Friday, January 10, 2014

It's Everywhere

I have a new book coming out later this month, so I'm thinking about promo more than I usually do.

Marketing can be very time consuming. Actually it can be all consuming. People are faced with somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000 messages per day. Most people ignore a large portion of those. How should I make my promotional message stand out among those numbers?

I know some authors who believe flooding Facebook and Twitter with their release messages will give their book the boost it needs to standout among so many. Not my thing though I'll certainly mention it a few times.

Another avenue, of course, is to use your blog to promote. And I'll do that also. I'll include a blurb but probably not an excerpt. I'll link to one on my publisher's website in case a visitor does want to read that. But I've recently learned another anagram. TLDR.

To Long Didn't Read. We've all done it. Visited a blog and the post is so long, we skim through it or skip it all together. As part of my promotion efforts later this month I'm going to make sure I don't violate the TLDR rule of blog visitor attention length.

Do you think that number for marketing messages is accurate? Do you think the flooding of Facebook and Twitter works for promotion? Every skip or skim a blog because it's too long? Are you my friend on Twitter or Facebook?


18 comments:

Heather Musk said...

If I've just got a quick ten minutes to check through my blogs I will see how long each one is before committing to reading it. It's not great I know, but time is precious sometimes and if something's not holding my attention I'll move on.

I, too, try to keep my blog posts on the short side, but sometimes those words just run away with me!

mooderino said...

Just about every post I write is of TL;DR length, but not sure how I would shorten them (certainly not when i usually don't write them until the last minute). Ah well, I guess i have to hope people have work they desperately want to avoid.

mood
Moody Writing

Heather R. Holden said...

Marketing is always so, so tough. Good luck with it! I completely agree about not violating TLDR. I follow an insane amount of blogs, so it's always a relief for me to come across a post that's short and to-the-point to make catching up easier...

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Long posts I don't have time to read either. (And Moody's are NOT too long.)
Some authors still send out dozens of Tweets about their book. I know it annoys most people. so not sure why they still do it or how effective it is.
Outside of launch day and announcing blog stops, I don't say a thing about my book on Twitter.

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

That's too funny - I just read/learned about TL;DR this morning.

I do tend to skim longer blog posts unless something catches my eye, then I'll go back and read it. I also try to keep my posts on the shorter side. Not sure if it works, but I try. :)

Unknown said...

Yeah, I go cross-eyed when I see a long post. And yes, I've noticed that the blogging world and twitter seem loaded with new books coming out. What I do is post the first chapter on wattpad, as well as any shorter works I might have. That's my way of "fishing outside of my pond"

Maria Zannini said...

It depends on the post and the writing.

I won't read long excerpts or reviews. Blogs are not the place for them.

As for FB and Twitter. It used to work--back when it was novel--but those days are long gone.

Cate Masters said...

Sometimes it feels like more.

I'm happy to host you anytime!

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Thanks, Cate, I'll keep that in mind.
Alex, I agree, Moody's posts aren't too long and always interesting.
Team Heather, I think we all do the skim thing sometimes.
Madeline, great minds and all that.
Melanie, great idea about wattpad.
And I'm afraid you're right, Maria, about days gone by.

Ava Quinn said...

I fall into the TLDR as a writer and a reader.

Can't wait for the new book release!

Pat Hatt said...

Some tldr posts I read because they are set up nice and their interesting. But I don't give a crap if they are interesting, if they are like 8 font and 50 paragraphs long. Then I skip lol

Ellie Garratt said...

I actually think flooding FB and twitter doesn't work. I have a FB page for my books, which I post on periodically. I post reviews on my FB account from time to time. What I think works better is short, snappy blog posts and tours. Also, submitting your books to eBook sites.

Robin said...

The other problem with book releases (IMHO) is that I often see the same thing on 20 or more sites when I am trying to scroll through my reading list. Wouldn't it make more sense to roll it out more slowly to get better coverage? Or do a short post on writing or yourself instead of putting the same thing on every site? I don't know the answers to these questions. I just know that after I see the same thing five times, I dread opening the next one on my reading list. There will be no new information and I am out of comment.

Dana said...

Congrats on the new release!

Christine Rains said...

I'm guilty of skimming posts because they're too long. One of my goals this year is to write short posts. I'm not sure how much flooding FB and Twitter works. Have a good weekend!

mshatch said...

I, too, skim long posts. Sadly I only have so much time.

Karen Jones Gowen said...

I will read a long blog if it's interesting. But one that's just promoting a book? Not really, unless it's a book I'm interested in lol. I rarely market my books. I have no idea how to do that. I just do what I do online whether I have a book out or not. I figure if anyone wants to know more, there's plenty of information about me and my books on my blog and website. I can't stand the continual Twitter feed full of book promotions. It's ridiculous. How does that sell books?

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Spamming doesn't work. Connections you've made through social media works far better. As does a great book.