Have you ever wondered whether “going viral” with a video or Tweet would boost your book sales? Think again. The impact of sudden fame on a writing career can be fleeting as well as fickle.
Author Jami Attenberg recently wrote about her experience with instant Internet fame. Attenberg, who has written around a half-dozen novels including a NYT-bestseller, became an overnight sensation when she set up a successful sting to recover a stolen bicycle. So how did all that media attention affect her book sales? Nada much, according to the writer. Attenberg’s “fame” faded quickly, and she eventually returned to the daily, unglamorous grind of writing.
It’s a different story with Zoella Sugg, a YouTube “vlogger” who built a large following with her online tutorials telling young women how to apply makeup, do their hair, and deal with personal issues. According to an article in The Guardian, sales of Sugg’s first book, Girl Online, made her the fastest-selling debut author on record. Her forward progress hit some bumpy air when it became known that Girl Online had been created in collaboration with a ghost writer. Happily for Sugg, her online fans didn’t seem to care about the news of a ghost writer, any more than they cared about her Tweet asking her fans to “Bare with me” as she took a hiatus from the Internet to uncloud her head.
There’s a scary side of Internet fame as well. You’re probably familiar with the story of how one ill-considered Tweet upended the life and career of a corporate communications executive. That story shows that when we take a false step on the Internet, we can quickly find ourselves swimming in uncharted waters. Such areas of risk on the Internet map should be marked with the cartographer’s ancient warning: “Here Be Dragons.”
Here’s my take on the benefits of Internet celebrity. If you become known for posting make-up tutorials, grumpy cat videos, or quitting a job in a dramatic fashion, you might be able to cash in on that celebrity with fans of make-up, grumpy cats, or dramatic exits. But if you’re an author who writes fiction for a living, don’t expect a passing burst of Internet attention to push your books. For that you need to focus on your writing, instead.
I couldn’t agree more. I know too many writers devote more time to social media promotion than to improving their writing. The result? Lackluster sales and lackluster writing.
And how many people–not only writers–waste time trying to think up ways to get something of theirs to “go viral”? That one is a COMPLETE waste of time. Thanks for chipping in, Elaine!
Read an agent’s blog a few months ago where she wrote of an ongoing debate among the agent/publishing world questioning the effectiveness of this new and improved marketing technique involving facebook, twitter, etc. She believed the older techniques were more effective. She didn’t explain further what those older techniques were
Hah! I’d love to have that one explained to me, as well, mg.
Maybe this comes from my bias against social media (and the massive time suck it creates for writers) but I’m wondering if Tweeting et al is vastly overrated. Maybe it was once the bright shiny thing that dazzled so many in the publishing world, who, depleted of marketing staff, were all too willing to make the writer shoulder the burden. But from my own conversations with editors lately, their expectations about social media’s effectiveness seem to have come back to earth. I still remember the emails I got from one promotion person two years ago who begged me befriend the hundred-plus bloggers on the list she sent. I read the list and was shocked that most of them had nothing to do with books or publishing. But these bloggers had “followers” and I guess they figured I could somehow tap into that. I didn’t bother.
What seems to move sales is, as it always did, is genuine word of mouth among dedicated readers. And as Jim and others keep saying here — a steady supply of quality books. Not to say that the writer has no role in marketing and promotion. Just the opposite. But you really have to be wise about where you invest your time and energy. No. 1 priority for me: producing the best books I can at a good steady pace.
Now must go sign off and write my newsletter. 🙂
I wonder if that was the same editor who told me that publishers “don’t consider Amazon” in terms of a marketing plan, lol.
I’d think it would depend on what goes viral. If it’s a review of your book, and word of mouth about your book spreads around the Net, then yes, it might positively influence book sales. But if it’s about the butterflies in your backyard or your tips for making lasagne or something else unrelated to the quality of your work, then fame might be as fleeting as you mentioned. If a surge in sales is going to happen, it’ll more likely happen as it did to J.K. Rowling. The books will take off through no special effort of your own.
Amen Sister Nancy.
Absolutely, Nancy. Internet buzz has value when it is related to one’s writing. Otherwise, not so much.
Great advice, Kathryn! I recall a few authors going viral when they didn’t step away from the keyboard before making nasty comments about readers or reviewers. Then of course things just escalated from there. An author can quickly lose readers’ respect – and book sales – by displaying arrogance, condescension, and lack of restraint on social media, complete with profanities. Those kinds of incendiary comments are pretty much assured to spread like wildfire.
