Juggling writing and social media

writingallthetime · Jan 29, 2012

I am trying to do a poll here.

Whether you are a traditionally published author, or a self-published one, I am trying to get an idea if there is a need for social media management for authors.

How much would you pay? What would you expect?

Would you pay for someone to set-up and manage all your daily social media tasks so you could write?

Maybe this is more appropriate for authors who have a large following. Maybe it is for those who have money to burn. Maybe somebody just wants to write more.

I would love to hear your opinions. What other needs would you pay for that take away from your time writing?

scarletpeaches · Jan 29, 2012

Social networking only takes away from my writing as long as I let it.

No way would I pay someone else to do it, otherwise it would be a lie. "You're not socialising with me, you're socialising with someone I'm paying to pretend to be me."

I don't think so.

If social media took away from my writing, I'd just drop it altogether. I don't do myspace or Facebook or Google+. Just blogger, when I can be bothered, and Twitter.

writingallthetime · Jan 29, 2012

scarletpeaches said:
Social networking only takes away from my writing as long as I let it.

No way would I pay someone else to do it, otherwise it would be a lie. "You're not socialising with me, you're socialising with someone I'm paying to pretend to be me."

I don't think so.

If social media took away from my writing, I'd just drop it altogether. I don't do myspace or Facebook or Google+. Just blogger, when I can be bothered, and Twitter.

Right, okay.
That is true that it would be a facade. I did not think about that.
I guess I was thinking more about those writers who may be extremely busy, and who have more of a company to run. But maybe either way you would actually be marketing yourself, and not a book or a company as a writer.

So, you aren't marketing a brand or your skill. As a writer, you are marketing yourself. I did not think of that. Thanks.

scarletpeaches · Jan 29, 2012

It's not often I help someone by making sense.

writingallthetime · Jan 30, 2012

Thanks Scarlet,
Yes, it does make sense. Thanks for helping me to see that.

Please see this thread, as it is more active there.

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6961027&posted=1#post6961027

areteus · Jan 30, 2012

There are some celebs who use companies to manage their official twitter accounts and the like but I think these are mainly the really big celebs. A lot of them seem to do their own social networking.

Neil Gaiman occasionally has someone else post on his blog on his behalf (the web goblin as this person is called). No idea if he paid for this or not. However, this only seemed to happen when he was likely to be away from the computer for a time (such as when he was on tour or when he was in the countryside in China and therefore out of web range for a lot of time). In all cases, it was made clear that it was not him posting but someone else on his behalf in order to distinguish these posts from the ones by him.

It does take time from writing, true, but you are a fool if you let it take all your writing time and/or use it as an excuse when you fail to write. You can manage it effectively by imposing limits on when you post and where (i.e. no social media before 6pm or onlyor until you have written 2000 words or achieved your daily to do list or whatever).

randi.lee · Jan 30, 2012

I will not pay- marketing service companies these days will rip an arm and a leg off of you. I try to do a 50/50 balance. Half of my "writing time" is spent actually writing and the other half is spent plugging.

FrederickCross · Jan 30, 2012

If you consider these two things to be separate - setting up and running it - then, yes, I would pay someone to set it up for me if I didn't know how to. But I don't think I would let anyone else run it for me. I think that, unless you're a company, it's a bit too personal to entrust to someone else.

Domoviye · Jan 30, 2012

I might hire someone to improve my blog, and hire a service that would notify me if there is anything that might affect me in social media. But for actual writing and talking to people, I'll do it myself or have occasional guest/helpers who are specifically not me, step in to tide people over.

Diana_Rajchel · Jan 30, 2012

I could swear I posted before. I have a publisher, but it's evident I have to handle a swathe of social media stuff myself because it's a small publisher and I'm an unknown at the moment. I'd love to pay someone else to do it, but it's not in the budget.

writingallthetime · Jan 30, 2012

Yes, Diana. You did answer in another forum.
They should have deleted the one that had few responses. It is better wherever it is the busiest. That was where I wanted it!
Anyhow, you said it is not in your budget.

What aspects of marketing would you/do you outsource?
Anyhow, so the things which an author would pay for. (either self-pubbed or trad.)

1. Editing
2. Formatting
3. Cover design
4. Printing
What more?
(you do not need to name ads, trailers, press releases, or media kits)

Fredrick, you said you would have someone to "set-it-up". What exactly are you referring to?

Domo you wrote..
...hire a service that would notify me if there is anything that might affect me in social media

Do you mean to inform you of the latest news or something?

Basically, what kinds of services would make your life way easier as a writer? What would you shell out the money for? What would you be willing to pay for that you do not have right now at your disposal?

Thank you all!

