Sunday, April 17, 2016

Antisocial media and me.


The make-believe book cover above came my way from another writer. I laughed when I saw it. But I cannot appreciate it fully as I haven’t had to walk away from Facebook. That’s because I’ve yet to walk in those social media boots.
Seldom does a week pass without a notice or three arriving in my e-mail inbox that says so-and-so would like to add me to this or that network or list or circle or ring or book or something.
I never respond.
Not that I don’t know, and even like, some of the people behind these requests (although a good many of them come from complete strangers).
The thing is, I don’t get it. I have no idea what I would be signing up for and what would result.
I have yet to find sufficient motivation to allay that ignorance. And I have yet to think it worth whatever time or attention, if any, might be required of me if I did get added or listed or circled or ringed or booked.
Between researching and writing books and magazine articles and sending out these little screeds, I already spend enough time staring at computer screens to blind myself.
So, if you invite me to join some online something and I don’t, don’t be offended. It’s nothing personal. I just want to avoid getting overpowered by pixels and gobbled up by bytes. 
It’s probably a losing battle. But so far, my metaphorical horse hasn’t been stolen by social media. 


Time is short to enroll for the Write Here in Ephraim Writer's Conference. See you there.

11 comments:

  1. Love the cover. I wonder how long it will take before we as a society realize how much of our lives have been stolen by social media.

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  2. Rod, as usual you raise good questions. Social media obsession can be an injurious cultural obsession. I don't tweet. I am a stranger to my real life Facebook page.

    My author page is a different story. It is a busy place (thankfully) and a business/marketing tool. It gives me the ability to target people who have interests in subjects related to western literature. My weekly posts draw 20-60K exposures depending on content and photo-art. I get 20-40 comments a week and 50 to 100 page likes. Four-thousand-seven-hundred people follow my work after two years. Yes I spend some money to promote the page; but not a lot in the grand scheme of things. The important thing is consistency week after week. I doubt I devote much more time to it than you devote to your blog. The trick is finding folks where they are; rather than trying to draw them to where you are.

    When it comes to social media, the numbers are there whether we like it or not.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Paul. Impressive statistics. I suppose you’re right—the social media numbers are there. But to what end? I’ve heard it said that it’s like judging the success of an airline based on the number of takeoffs, when the only measure that counts is the number of landings.

      In the ad biz we learned long ago that attracting eyeballs is easy (babies and puppies and gorillas in jockstraps come to mind). But 20 hundred million thousand curiosity seekers are worth exactly half as much as an audience of half a dozen with open wallets. When it comes to commerce, the only way people can “like” you is with money.

      Then again, if I was writing books for the money, I’d have found a better-paying job long ago.

      Delete
  3. A writer friend, Patti Sherlock, left the following comment but it showed up on the earlier "Lies They Tell Writers" post instead of this one:

    Keep saying no! I capitulated, pressured by an agent and editor. Do you like how much you get done now? That could disappear. Most users of social media agree that the sites are time sinks. Occasionally, you come across something useful, and the jokes are fun. But there is despair, too, when you realize you have just wasted an hour or more.

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  4. Your "To what end?" question has a two-fold answer. Long term it is building a brand. It gets my author name out there. I do that by giving away free samples of my writing. The people who follow my page enjoy the glimpses of western history I post each week. Each post ends with a link to my Amazon author page. My Facebook author page has a 'Shop Now' link to my Amazon page. I track those clicks. Two or three times a week I get inquiries on where a reader can find my books. In other comments I hear readers who have read more than one of my books. For me the answers to your question are brand and sales. Are there vast sums of money involved? Hardly. It is more about putting out a product people enjoy. That doesn't happen if people don't know there's a product.

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    Replies
    1. Pretty hard to argue with all that, Paul.

      But, despite what they may think, social media aficionados did not invent publicity, public relations, promotion, or advertising. My name gets out there with bylines and bios in the magazines I write for, in book reviews, in the publicity for writers’ conferences I teach at, other events I speak at, cover blurbs on other authors’ books, with coverage of awards I am lucky enough to win, and even these humble little posts.

      There’s more than one way to skin a cat and social media is not the only—or maybe even the most productive—one.

      Delete
  5. All those opportunities work for you. Some of us don't get enough of them to get the brand building job done.

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  6. I live in a very remote area. Social media is a good way for me to build a community around myself without actually leaving the ranch. I can do my work of growing food on public lands and writing about it. I can have my solitude without becoming so isolated that I am out of touch with what is going on off the dirt road. I know where the "real world" is, and what songs it is singing. But I enjoy social media because it gives me an extended human family and interaction. It is a great marketing tool as well in a time when publishers do very little for authors in the promotion and publicity department. I enjoy Instagram and follow very diverse feeds, including naturism, photography, doula/water birth, breastfeeding, tattoo artists, and nature writers. I cross post to FB and Twitter. I do not blog, however, because it steals my writing energy. I look at my time as a pie chart, giving the bulk to writing new work. The big issue here is not one of "should I" or "shouldn't I" but one of balance and choice. All of the tools are available, but we pick those that are right for us as individuals.

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    Replies
    1. Absolutely right, Amy. If I climb up on my roof I can look out and see about a million people, so isolation isn't a problem here. Although I could do with a little more of it.

      I don't find writing these things a chore, but watching my wife wade through Facebook and Pintrest and the like makes me tired.

      Delete
  7. I live in a very remote area. Social media is a good way for me to build a community around myself without actually leaving the ranch. I can do my work of growing food on public lands and writing about it. I can have my solitude without becoming so isolated that I am out of touch with what is going on off the dirt road. I know where the "real world" is, and what songs it is singing. But I enjoy social media because it gives me an extended human family and interaction. It is a great marketing tool as well in a time when publishers do very little for authors in the promotion and publicity department. I enjoy Instagram and follow very diverse feeds, including naturism, photography, doula/water birth, breastfeeding, tattoo artists, and nature writers. I cross post to FB and Twitter. I do not blog, however, because it steals my writing energy. I look at my time as a pie chart, giving the bulk to writing new work. The big issue here is not one of "should I" or "shouldn't I" but one of balance and choice. All of the tools are available, but we pick those that are right for us as individuals.

    ReplyDelete