Wednesday, March 21, 2012

I AM MY OWN LABORATORY RAT (ER, WRITER) or DO YOU CLICK FOR THE WIN?

For those of you following my Amazon "like" experiment of yesterday, we didn't make it.  The hc of Audition went from 17 to 31 likes, so there were a few takers but, alas, still far from 50. And the ranking did not improve.

As I began writing this update, I noticed my blogger queue held drafts of half a dozen posts about various aspects of author-driven book marketing. I'll publish some of these in time but for today I will point out one thing:  I and many author colleagues (often with day jobs and families) log hours in the virtual "trenches" blogging, tweeting, and creating contests and various other promotions. Are they systematic? No, we work anecdotally from techniques we've seen others employ and what we've learned in our attempts to educate ourselves about social media.  And we experiment. On our own books, our own careers.

Is the time well-spent?  One conclusion I can draw from all my anecdotal experimentation is that people are often too busy, too inundated with media, and too occupied with their own personal internet interations and objectives to do much clicking for, say, a book.  So, is it worth the time and effort required to create author-driven marketing campaigns that require people to click-link-paste-etc.  What do you think? Have you had luck (or lack of luck) in this arena?

WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE AS A LABORATORY RAT WRITER?

HOW MUCH TIME WILL YOU SPEND CLICKING TO WIN A PRIZE OR SUPPORT A BOOK?

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