I like to share my good news with others. Sure, I'm good like that. But often I don't. Is this wrong? I'm talking about writing news, of course, not those happy instances when I trip over a shiny new penny on the ground, face side up.Lately I've been traveling around blogs/twitter/Facebook and catching bazillions of snippets about folks getting awards, getting good reviews, releasing books, etc. I mean, I encourage the positive outlets from others. Makes it nice to know there are good thing happening, but I notice it's the same few tooting their own horns over and over again.
Is this a good thing, since the more you read about a person, the more you remember them? I don't know. As a reader, maybe it would stick with me that this particular author is successful. As a writer, I tend to wonder how they have so much time to hit every board out there jumping for joy over a positive review.
I sound like sour grapes, but that's not it. I get plenty of nice reviews. I announced when I was up for series of the year, even have it on my website. But I'm not shouting it out to the heavens on every venue I have access to, and I'm wondering if I'm wrong in not doing this. But one, I'm busy writing and don't have a lot of time for sloshing through so much social media. And two, it just feels like bragging to me.
Then again, some would call it savvy marketing. I just don't know. I try to blog about topics I find interesting. Every now and then I post a good review or something pertaining to good news, but it's on my personal blog or Facebook page, where you'd expect to see news about ME. The info I'm talking about seeing is on publisher's loops, promo loops, reader loops, writer loops, and any of the many Yahoo groups out there devoted to anything to do with books, entertainment, and general tomfoolery.
Maybe the better question is, what's the proper etiquette for sharing good news? Because I have no idea, and I'm curious as to what others think. Is it bad form to brag? Is it perfectly legitimate to share good news, as long as you don't post more than X times a week? Or am I the only one questioning what is probably a dull topic?
Hell if I know. Now I need a cup of coffee before I get back to work. And a happy Thursday to you all...
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4 comments:
I like this post a lot.
I’m not sure what the right mix is either. Certainly, there are times when an author posts something somewhere about her/his book receiving acclaim or accolades that will cause me to take a look at the book. On the reverse side, there is one book/author in particular that slithers its way onto my computer screen almost daily. Rest assured that is one book and author I will never read.
Yeah David/KevaD. That's my take too. When I see those same authors again and again on a bevy of groups I belong to, I kind of tune them out because I find them annoying. It's not the positive encouragement to buy their book I'd think they want. And that only enforces my opinion to keep my "sharing" to a minimum.
I can see a new author talking about their book everywhere when it first comes out from either excitement or just wanting exposure to as many readers as possible. I'm not sure about established authors. As a reader, when I see the same book/author everywhere talking about their reviews, books, whatever I find myself less and less interested in the book. For me, it's like the high school cheerleader who won't stop talking about themselves and are annoying. I get so tired of seeing the book that I will never read the book and probably never read that author.
As a reader, and I hope soon to be published author (crossing my fingers here), I find it annoying to see the same person spouting about their awards on every loop I belong to. While I am happy for them, I'm not about to congratulate them on every single loop. Takes time away from my writing.
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