Domoviye · Jan 30, 2012

writingallthetime said:
Domo you wrote..
...hire a service that would notify me if there is anything that might affect me in social media

Do you mean to inform you of the latest news or something?

Basically, what kinds of services would make your life way easier as a writer? What would you shell out the money for? What would you be willing to pay for that you do not have right now at your disposal?

Thank you all!

Well if I just wanted basic notification from large websites and blogs, I'd use Google's notification program, which I've used in the past. It's good for news reports, press releases and similar things. It's also free.
If I got popular enough and wanted to know exactly what people were saying about me, there are some services that will periodically monitor various social medias for specific things. I'm not sure how expensive they are because I've never really looked at them, but they should be fairly cheap as they're just notifications and little else.

The only things I'd be willing to pay for in the next year or so would be a website designer, to make my various web pages look more professional and have a few gadgets that I don't know how to put on.
And currently even this would be done on the cheap.

Diana_Rajchel · Jan 30, 2012

writingallthetime said:
Yes, Diana. You did answer in another forum.
They should have deleted the one that had few responses. It is better wherever it is the busiest. That was where I wanted it!
Anyhow, you said it is not in your budget.

What aspects of marketing would you/do you outsource?
Anyhow, so the things which an author would pay for. (either self-pubbed or trad.)

1. Editing
2. Formatting
3. Cover design
4. Printing
What more?
(you do not need to name ads, trailers, press releases, or media kits)

Thank you all!

My publisher does handle the editing, formatting, cover design and printing. So beyond following instructions, that's not an issue.

They also handle contacting book review websites, etc. up to a point.

What I would outsource is things like contacting indie bookstores for signings, managing a Facebook page and getting my book in front of members of the press. If I could. Alas, most of this is DIY for me.

writingallthetime · Jan 30, 2012

scarletpeaches said:
Social networking only takes away from my writing as long as I let it.

No way would I pay someone else to do it, otherwise it would be a lie. "You're not socialising with me, you're socialising with someone I'm paying to pretend to be me."

I don't think so.

If social media took away from my writing, I'd just drop it altogether. I don't do myspace or Facebook or Google+. Just blogger, when I can be bothered, and Twitter.

Scarlet, what about if the person managing it was clear to others that it was a hired person? Does that defeat the purpose?

writingallthetime · Jan 30, 2012

Diana_Rajchel said:
My publisher does handle the editing, formatting, cover design and printing. So beyond following instructions, that's not an issue.

They also handle contacting book review websites, etc. up to a point.

What I would outsource is things like contacting indie bookstores for signings, managing a Facebook page and getting my book in front of members of the press. If I could. Alas, most of this is DIY for me.

You have been very helpful, Diana. Thanks.
Of course, you don't pay for those things. I listed them for the self-pubbers. I am not sure this would really work for those self-publishing.
How many book review sites will they contact?
How many do you plan to submit to yourself?
Are you paying for your own media kit?

I really wonder how many trad. pub. authors do pay for additional marketing. Most get a publicist, right? I know you have a lot of pressure to sell a lot of books. I hope some more trad. published authors will chime in.
Thanks again!

writingallthetime · Jan 30, 2012

Domoviye said:
Well if I just wanted basic notification from large websites and blogs, I'd use Google's notification program, which I've used in the past. It's good for news reports, press releases and similar things. It's also free.
If I got popular enough and wanted to know exactly what people were saying about me, there are some services that will periodically monitor various social medias for specific things. I'm not sure how expensive they are because I've never really looked at them, but they should be fairly cheap as they're just notifications and little else.

The only things I'd be willing to pay for in the next year or so would be a website designer, to make my various web pages look more professional and have a few gadgets that I don't know how to put on.
And currently even this would be done on the cheap.

Thanks a lot! I checked out your blog, and I left a comment! Have a happy day!

scarletpeaches · Jan 30, 2012

writingallthetime said:
Scarlet, what about if the person managing it was clear to others that it was a hired person? Does that defeat the purpose?

I don't see the point in following someone employed by an author. (Or other celebrity.) If I'm a fan of your work, chances are I won't want to follow your lackey.

writingallthetime · Jan 30, 2012

scarletpeaches said:
I don't see the point in following someone employed by an author. (Or other celebrity.) If I'm a fan of your work, chances are I won't want to follow your lackey.

Good points taken.
Let me pose this: what if you were contacting all of the followers and friends yourself. Would you be interested to pay someone to set-up the accounts with your brand and books, run contests, keep stats, and offer consulting?
I'm sure there must be some of these more well-known authors who are too busy to manage it all themselves.
Yes, they may have a publicist which takes care of all that. But they might not. What about those in between?

