Thursday, June 13, 2013

Social Media Deluge

Does it ever feel like you spend more time trying to promo yourself and your books than you do actually writing them? There always seems to be a new way to connect with readers or some fun way to procrastinate explore the internet.

I'm on Facebook (with a personal profile, a "professional" profile, AND an author page); Twitter; Pinterest; several blogs; a website; I still have a Myspace page I think; and now.....Tumblr.

I signed up for Tumblr quite a while ago. And then never did anything with it :D But it's something I've been encouraged to try so I signed up for a new one and have been trying to figure out what I'm doing ever since lol

Is anyone else out there on Tumblr? Do you have any tips? Because I really have no idea what I'm doing :D

This is me - http://authormichellemclean.tumblr.com/

Come friend me, follow me, take my hand and show me how to use the crazy thing :D I can definitely use all the help I can get.

I'm curious....

Writers - how much time do you spend on social networking sites? Which platform is your favorite or do you find most effective?

Readers - what is your favorite way to connect with people and authors that you like?

16 comments:

Angela Townsend said...

This is such a great post Michelle. I have often wondered this myself. I am so grateful to my publicist for the help. I can not imagine trying to write and market my book all on my own. I fail miserably at blogging and to be truthful I rather spend precious time writing than blogging. Anyone else feel like this?

ilima said...

I recently joined tumblr and do nothing with it, too. Be sure to share tips when you get it figured out. :)

Toni Kerr said...

I'm pretty sure I don't do enough professional social networking and I often wonder if I'm hurting myself by not being more extroverted. I wish there were real marketing statistics somewhere.

My son (12) is not active online. He reads books based on what his school librarian recommends. She hasn't failed him yet-- so she remains his "source"



"Dammit, Jim! I'm a writer, not a self-marketer!" (I crack myself up)

Michelle McLean said...

agreed - it always surprises me how much I do and/or need to do (not really on the marketing end but on the networking end), even with an awesome publicity team behind me. Amazing how much time networking can take :)

Michelle McLean said...

LOL I suddenly feel the urge to watch Star Trek :D

Michelle McLean said...

Well I was told that Tumblr is all about reblogging and hashtags....the reblogging I've gotten the hang of and I've been trying to reblog stuff that catches my eye (though I worry there could be copyright problems so I try to stick to stuff I'm relatively sure isn't copyrighted). The hashtags...I know how to search for stuff using them. Haven't done any myself yet... :D

Natalie Aguirre said...

I mostly blog. I like it because I can say more and connect to my blogger friends in a deeper way than say, Facebook. I am on Facebook but don't go on there as much as I should I also need to join Twitter, though am not sure what exactly to do with it. And reading blogs and commenting takes a lot of my social networking time. I work full-time and can relate to spending more time on social networking than writing. I'm hoping to slow down on the social networking this summer and write more.

Kittie Howard said...

Blogging's definitely my thing. The other stuff drove me nuts so I pulled out. I have no idea what Tumbir is about except what you wrote above. But the larger problem is, I just don't have the time for this non-stop networking. I know this isn't good, but *throws up hands* there's nothing I can do to change the hours in the day, LOL!

Angelica R. Jackson said...

I pretty much do blogging, Twitter, and Facebook. I joined Goodreads and almost immediately ran into a "why didn't you give my book 5 stars?" from an author friend so I'm afraid to do too much with GR, haha. But to use Twitter and FB effectively, I've found it requires a lot of reading and interaction--just dropping in occasionally to add content doesn't cut it. There's a good post on marketing on http://www.indierecon.org/ today, btw.

Angelica R. Jackson said...

Actually, IndieRecon is focusing on marketing all this week, but today's post tied into your own.

Anonymous said...

I took the advice of nearly everyone it seemed and chose a couple to focus on. I am on Facebook and Twitter. I try to master those to the best of my ability. I use Pinterest but not for my writing necessarily. I'm on linkedin but more for my teaching. And I have a blog as do most writers. Mostly, I try not to spend all my time on social media while my writing sits undone. :-(

Michelle McLean said...

yeah, I don't do much reviewing or ranking for that reason :) Checking out that post! :D

Michelle McLean said...

I know, it's so hard to try and juggle it all. I have a linkedin account also but never use it.

Michelle McLean said...

Oh I know, it takes sooo much time!

Michelle McLean said...

it does take a ton of time. I feel like I've got so many social network balls in the air I've got little time to actually write the books I'm trying to promote lol

rena traxel said...

I'm on Facebook and Twitter. I use Facebook to connect with my writing friends and family. Twitter is more for connecting with everyone. Occasionally I blog.