My publisher has a group email where their authors can post messages. This is one I received recently.
Not sure how many of you if any use Triberr. It is a fabulous way to get
your blog posts out and gain Twitter followers. My tribe “Suspense for the
Romantic Heart” has a reach of about 75K. If there is anyone who would like
to join, it is super easy. Just go to
http://triberr. com/pages/ tribe-details. php?tribe= 23614 , sign up and then
follow my tribe. From there I will add you as a member.
For those who are not familar with Triberr, it is a share for share team. I
share all of your stuff, you share all of mine. The more tribemates, the
more twitter reach, aka the more exposure for you and your books!
Wow! 75,000 people read her tweets about her books! OMG! She must be, like, famous, and selling, thousands of books.
To that I say, LOL
About five years ago, everyone in a writing group I was involved with was fired up about social media. To be a successful writer you needed a “platform”, indeed you should start building it even before you were published. Just what you would say on the “platform” wasn’t clear. Maybe just WIP.
I registered on Facebook and was hungrily “friending” everyone possible – friends of friends of friends …
One day my wife was on the site trying to find a real friend and asked, “Do you know all these people?”
“Of course not.”
“Why are they here then?”
“Because I’m building a “platform”. I post information to them about my books.”
“Are you interested in what they’re posting?”
“Not really.” I mean how could I keep current with all these strangers even if I wanted to?
“Then what makes you think they’re remotely interested in what you’re doing?”
I hate it when she does that, actually makes sense.
With just a minimal amount of research, like asking authors for solid sales results generated by social media, I came to the conclusion it’s all a ponzi scheme for the self-deluded. A few positive responses leads one to believe that there’s riches to be tapped as long as they keep investing in “friends”, tribe members, tweet followers.
But the evidence seems to show nobody’s selling anything through social media. It’s a delusional way to feel good about what you’re doing because the chances of having any real success are infinitesimal.
If you don’t believe this visit your friends’ Facebook sites. If after five minutes you aren’t asking yourself “who cares” you’re probably posting the same boring stuff yourself in hopes someone will “like” it and validate your life.
Hold on, you say. You blog and is that not a form of social media and a platform for self-promotion?
This blog is my rant, to sort out my thoughts, to vent my frustration. Do I care that someone reads it and clicks the “like” button?
No, emphatically.
For all I know the person that clicked that button hasn’t even read my blog. Someone told them (like my delusional colleague) the way to sell their writing was to respond positively to blogs and sign up as a follower because then those they follow would do the same for them. Get it?
I also blog because I like to talk about writing, even if it’s only too myself, and usually it is. In case your friends haven’t told you, talking about writing is boring to everybody except other writers. Actually, some of them, writers not everybody else, can also be boring, especially the ones that talk about their book – because the conversation is not about product, it’s about process.
So why do I write if the chances of being published are so unlikely? This took awhile to figure out, but finally I know. Ready?
I write to know myself, and the world around me, better. I write because it gives me joy – the existential kind.
So what do I tell my colleague with 75,000 in her tribe?
It’s better to have 75,000 readers rather than 75,000 tribe members. Spend your time writing. If you’re serious, at least you’ll get to know yourself.
It was tough to kick, but now that I’ve given up hope, I feel a lot better.
~ ~ ~
Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and buy links to, my three novels, Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients.
Read my current work(s) in progress at
More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin
Writing - the experience 
I couldn’t agree with you more about your platform. In the photography industry, it is no different on everyone telling you have to do this on Facebook or make tweets. No one seems to read them and I only follow people on FB I want to see what they are doing. I do like the WordPress Reader much more than FB. I’m trying to follow people on Reader that write a little more often than I do. I like the Ponzi reference. Head on.
LikeLike