Monday 3 March 2014

Finding Time - My Next Book Update

As an author I write randomly. I have no set time to write. But the hours seem to whittle away when I get stuck in with writing my books, yet I see a lot of authors/writers who seem to spend an inordinate amount of time on social network sites. Some never seem to be off it for one moment. I am not sure how they can get any work done at all.

Social media, can be a good marketing tool and also where you can meet fellow authors and like minded people. It's great to get ideas or when inspiration is needed, but to spend such a lengthy time on it, it is a wonder how anything is done.

I only go to social sites when I need too, or when I am taking a break and want to catch up on my fellow authors friends etc. Thing is I do not know how those I have seen on some sites get any writing done! I had seen a picture a few days ago about and I quote 'The Bermuda Triangle for Writers' mentioning 'Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter' and not to get caught up in it.

We all know those social sites are good for marketing, promotion and gaining new connections. Yes see it as a business tool, to build your audience. But having said that, there should be some cut off point. Allocate say whatever time to be there and then leave, get back to your work. So just saying, I don't know how other authors/writers do it.

I came across this article. I know it spells out about bad self promotion,  but the topic is about spending too much time on social sites.

 http://goodereader.com/blog/commentary/indie-authors-are-spending-too-much-time-on-social-self-promotion

I probably spend something like a half an hour on media sites, sometimes I can get caught in research for my book and other fact finding missions for my books. I am not saying that social media is a bad thing. It is great where you can connect with fellow creatives as being a writer can be such a solo endeavour, connecting with others really brings the community together and that is one of the best things about it. Spending time is good but in the right measurements, to keep you there can in effect be more valuable than spending a lot more time than necessary and losing time that could have been spent to write that book, story or article you have been meaning too.




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My next book news update

                     I have a mass of research to do for my next book. Never have I had quite such a collection of stuff before. Thing is I am enjoying it despite the amount of work I have to undertake for this book. I am thrilled with the story so far. Yet I have no working title, no name for the main character ( thought I had one and realised it was unsuitable ...for the second time! )

                     I've already reached 20k words but still have way lots more to do. It is nowhere near finished!  Hedging bets it might be somewhere later this year or early next year. I promised myself I would not set a publication date for this book. I don't want to rush it.

                     I love the story but yet have no idea where the story is taking me too. Presently I have at least four companion notebooks for the book filled with notes, ideas, research and other possibilities.  This is and has been so far a tougher challenge for myself and I am loving every minute of it. .

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The Free eBook Covers will be available later this month.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Such a good blog, and an excellent subject to touch upon, Jess!

I heartedly agree with your thoughts... while I am still rather new to the social aspects that we simply MUST do as Indie Authors, I couldn't agree more that while it is a requirement in order to get the word out for us, our first and foremost priority is writing. How can this be accomplished when there are, as you say, some authors that seem to be constantly posting on these social networks?

It occurs to me that, at least in terms of Twitter, that there is some form of secondary tool being used that is configured to automatically 'tweet' for the author at set intervals.

This seems to be the case, at least in my opinion, after seeing the same tweets repeated several times in a day. I can't imagine it's being done manually, due to the frequency. As you say, no work could possibly get done!

If this is the case, and I don't doubt the possibility is out there, the potential of such tweets being seen is obviously increased versus someone who only tweets a few times a day (continuing to use Twitter as the example.)

The problem I see with this kind of marketing however, is personality. It lacks emotion. It's nothing more than a clock that chimes every hour on the hour, never changing, always sounding exactly the same no matter what hour of the day you hear it.

I understand we need to use social networks. It's the bread and butter of our marketing as Indie Authors. But in that sense, I personally choose to use the social networks in person, and not some form of 'automated' system that does it for me.

Ultimately, to each his own. There are pros and cons to everything, and this is certainly no different. In the end, it boils down to what each individual author feels is best for him/her.

--Scott A Borgman

WriterReads said...

Thank you Scott for your comment Scott :)