Let IT Begin

And by IT, I mean launch prep.

So a few things I feel I should make public. First, I hope all my friends who are not writers (and even those who are) will forgive me for any promotional efforts that might feel excessive or over the top. I promise I will do my best to not over do it, but I think everyone has a different threshold of tolerance. I hope I don't cross yours. (But I promise not every post will be about me and/or my book. Most won't, so please do keep coming back.)

Also, be prepared for an unusual number of contests, excerpts, and mentions of reviews, etc, because that is what writers do when their first book is released. And their second. Maybe even the third. Okay, let’s face it. We do it for all of them until we become well enough known that our work promotes itself. Yeah.

Now, this is where I could use your help. 

I’d like to hear about your favorite unique promotion for a book or product. For instance, Bree Despain gave away custom nail polish that matched the covers of The Dark Divine series. Elana Johnson gave away a limited number of exclusive custom art pieces by the talented Dustin Hansen when she released Surrender.

Those are two of my favorites. Now I’d like to hear yours.

And, um, if you share an idea (not T-shirts, bookmarks, or posters) and I do something similar, you will receive the first of that type of prize for helping me out. No drawing. No tweeting or sharing or anything else required. Deal? Okay.

And…GO!

2 Social Networking Peeves

You know what I’ve noticed? Social networking has become, like, the hub of our collective lives. Or, well, the dramatic parts anyway.

Take Facebook, for instance (just one of a great many examples). I can sign on at any time of the day, and with a few minutes of scrolling, figure out what’s going on with a lot of people. Theoretically, this should be the best possible place to get news or information about the people we care about.

Except for two things. (Well, there’s probably more, but I’m just going to highlight these two.)

1. Some people have discovered that these public forums are a good place to whine about their poor, sad existences in order to garner instant sympathy.

2. Others have discovered that these same public forums are a great place for publicity, and so they fill every post with, “buy my___” or “I’m doing this, come see me” or “I know you’re so excited about me, me, me”.


Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s perfectly acceptable to post about each of those subjects occasionally, sparingly. But I also think it’s important to have other updates in between. Let’s face it, no one wants to see how poor picked on you are 100% of the time, and if you never post anything entertaining, or of value to others, it’s highly likely you’re about to get unfollowed, unfriended, or hidden. Or in the worst cases, maybe even blocked.

The same rule applies to self promotion. Social networking sites are perfect for it. But if the only comments you ever make are all about your book or product, and you never take the time to give back to your collective following (chat, say something funny, comment on the weather or other people's statuses, whatever), people are likely to be more annoyed than glad for your potential success.

But I’m not an expert. This is strictly an opinion (or rant) based on my own experiences and observations. So I’d love to hear what you think about this phenomenon. Do you think it’s important to balance our social networking updates or posts?