Coming back on topic Twitter ads might be worth a look for someone already running Facebook and AMS ads as Lew is - they are slightly cheaper but I don't know if that reflects a lower ROI. The answer to that is probably on Mark Dawson's site (what he doesnt know about social media advertising for self publishing isn't worth knowing) but I CBA to dig it out right now. I shall ask him (Ironically we follow each other on twitter - networking as I said)
Yeah I pretty much started by targetting other authors - both to network and because their followers are likely to be my followers. I have about 850 followers so far from starting in November. I'm begining to see the exponential build starting - It only took a week or so to go from 600-800 whereas getting to 600 took longer. The thing about twitter as a writer is that you have to be interesting... its no good just tweeting buy my book, all the time. If you post interesting stuff it gets picked up and retweeted by people with far more reach helping their followers hear about you. I also practice an 80/20 rule that is about 4/5s of the time I retweet interesting stuff from other writers etc, 1/5 of the time I use original tweets. I think of it as social karma, if you spend some time promoting other people ( I only promote stuff i like - promoting stuff that sucks imo is a bad strategy) then people are more likely to promote you. (even if its not the same people). I also practice a "If you can't say anything nice, say nothing" policy - a writers account isnt the place for arguments and insults - IMO you want to come over as a nice guy so people are inclined to help you out. If I want to point out something negative like typos, or bad sound quality on a vid or something, I use the DM function.
You seem to have a handle on twitter (from a writing perspective), I have an account but always found it rather awkward, as I'm not the sort to document my every move, which seems to be the way a lot use it for. Plus the people that make it work actually spend quality time there. Are you using your twitter account specifically for writing then, to promote your own work?
I'm using it exclusively to build my writer platform, including networking with other writers - to date I've not done much to actually promote my own work but that will come as more books go out over the coming year. It's @PeteBlythWriter if you want to take a look. I made a concious decision from the start that its a writing account not a personal one so I don't use it for personal business or joining in political debates etc . I use facebook for that which is why to date I haven't bothered with an authors facebook page ( I probably will in due course, although my next social media move will probably be Pintrest ) as I said above Frances Cabballo's free book on Twitter for writers is well worth a look (free if you join her mailing list). The link is higher up this thread, or she's @Caballofrances on twitter ( a Portuguese footballer of the same name got their first which is why she's reversed the names)
Another top tip for twitter (in regard of the Op) is that you cant edit a tweet once you've posted, short of deleting it and starting over, so make sure you proofread properly as its key for writers not to have typos etc
Ok, no worries, I'll do a follow when I'm next on twitter, see what's going on. A lot of authors do use Facebook in promoting their books, or perhaps promoting themselves rather than their books, perhaps that's a better way to look at it. Is there a difference, promoting books or promoting yourself, or connected? Is your networking with other writers more social or is there a purpose connected to the building up of your writing career?
Both - partly that its good, especially for Indie/self publishers to be there for each other, and partly as i said above social karma... when I put my books out, start a blog, pod cast or whatever I know people who'll retweet my content, people I could pitch to be on their shows/blogs or to be on mine etc.... also as i said earlier the people who follow say Mark Dawson or Joanna Penn are likely to be my potential followers too, and their followship is much bigger than mine (mark has 20 odd K Joanna close to 80k) so when they retweet my stuff that's a big potential audience hearing about my shit. I'm going the content marketing route - that is I'm not intending to buy paid ads on Facebook/AMS/bookbub etc until I've got several books out for better ROI, ergo to get my initial readership I'm dependent on my 'platform' and on reviews/features etc on the platforms of others. ( I'm also aware that this approach will be a slower burn initially, which is why I'm not spending a lot upfront.) I have no intention of winding up like Ron Vitale (who by his own admission has taken 4k off 9 books in 6 years but spent 11k in the process. )
Ah sorry, I thought that's what you were saying, that you could edit tweets after you had posted them?
Yeah, that doesn't work does it, that's nearly two thirds out of pocket. I think the slow burn method is the only way to go, if you want any chance of actually making any meaningful impact.
I've found this to be very true. If a writer whose work I enjoy recommends another author, that carries significant weight with me, because it's likely both author's writing has similar quality/themes/etc. I've definitely gotten some readers from recommendations from authors who are more successful than me; I can tell by when certain tweets went out and see a comparable bump in sales around the same time. I've also found twitter to be a good source of finding betas and offering beta services, getting a heads up on collection/anthology calls in my genre, and taking part in Q/A sessions where I can learn from and network with other writers.
I found another guy featured on the Joel Freidland blog who was basically saying woe is me I've spent all this cash but I'm not making sales, and I was like well stop fucking spending it then, doh... I'll never understand people who spend 3k don't make any money and conclude that they need to spend more. I tend to view it like a business (of which Ive run a number ) you don't expect to make much (any) profit in year one in most businesses, but if you get to year 6 (or even 3 or 4) and you're making a loss, that sucker is essentially bankrupt and something serious needs to change
Totally agree with that, first year is the hardest, if you can make it the first then it's probably going to be ok. You have to be honest with yourself, and also a bit brutal, if the finance isn't adding up. I can't believe people would actually pay that kind of money without seeing a return and think it's still ok. I followed you on twitter so if you see 'writerkris' popping up in your follow column then that's me, not some nutter. Well ok, maybe a bit of a nutter but nothing to worry about.
Oh, absolutely! And it's not a cold exchange of kudos though, at least not in my writing community. We genuinely like promoting the work authors we like and celebrating their successes. It's not unusual for organic friendships and/or mentoring relationships to spring up because of it.
Yeah I gave you a back follow - the thing with your twitter is it looks like an artists feed ... nothing wrong with that, you're clearly a talented guy, but there's not much that says 'writer' I carve wood (not a well as your sculptures), and turn and my partner makes jewelry and I occasionally mention it, or show something we've made but the vast majority of my content is either explicitly about writing, or it's resources /articles that might be of interest to either writers/readers or both. You might be better off starting a separate twitter feed for your writing, while keeping that one for personal or art - you can always link it and retweet back and forth to the other one so that some of your followers come across.
Yep - and I also find that if you help people out, third parties are more inclined to help you ... its a basic psychological thing. But as Laurin says it needs to be genuine, not a cynical game theory thing (people can tell the difference)
It does depend on what you spend it on admittedly ... if you buy a new computer that could put a big hole in your income (really you should be depreciating it, but lets keep this simple.) but acquiring an asset is different .... people who put 3k on AMS ads and don't make at least 3k in return need to think hard about what they are doing. I wouldn't necessarily expect to make 3k on the advertised product but I'd be looking for spend through (that is people who see the ad for book 4, actually buy books 3,2, and 1 as well) to give a decent ROI . If it doesnt then its not worth spending. Mark Dawson famously put the best part of a quarter of a mil on Facebook ads a couple of years back - but he made it back, plus . It is probably better to spend a grand to make a grand than it is to spend zilch and make zilch, but its not a good move to spend a grand and make zilch.
I would imagine that a lot of authors, first time ones anyway, try that sort of thing only follow or complement to further their work. It's a short term thing isn't it, and fairly short sighted with it? Cheers, I'll check out some of your feeds when I get the time. I have a friend who is a wood carver, lives in New Zealand. Never tried carving, although I'm working on a engineering project that is using some exotic hardwoods. Yeah, you're right about my twitter page, it does feel too arty for writing, even though I say I am a writer there isn't any evidence there. Mind you I did have a couple of tweets linking to some short stories but took them down again. Do they allow you to have more than one account on twitter? I know they will be linked back to me even if I use different emails. I had a problem like that on Facebook.
