How Much Is Too Much?

As every writer knows, book promotion is vital and, happily, much of it can be carried out from the comfort of home, at our convenience. Goodness knows, there are a growing number of venues to promote your books. My favourites are Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Authorsden, kindleboards.com, and amazon forums. I try to visit these venues at least once a week, and I type a couple of messages on Twitter everyday because it’s so quick and efficient.

Over the past two years, I’ve seen the same names crop up countless times on the amazon forums. I’ve gotten to know a number of people there, and we share bits of our personal lives, plus our publishing triumphs and tribulations with one another. They’ve become my electronic pen pals, so to speak.

I’ve noticed, though, that two or three people on the forums promote their books over and over again everyday. I see the same plug as much as ten times a day and, frankly, it’s become annoying, even though it takes me only brief seconds to delete their posts.

I’m not the only person who feels this way, as I’ve read muttered complaints before. For me, it’s become a turnoff from wanting to buy these authors’ books. It’s also an important lesson: if we want to promote our books to readers, we should carefully consider what we want to say and how often we plan to say it. Nobody wants to hear from someone who’s worn out his welcome, and wouldn’t the time be better spent working on that next book anyway?

My Alex Bellamy mysteries can be purchased at
FATAL ENCRYPTION, http://tinyurl.com/ddzsxl
TAXED TO DEATH, http://tinyurl.com/czsy5n