NOT YOUR USUAL SUSPECTS

A group blog featuring an international array of killer mystery, suspense, and romantic suspense writers. With premises and story lines different from your run-of-the-mill whodunits, we tend to write outside the box. We blog several times a week on all topics relating to romantic suspense and mystery, our writing, and our readers. We welcome all comments and often have guest bloggers. All our authors can be contacted separately, too, using their own social media links.

We find our genre delightfully, dangerously, and deliciously exciting - join us here, if you do too!

NOTE: the blog is currently dormant but please enjoy the posts we're keeping online.


Julie Moffet . Cathy Perkins . Jean Harrington . Daryl Anderson . Nico Rosso . Maureen A Miller . Sandy Parks . Lisa Q Mathews . Sharon Calvin . Lynne Connolly . Janis Patterson . Vanessa Keir . Tonya Kappes . Julie Rowe . Joni M Fisher . Leslie Langtry

Friday, October 28, 2016

New releases and social media - what are your thoughts?


In my last post, I told you that I had made a decision to become a hybrid author, and I considered the positives and negatives of both indie and traditional publishing. (See my previous post here.)

One of the things I mentioned in my previous post was that a downside to indie releases is not having the marketing support of a traditional publishing house. Well, my first indie title, Scarred by You, released this week. Scarred by You is my 4th published novel and I’m so happy to report that it has been my most successful launch to date. The book reached no.1 in Amazon UK’s Hot New Releases and no.2 in Amazon UK’s Adult Fiction bestseller charts.

A lot of work has gone into promoting the release. That’s no different to traditional publishing, of course, but I did feel the pressure of having to arrange everything myself. The support of industry reviewers, bloggers and fellow authors has been crucial. But for my part (my personal promotion efforts) social media has been my biggest marketing tool.

I currently use Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I have considered experimenting with other platforms, such as Snapchat, but I don’t want to spread my time too thinly.

Of the channels I use, I would guess 60% (maybe more) of my social media promotion is via Facebook. Around 30% of my promotion is via Instagram. And the remaining 10% is Twitter based.

TWITTER

These days, I tend to use Twitter more by linking posts from Facebook and Instagram, rather than posting on Twitter itself. While I enjoy reading other feeds on Twitter, I just don’t find the platform especially useful for engaging with others. I find the shrinking of images and the limited characters in tweets highly restrictive. 

INSTAGRAM

I love Instagram. I enjoying seeing posts of those I follow. The heavy text restrictions of Twitter do not apply to Instagram, and hashtags really seem to connect posts to people with similar interests (e.g. #bookstagram, #authorsofinstagram, #amreading). My Instagram account is linked to my Facebook and Twitter accounts, which makes sharing images easy. This is my newest platform but I am already starting to build a following on Instagram, whereas my Twitter following has been stagnant for some time.

FACEBOOK

My preferred, and most useful, platform is Facebook. I have a personal page, an author page and a blogger/reviewer group. The combination has allowed me to build a significant following. There are no text limitations on posts and I find this platform has the highest level of interactions from bloggers, reviewers, readers, authors and other friends.

There are problems with Facebook, of course, and they have been widely publicised in recent months. There are limitations on posts shared on author pages, for example, whereby Facebook does not make the posts visible to all ‘likers’ of your page. This is especially true when links (e.g. Amazon) are incorporated. However, there are some ways to get around this. The first is paid advertising. Although costly, it can be useful, particularly when tailored to a specific audience (e.g. 'likers' of similar authors, blogs or book genres). The second is ‘like and share’ giveaways. I actually find I reach more readers through 'like and share' giveaways than paid advertising. And with shares, like minded/interested people tend to see your posts.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?


This is just my assessment of the social media tools I use. I am interested to know your thoughts. Which social media platforms do you prefer as authors, bloggers and readers, and why? Do you also have useful tips for increasing interaction on particular platforms?

FIND ME

Come and chat with me on social media here:

Laura x

4 comments:

Anne Marie Becker said...

Laura, I'm very similar in that I spend a lot of my social media time on either Facebook or Twitter, but usually Facebook, since those posts automatically go to Twitter. I have an Instagram account, but haven't figured out how to find the time to use it. ;) I also am fairly active on Pinterest, but typically that's for personal enjoyment. I have a "My Books" type page there, though, with my covers.

Congratulations on the success of the new/indie release!! That's totally awesome! :D

Rita said...

Congrats on your new release.
I enjoy IG but don't use it nearly enough. FB seems to be my #1 place right now. Twitter is okay but have mercy the things people say there.

Rita said...

Laura there is an article in the LA Times about Twitter. Seem they are struggling. Perhaps IG is the place to spend time.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-twitter-layoffs-20161027-story.html

CathyP said...

I'm probably most active on FB. My Profile sends posts to Twitter - some day I'll figure out how to have the Page posts go there. Actual engagement on Twitter is hit or miss. If I catch someone I know in the stream I can engage (but that's rare). Searching a few hashtags brings up the good, bad and really ugly.
For a while I was doing well with G+ but ya know, there are only so many hours in the day.
Congrats on your new release and fantastic launch!

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