Thursday, May 6, 2010
Where will it end up?
There has been some interesting facts and figures emerging about e-books, self publishing, self promotion and the possible demise of small publishers if they don't respond to the so called 'revolution' in publishing, that it leaves me wondering if the web is little more than overkill, and the promised revolution will not happen. Like many of us, I presume, I have tried to use the web to promote my books. I've joined Squidoo, Twitter, Facebook, International Thriller Writers and set up my own website (three different sites at different times) plus my own blog. Result? The only people who regularly write to me are the spammers! Everything else turns out to be a damp squib. In the last eight months or so, I have had about five, genuine contacts through my web page and blog. When I look at the Hale Blog, the last entry was April 10th. It's now May 6th. This leads me to think that we are suffering from web fatigue. So will the web revolution take off and leave small publishers like Hale to suffer the consequences? And if we authors embark on self publishing and self promotion on the web, will we really make any difference? It would be interesting to know what others think. After all, we're all in the same boat.
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6 comments:
I think self promotion is essential these days. I think you've got to keep plugging at it and with blogs, the trick is to keep them interesting and varied. Mine is heading towards one hundred and fifty thousand hits.
That's a pretty good hit rate. When I was running my website for THE THIRD SECRET, I had some phenominal hits, particularly from China and the USA, but in the end I had no dialogue with anyone.
I agree that web fatigue is evident in many areas of activity. To counter that a blog needs to offer something essential to the visitors to keep them coming back. And even then, interest will ebb and flow.
I'm with Gary on the role of the Internet. Personal promotion has always been important. Traditional publishers always want to know what the author's "platform" is, the marketing plan, etc., when the book proposal is made. My own opinion is that book readers will evolve into much easier to use versions and such items as Apple apps will make buying an eBook something like buying a drink. Sales of eBooks in the States grew last year; those of traditional books slumped. I think the possibilities of eBooks are tremendous and hope to take advantage of them.
I'm a fairly timid presence on the web. I have a website via which I've been contacted by people wanting speakers for their groups, which is useful. I reluctantly joined Facebook and through it, received an excellent review for Death is the Cure, from a magazine I had thought too literary to be interested in my cheerful Victorian cosy mysteries.
I don't think Twitter is my 'thing' and I'm not sure I'd go for a blog of my own either so I'll probably continue to comment on favourite blogs, as I do at present.
As for the future, who knows? But I do think it would be excellent if the Robert Hale Ltd website could link to this blog, so that visitors there, could also drop in over here. Anyone know who to contact to ask if that could be set up?
It's hard to keep going when you're not having interaction. Many writers say the same thing -- they're reaching web/blog fatigue and they aren't sure if it's worth it. But as Gary said, what's the alternative. It's essential to be out there and visible if people look you up, and you never know what connections will materialize eventually.
I think your point is valid overall, though. People are flooded with blogs and forums and websites. How much information can people absorb without suffering from overload?
And when do we write?
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