And those kinds of feuds open the door to cyberbullying, a no-win game for authors to play. Thanks for commenting, Jodie!
On point, Jody!
Just recently an author released a new adult college romance that BLEW UP overnight. Every one and their dog in the new adult loving world was reading it and giving it 5 stars left, right, and center.
Another author, who received similar on her debut novel success over a year and a half earlier that, tried to read the extremely hyped book and ending up marking as DNF and making some mean comments in her review on Goodreads–basically saying the author of the book can’t write and new adult books should be better.
Uh-oh. Wrong thing to say about a book that *everyone* is giving five stars. Was this author’s pomposity born from the praises she received about her “flawless” writing of her debut novel a year and a half prior? Maybe. Or is she one of the many arrogant know-it-alls out there who think they KNOW what readers want? Maybe.
A few weeks after this comment was made, both authors released their new works on the same day. One took over a year to write, to make sure the sentences were ‘perfect’, and the other took just a few months, riding on the high of the success if it’s predecessor.
Guess which author shot to Amazon Top 10 and which Author didn’t even make it to the top 5000?
It doesn’t matter how spectacular a writer you are, authors should learn to be humble. In the end, your opinion doesn’t matter, the readers do. In the end, it the READERS who decides which book they’ll spend their money on.
It doesn’t matter that one author thinks the other author is a lousy writer, the readers, in the end, chose to spend their money on the “lousy author’s” work.
And I should point of that the pompous author is traditionally published, the other, who remained humble through it all, is self-published.
Authors should practice humility, support each other, be happy when another succeeds, and stop tearing each other down.
For years my opinion has been that social media, blogging, et al is a time suck, and probably increases the average author’s sales very little. However, there is always an exception. Look at John Scalzi, who started his Whatever blog long before he published his first novel, and has just signed a 3.4 million dollar deal with Tor. That’s not chump change. I have no doubt that his (excellent) blog has helped to increase his reader base. It also helps that he is an engaging writer, does enjoyable readings, and manages to keep his butt in the chair and get the writing done. So it might not exactly be “a burst of internet fame”, more like a strong, steady glow of internet whatever, but I would bet my bottom dollar it has helped his sales.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/25/business/media/science-fiction-writer-signs-a-3-4-million-deal.html?ref=health
Note: I am a regular reader of Whatever (and his books).
Scalzi’s an excellent example of someone who built his sales steadily over time–not an Internet flash in the pan. Thanks for including the link to that article, Cat–interesting reading!
Interesting topic and I do think some authors spend more time worrying about their number of followers, likes, friends etc. than focusing on their writing… Though a bit of ‘fame’ doesn’t hurt – readers want a good writer rather than just a good marketer:)
Plus, it’s so much easier to justify wasting time online when it’s done in the name of “Marketing,” Clare!
Oh, thank you for this post! It couldn’t be more timely. I’m in the throes of promoting my debut novel and have been thrust into Twitter. The last few days it has become all consuming and I’ve lost sight of my direction. I haven’t even been able to write. With each new follower, I’m wondering more if I will see any value with this diversion of my time from my WIP. This post confirms my growing fear that I may be just wasting my time and should just get back to work…and concentrate my marketing strategies on more direct contact.
You are wise to recognize the early symptoms of Twitter-itis, Julie! It can really drain your mental energy.
Twitter-itis is the perfect description because it has had me feeling feverish, for sure! I’ll take a step back and a few deep breaths now
On social media, the word of the day is “organic.” It’s not the buymybookbuymybook it’s working it into conversations where it fits.
I can point to two instances where I had something take off online. What they share in common is that there was no real intent behind them.
The first was a comment I made on a Humans of New York post. Before I knew it, there were a thousand replies, multi-thousand “likes,” people asking me if they could share it and then, somebody piping in with, “Hey, she wrote a book!” including a link. There was a small sales bump.
The other was a meme I created on Buzzfeed back in its early days. I was messing around with it and built the meme to show off my for-fun blog “Why I Fear Clowns.” Within 2 days, it had six digits of views, eleventy-hundred shares, made the Buzzfeed front page, and to this day, I still see the pics show up unexpectedly (I had added a specific border on them,) in articles/blogs/posts. 5 years later the blog still gets hits originating from that meme.
The moral of the story is you can’t manufacture virality (maybe a celeb can, but us mere mortals can’t.) All you can do is create good content and be prepared to capitalize on it if lightning strikes.
Terri
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