I've got to keep plugging away at it now haven't I, just in case you're right and I'm wrong!
So one more time, let's hear it for Edwin Starr - 'Social media, huh yeah, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin'. Say it again...'
Isn't that what they call 'trending' on Twitter?
Maybe it is.
Personally I couldn't give a hanging participle.
It's a topic which concerns me now because I find myself at that time when I'm about to push my children's book into a saturated market, so I have a vested interest in getting my publicity loaded, aimed and fired in at least a general hint of the right direction.
So to para-phrase a seventies classic - 'social media, huh yeah, what is it good for?'
What indeed!?
Now I'm not an expert.
Thank God!
As the saying goes, an 'ex' is a has-been and a 'spurt' is a drip under pressure! The old 'un's are the best eh?
If you remember this is my first book, which is self published, so I'm not drawing on a canon of previous experience here.
But, and I've blogged on this subject before, who exactly is my target audience?
As I ripped my MS from the printer I joined Facebook. Because that's what you do. Isn't it? I had vowed in my previous life as a normal human being never to join the league of automatons plugged into their I's and androids. Apologies if that's you by the way, each to their own - it's just not my idea of fun. As soon as I became 'an author' I sold my soul, signed up and gave up my old ways to join in the universal curse at the lack of an accessible wi-fi signal.
All in the name of plugging this tome, this sheaf of earth shattering insight. Honestly, nothing like it has been written before.
Ever!
And hopefully nothing like it will ever be written again.
Oops, is that a 'Ratner' moment? Remember him, that doyen of marketing excellence?
Never mind because I'm not going to sell that many with the help of this media revolution.
'Why not?' you sound strangely incredulous. 'Best thing since sliced bread and all that.'
Because I'm trying to sell it to my Facebook group, dear reader, of which you are a part. And, my friend, if you are in any group that I'm a part of it stands a very good chance indeed that you're a writer too.
And I've seen the books that you've written because you've posted them in my timeline. It's a very nice cover, can I compliment you on that at least, but it is not, nor ever is likely to be, my genre. So good luck with that but I ain't going to buy it, not even now it's only 99p on Kindle.
Sorry about that.
And then, once I had a handle on this Facebook effect, I immediately compounded the error and signed up to Twitter too.
WTF!
I don't understand that at all!
No, please don't explain it again - I'm too old, jaded and frankly far too uninterested to care. All I know is that in the space of no time at all I seem to have amassed an enormous following and the tweets that I recieve daily would require at least a year to read.
Life's too short!
And so I have me a cunning marketing plan. I'll let you know how it goes. It's hardly a new idea, but hopefully it could net me a fair good number of sales.
Sorry, what's that? 'What's is this 'big idea' I've had?'
Well I'm hardly going to divulge that little nugget of information, am I? That way we'd all be dashing off to do exactly the same thing again and creating yet another Facebook/ Twitterlike bottleneck and ending up in exactly the same mess we're in now, wouldn't we.
No, I'm keeping it to myself until I've made my first million - I'm not greedy - before I let you know how I did it. Then you can do it too whilst I'm lying on a sun-drenched beach.
I'll send you a post - on Facebook or Twitter.
Well I've got to keep plugging away at it now haven't I, just in case you're right and I'm wrong!
So one more time, let's hear it for Edwin Starr - 'Social media, huh yeah, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin'. Say it again...'
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