The ultimate goal, I suppose, is to spread the word once I've got a book out. But really I'm having fun and loving the awesome new people I make connections with and the amazing things I find. I love it and want to do as much as I can.
However, with all that said, there are 3 social media sites that I would love to use, but haven't quite figured out yet. I guess I kind of need help. They are sites that could potentially have huge benefits, I just can't seem to figure out how to work them.
1. Goodreads: I know that, being a writer, its odd and not a good thing for me to say that I don't get how to use Goodreads. I know, and that's exactly why I'm coming to you all for help. Obviously it has huge potential, and hello, it's a site for people actively looking for their next read. The thing is, I'm having an awkward time trying to figure out how to communicate with people on the site in the same large-scale way you can on places like Twitter or blogging. Not that small scale isn't worthwhile, I guess on Goodreads it just seems very intimidating. Especially not having a book out, I'm just not sure how to go about it. Tips?
2. Tumblr: Another beneficial site that's only becoming more and more popular. I think on this one its the format that's complicating things for me. It's just really difficult to keep track of things on Tumblr. Again, I'm just not sure the best way to contact people, which makes it hard to know how to spread the word. How do you get your Tumblr in front of people? I mean, I know that the strategy I've used for this blog is to find other blogs and comment on them and do that a lot and that seems simple enough. Is that basically it on Tumblr as well? I mean, just posting regularly and liking and reposting and commenting on other people's stuff? It just seems intimidating to keep a handle on it all on Tumblr, but maybe that's just the nature of the beast.
3. StumbleUpon: This is the one where I'm really, really lost. I've at least spent a little time fiddling around on the other sites trying to figure things out, but not so much on this one. But I still want to use it, because I've heard it has huge referral potential, and that's its growing in popularity as well. So I don't want to miss out on what it could do for me. I suppose I'll just have to play around more on this one too and see what I can see, but anyone a user of StumbleUpon who can give tips on how to use it the most successfully?
Anyway, I could really use some tips if you have experience on these sites. Or even if you don't, it might be worth checking these ones out because, like I said, huge benefit potential, and we can learn together. But yeah, any ideas?
Sarah Allen
18 comments:
I joined Goodreads initially so my book could have a page. I've just started looking at the groups but I'm not finding it very easy to interact - maybe the huge blogging community has ruined me for other forms of social media (Facebook aside, of course lol).
As for the other two, nope never even looked at them or considered it. I'm LinkedIn and something else, but that's by being invited and not saying 'no' - if you get my meaning. I have no idea what goes on there either. Sometimes I think there's far too much. When I first started writing and submitting there were publishers and magazine editors and me - now there's so much it's easy to make marketing a full-time effort!
Goodreads is hard to navigate. I only use it to keep track of what I want to read (which it is great at). I joined a group but I don't really use it, though I keep getting emails about it. I think once you have a book published it's more beneficial because you can advertise and do read-to-reviews and stuff.
As for the other two, I've never used them and don't really understand them either, lol.
Goodreads - i only use this to keep track of the books I've read.
Tumblr - mainly it's about reblogging. Liking, reblogging and following people will get them to visit your site. It's all a bit of a lottery though.
Stumbleupon - I've added the toolbar to my browser and 'like' my own posts so they're in the system and that does seem to get some traffic. Not sure I'm doing it right though.
mood
Moody Writing
@mooderino
The Funnily Enough
I'm only on Goodreads. I built an author page and only go back on occasion to check out new books. When I want to read reviews, this is the first place I look.
There are a few groups on Goodreads on various topics including a "Help group". You might try checking them out and subscribe to their emails.
I get the philosophy of Goodreads and plan to sign up for that soon. The rest, not so much. I don't even see a need for Twitter. It's as annoying for me as strobe lights.
I get the sense that Tumblr is kind of dropping off, but I could be wrong... I love Goodreads for giveaways and such. Plus, it's a great tool to generate discussion if you stream your reads to FB and Twitter.
Not sure about Tumblr or StumbleUpon but I do like Goodreads. I use it as a reader mostly but I do enter giveaways. I like to use it to share books I like on sites like Facebook. I don't always like linking to amazon to share a book I like when I have friends who are indie bookstore owners.
As much as I love social media, these are some examples of sites that are totally beyond me! I have had friends try to explain tumblr to me and I just don't seem to get it!
the-creationofbeauty.blogspot.com
I signed up for Tumblr, and I haven't been to it for months now because it's just too difficult to figure out! It seems I can't comment on anyone else's blog...can't follow people..I just don't get it! So far Blogger is the most user friendly, inspite of it's occasional problems.
my daughter-in-law has just started using tumblr--she loves it
I have this problem with every new social media site. I've found the trick is to just join and poke around and fall on your face a few times until you figure out what works for you.
I see Goodreads as a "Pandora for books" -- it suggests books I may like based on what I've told it I like. It also helps me keep track of things I've read. I've never been able to do this very well whatsoever before. I like getting on every once in a while and updating, seeing what my friends are reading, etc. But I don't see myself using it in a major way. It's a kind of accessory.
Tumblr -- now this is one I'm interested in as well. I may start one just to play around with it. It LOOKS like it's blogging, microblogging, and sharing all integrated into one thing. I know a lot of people are using it now as a main blogging platform. I don't understand ocmpletely how it works, so it's on my list to fiddle with.
As for StumbleUpon -- I don't know how exactly it has "huge referral potential" ... I used to use it as a way to "unwind" after a hectic day at school. My friends would share things with me on there, and I'd also mark subjects that interested me (relationships, science, writing, pictures, food, etc) and then I'd just click the "stumble" button and find interesting things that I mightn't have otherwise known about. I haven't used it in years now, though. I just started getting bored with it, I guess. :/
Social media is a maze, is it not?
mmm never heard of them before! so I can't be any helpful....:P
I'm not on Goodreads--I am on Shelfari, which seems similar. I never really saw the draw of being as social on the site as I am on, say, Blogger, though I still update what books I'm reading.
I've heard about StumbleUpon, but haven't joined. I'm thinking about it, just to find out for myself what everyone's talking about . . .
StumbleUpon confuses me so much! I don't get it at all. And I should be on Goodreads, but it just seems like so much work...sigh. I think it's all about finding what works for you and your schedule. Good luck!
I've heard good things about StumbleUpon as far as getting one's blog posts noticed. Tumblr don't know about.
Goodreads I'm on but haven't really used it very much.
There not enough time to learn about all this stuff and do other things--at least not for me.
Lee
A Faraway View
An A to Z Co-host blog
Haven't dipped a toe in any of those yet. It's all I can do to keep up with Twitter and blogging. Yikes.
I totally agree - I've tried to use Goodreads, but can't get the hang of it. Maybe because only one of my friends uses it. I don't know. Maybe once I'm published it will make more sense.
As for the other two, I've at least heard of Tumblr - the other one is completely foreign.
I'm not that old, I swear. I can at least use Twitter and Facebook. And Blogger - then again, I've been blogging since the days of HTML code. The world just changes too fast!
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