Recently I received a comment on one of my Goodreads reviews. The author of the book I reviewed thanked me for loving her book and let me know the sequel was coming out soon. She then invited me to follow a link for updates and information and some other such stuff that I no longer remember because I'm not that kind of reader.
Part of me - the writer part - thought this was a great marketing idea. The other part - the reader part - was a little put off. Okay, and a little embarrassed because despite the fact that I gave this book a glowing review that proved to me how much I really did love this book, I cannot remember reading it. (Brain injured, remember?)
The put off part? I don't actually like people trying to sell me stuff - which is weird because a large portion of who I am actively engages in trying to sell other people stuff. If I love something, I'm always try to get other people to try it so they'll love it, too. (You ought to see my reviews for my new sheets and comforter.)
Anyway, while I'm trying to fathom that little quirk about myself... (Because the author didn't do anything wrong and she wasn't even ham-handed about it. Her note was very nice and not pushy.)... Tell me how you deal with stuff like this. If you're an author, do you send emails to the people who've reviewed your books informing them of subsequent books? As a reader, how do you feel about receiving emails like this?
Because you know, if I ever do have books up for sale, it sounds like something I might try.
Great marketing technique - but as a reader, I would have been put-off! As a hopefully-one-day-soon-if-the-stars-align-real-life-author, I'm not sure I could do that. Gawd, I have a big issue with sending out an e-mail to a friend to suggest they check out Sym's Stories! A friend, no less! I would have made the worst salesperson!!
ReplyDeleteAll that said, still a great marketing technique.
Yeah, there's some kind of schism there. Like how we're supposed to market our books but it's bad to toot your own horn or something. :shrug: I wonder if guy writers have the same problem or it's just us girls...
DeleteFor me it's hints at desperation and that's a turn-off. A note saying thank you for the lovely review - fine, great even. An addendum about your upcoming book - too much. It becomes less about the thank you and more about promotion. And Goodreads is tricky. It's really all about the reader and they can get upset by what they see as author intrusion.
ReplyDeleteAs a reader, if I tweet or FB or etc about an author, I'm thrilled when they respond or interact. Or give me the heads up on the next book!
Not that I have marketing figured out. Not by a long shot. Or even a little.
But is that because we're trained that way, Karyn? it bears pondering. In the case of this author, I thought it was nice that she thanked me - back when I posted the review - but this follow up thank you attached to a 'hey, if you loved that, the sequel's coming out' kind of made me wonder.
DeleteI haven't even started with marketing my own stuff, but I think you're doing a good job.
Yeah. I suck at marketing and don't think I could be that forward though I understand the reasoning behind it. At some point, I'll have to do a newsletter and that seems to me to be as pushy as I want to get. But it's opt in, as is my blog and my FB page. I figure if you're following/reading my social media one of two things--either you know me personally and want to support me or you're a fan of my work and would be interested in updates on my writing. It may be just us girls. I'd be curious as to what Chuck Wendig would have to say on the subject.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you suck at marketing, Silver. At least you have the networking thing down with all the contacts you have. I'd be curious to see what Chuck would say, but he'd probably swear a whole bunch and then I'd be left wondering how he could've gotten the same point across without so many Fs (like I usually do).
DeleteHmmm, personally, I have a different take on it. As a reader I would have been all giddy at receiving a message like that because it meant the author (THE AUTHOR--OMG!) read my review and liked it enough to interact with me. In fact, it has happened a few times in the past.
ReplyDeleteAs a writer, I see the marketing value of engaging readers in such a way. Plus, clearly it was a good idea with you since you didn't even remember reading the book. Maybe this way you'll go check out her next release?
I don't like it, however, when authors engage reviewers who left a negative review. That ticks me off. Don't apologize or offer up excuses why you did what you did. Just suck it up and move on. As my younger cousin likes to say, "Tough stuff, Cream Puff."
It's happened a few times for me, too, Nat. And like I told Karyn, I was pretty happy at her first response. Since my book budget is like a drought-ridden puddle, I probably won't go looking to buy her next book. I didn't buy the last one - it was just a Kindle freebie that looked interesting. Oh yeah, engaging a negative review is never a good idea, even if it's a nice response. (Got one of those once. It was kinda disturbing.)
DeleteI love Natalie's take on this. To do it myself sounds wrong, but I was thrilled back in postcard days to get a return postcard from a writer. Maybe it is a better marketing tool than I'd think.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I'm not sure I would do it personally, but I wouldn't discount the value either.
DeleteI could be a great marketing tool, Deb, if we could see our way past the roadblock of 'a lady shouldn't try to promote herself', I think.
DeleteWhen I was a rookie writer I read a series by an older/established author that I thought was interesting and different, and I wrote up some thoughts about it somewhere (I think on my very first blog.) It was not a review but more like me sharing my opinion of it to my readership -- and I think I had two at that point, and one of them was my Mom. This was in the days before Twitter, Facebook and all the other ways everyone spies on each other, so when she e-mailed me about it I felt rather creeped out. She probably didn't mean to be patronizing, but the tone of the e-mail (inviting me to join her Yahoo fan loop and mailing list) came across that way to me. I removed the post I'd written and never bought another book she wrote.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good lesson for me in how you should conduct yourself with readers, as in not like that. I keep my marketing in what I feel are appropriate spots, like my blogs, versus throwing it at anyone who e-mails me. I have personally thanked certain reviewers for their support, but only when they've contacted me first, and to this day I do the same. I don't want anyone who reads my books to think I value them only for what they can do to help me sell more.