Internet Promotion, why bother? No, seriously.
As an author starting to write novels in the digital age, advertising is key. We are in an age of Twitters, FaceBooks, Tumblrs and Myspaces (well, maybe not the last one). We have reached a time when political parties advertise and scrutinise one another on a global, public forum with nary a care in the world. A time when brands vainly attempt to be human and spout memes in order to bring in more cash-money. So, it would be silly to not advertise yourself now, right?
Ask yourself, who are the most famous authors? Arthur Conan Doyle? George Orwell? Stephen King? J.K Rowling? Well, believe it or not, all of these authors published before the internet existed/or was mainstream enough to be used for advertising. According to an article on the Steve Laube Literary agency website, novelists before the internet would use newspaper articles and magazine columns to promote their latest works. Some of these methods are still used today, with the latest “hit” being reviewed by the New York Times and being a “New York Times Best Seller” (despite seeing that tag-line on practically every novel they review.) Even when, god forbid, Fifty Shades of Grey was released, a lot of the promotion was done by word-of-mouth despite the internet being well into its society-moulding phase.
I was curious about this. As one of those “blasted millennials” that you all hear about, my early formative days were frequently influenced by the internet. I have never experienced a society that has had no impact from the World Wide Web. I asked my older brother, a man in his early thirties, how he heard about J.K Rowling before the internet and social media. He responded that a teacher brought it in one day in his Year 8 English class and performed a writing/reading exercise involving the class reading lines out. From then on, he saw Harry Potter novels being advertised in early gaming magazines and on the radio. Nearly every kid within his school would talk about J.K as if she were the second coming of Christ.
Nowadays, Twitter is where the advertising gets done. I remember personally hearing (despite not being a J.K Rowling fan or follower) that the Harry Potter sequel book/play was coming out from Twitter.
So, is it wise to neglect using the internet to advertise yourself simply because “old good, new bad?” Well, personally, no. Surely, the more exposure, the better, right? But the more you look, the more you realise that there are so many authors out there. It does get daunting to learn that fifty people in your town alone are aspiring authors or have even been published. To stand out from that, if you put up a detailed description and synopsis of your story/content, then whenever someone thinks something like “Oh, I want to read a fantasy mystery noir detective novel. Or maybe even a space-cowboy plot based novel” then if they type it into google or bing or whatever other search engines, then your content should be displayed. And don’t forget to mention your inspirations. Mentioning something like “Lovecraft is my biggest inspiration for the creation of eldritch horrors” should put you in the sights of an audience that enjoys Lovecraft’s work.
The more you advertise, the better. Twitter profiles, Facebook, a Youtube with short promotional videos (if needs be.) The more something is shared on the internet, the more traction it SHOULD get, in theory that is.
