I probably have no right to make such a blog post, but I have seen a lot of people complaining, especially during CONFESSIONS, that a lot of bloggers/authors/PAs don't seem to know how to greet other authors and other bloggers when requesting promotions.
I am no expert, but at least I have a little experience when it comes to this sort of thing. I created IABB because I wanted to help out fellow authors and bloggers with the interwebs connection thingy--I'm so professional, I know. Bear with me.
The internet and social media are the best tools we have going for us. Authors didn't have access to being one-on-one with fans back in 'the day'. (Yeah, I went there.)
Today we can message people who are more than willing to help us get our names out there. (Should I say our? I'm not an author yet. Probably never will be. Eh.) Anyway, the world of promoting is literally at our fingertips, but some of you just don't do it right. At all.
As a blogger I receive a lot of messages daily. I know how overwhelming it can be. We see a lot of the same ole same ole from people.
"Can you share this?!"
"My new book is coming out and I'd love it if you could share this teaser with your readers."
"OH MY GOD. I LOVE YOUR PAGE. HERE'S MY LINK."
Do you notice anything missing? Do you notice anything that shouldn't be there?
Always say please. Did Barney teach you nothing? Manners are still the 'in thing' to do. Starting off with a simple hello will go miles with me, but adding in a please is pleasant for everybody involved. Don't just demand a post be made--ask for it. Bloggers are busy people. We have lives, too. We don't get paid to do this so please don't treat us like employees. We are volunteers and we work pretty damn hard to help get your name/books out there.
Please say please.
Say thank you. Again, this goes a long way for bloggers. We appreciate being appreciated every now and then.
I'm not saying everyone does this, but a lot of people do. I thought it might help to bring these two points up first. However, there is one more that absolutely gets on my nerves......
For the love of all that is holy, why must you CAPS LOCK your message?
In the world of the internet, CAPS LOCK is considered YELLING. Why do you want to yell at someone you're asking to help you out? Would you walk up to your grandmother and say, "GRANDMA, I WANT SOME COOKIES." Would she give them to you? No, she'd smack your mouth for raising your voice at her. That's just rude.
Don't be rude. Don't caps lock at us. It annoys me beyond belief and nine times out of ten I will ignore your message. Period.
So, what have we learned so far?
Please, thank you, and no CAPS LOCKS. These are good lessons, yes?
For those of you who are new to the blogging world, especially authors, I know you may be a little clueless on what to do when approaching a blog to ask for a promotion. Where do you start? What do you say? Is it a good idea to have a premade greeting to send off?
My answer is this: Yes, it's okay to have a premade greeting you can C&P. I know you can be just as busy as us so I don't mind that generic message you send to me and 50+ other blogs. I'm honestly not insulted in the least, but make sure you word it in a way that is friendly and considerate.
"Hello! My name is _________ and I am releasing a new book called _________. It is INSERT GENRE HERE and I have a teaser pic and pre-order link I'd love for you to share. Would you please do that for me? Thank you so much. I'd appreciate it."
^Those are the kind of messages I don't mind getting. Being nice isn't hard to do, folks.
What kinds of stuff can you send to a blogger for promotion?
I will tell you what I absolutely love. It makes my job SO much easier. The C&P stuff comes in handy.
Send me a teaser pic (not 40 million of them) along with the links you want shared. It'd be nice if you do this all at once. (Don't know how to do that? Behold. I will educate you.)
If you want to send a lot of links at once without pressing 'enter' on each one, simply hold down SHIFT + ENTER at the same time to make a new line without sending the message. Do I make sense? I hope so.
This way you can send all your buy links without creating a new message each time. Buy links for Amazon, B&N, KOBO, and iTunes can all be sent in one message which makes for an incredibly easy copy and paste. <---Bloggers will love you for it. I swear.
As far as teasers go: I'm not a picky guy. I'll post almost anything on my page, but I have heard many complaints lately about teasers that are showing too much.
What's too much, you ask?
A guy's dick hanging out or a woman showing her tits is not a teaser I want to share on my page. A lot of readers really want to help you, but they don't want to post inappropriate material like that for their friends to see.
Sometimes classy is the best way to go.
Try to make a few teasers with decent images and try to avoid putting heavy language in it. Even if you just censor it, some people will be more likely to share it--to help you.
I'm not saying to censor who you are or what you write, but if one of your readers wants to help out then you need to give them something they can feel comfortable sharing. Make all the sexy teasers you want, but have that one on reserve for the fans who have people under 18 on their friends list.
Again, I hope I make sense. I probably don't. I'm not a 'blogging' type of guy. Yes, I own a blog, but I mostly post links and images. I never said I was good at writing.
These are just the basics I wanted to cover. This isn't by any means a blogger go-to guru type deal.
Feel free to leave comments below or share with your friends. I hope it helps authors, bloggers, and promoters alike.
-G.