I'm just trying to see if there is a need for social media consulting in the realm of writers. I am sure there is if I go the publicist route, but I am trying to see if it would work to go straight to the authors.

Social media is THE way companies are advertising nowadays. Thanks!

scarletpeaches · Jan 30, 2012

writingallthetime said:
Good points taken.
Let me pose this: what if you were contacting all of the followers and friends yourself. Would you be interested to pay someone to set-up the accounts with your brand and books, run contests, keep stats, and offer consulting?

Me, personally? No. If I couldn't be bothered doing the networking myself, it would be a choice between paying someone to pretend to be me in a way (not an option) or just deleting my Twitter account (which is the way I would go).

writingallthetime said:
I'm sure there must be some of these more well-known authors who are too busy to manage it all themselves.

If there are, I won't be following them. If someone can't be bothered Tweeting, fair enough. If they're too busy to, also fair enough. But if I wanted to find out about an author without interacting with them directly, I'd just check out their publisher's website for details of their next published work.

Polenth · Jan 30, 2012

If a writer doesn't have time to manage social media, it's better for them not to have social media. I'd also say social networking has more of an impact for the unknown author, not the ultra-famous author. People will buy Neil Gaiman's books whether he tweets or not. He doesn't need social media to maintain his sales.

I could see some market in offering courses and consultation to train people to use social media effectively, but people will want to see proof that your own social media presence is doing well (I think of the number of "social media experts" who've followed me on Twitter, and have fewer followers and no one retweets them). As it stands, all I know about your own social media successes is you think accounts run by someone else is a good idea for a writer... and that doesn't make me think you know enough about what works in writer/reader circles to teach it.

pyrosama · Jan 30, 2012

I would not ever hire someone to write something for me. What I write is of my own style and personality. If I ever got too busy to write, I'd just not write! lol

writingallthetime · Jan 31, 2012

Polenth said:
If a writer doesn't have time to manage social media, it's better for them not to have social media. I'd also say social networking has more of an impact for the unknown author, not the ultra-famous author. People will buy Neil Gaiman's books whether he tweets or not. He doesn't need social media to maintain his sales.

I could see some market in offering courses and consultation to train people to use social media effectively, but people will want to see proof that your own social media presence is doing well (I think of the number of "social media experts" who've followed me on Twitter, and have fewer followers and no one retweets them). As it stands, all I know about your own social media successes is you think accounts run by someone else is a good idea for a writer... and that doesn't make me think you know enough about what works in writer/reader circles to teach it.

I'm not sure why you've turned this into a personal jab, but it certainly is not too smart of an idea as a writer who has his name out there.

@pyrosama-- we've already covered that it's not likely that any author would want any kind of social media manager to make contact-type posts for you.
If social media is not what you would invest money to have someone help you promote yourself and your books, what is?

Polenth · Jan 31, 2012

writingallthetime said:
I'm not sure why you've turned this into a personal jab, but it certainly is not too smart of an idea as a writer who has his name out there.

It isn't personal. I don't know you and you don't know me. This is about business plans. You're talking about a business where it's very important to know the communities you're getting involved in, and this thread suggests you don't. Potential customers will want to see an example of the goods before they part with their money, so it either has to be your own presence or a client you helped build up.

This doesn't mean you're a bad person or anything like that. What I'm saying is I think your business plan needs a rethink.

FrederickCross · Jan 31, 2012

writingallthetime said:
Fredrick, you said you would have someone to "set-it-up". What exactly are you referring to?

What I meant is, if I didn't know how to set up a Facebook fan page (for example), I would consider paying someone to do it for me and show me how to maintain it. Same for a Twitter, LinkedIn or other social media account. I would not pay someone to update them for me, though.

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough

writingallthetime · Jan 31, 2012

Polenth said:
It isn't personal. I don't know you and you don't know me. This is about business plans. You're talking about a business where it's very important to know the communities you're getting involved in, and this thread suggests you don't. Potential customers will want to see an example of the goods before they part with their money, so it either has to be your own presence or a client you helped build up.

This doesn't mean you're a bad person or anything like that. What I'm saying is I think your business plan needs a rethink.

There is no business plan.
This is a conversation.
I suggest you use extreme caution in making assumptions about who someone is, or isn't, what skills they may or may not have, on a public forum as well-known as this one. It can be extremely dangerous.
For your reputation.

Juggling writing and social media

Would you consider paying for someone to manage your social media?

My publisher takes care of that with the publicist.

I self-pub, but I do it myself because I do have time.

I self-pub, and I am too busy to take care of all that must be done and write. Yes, I'd pay.

I'm not sure. Depends. Maybe not.

Are you joking? No.

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