Monday, January 20, 2014

Spamming Twitter Rewards Indie Authors Trending Terms

kindle tweets

Indie and self-published authors should spend more time writing and less time spamming Twitter with a million “Buy My Book” posts. One of the new tactics this shabby demographic is employing is making major terms trend in order to generate click-bait for your average Twitter user. Is this ethical and more importantly a good use of time?

Today on Twitter Indie authors managed to make the term #Kindle trend, and instead of discussion about a new model, firmware update or a deal, all Tweets were from authors. Authors are making major terms trend with the sole intention of spamming Twitter with their books and encouraging people to buy them. Most of them, aren’t just doing a single Tweet either, but are employing 3rd party apps like Hootsuite to automate them.

Self-Published authors are again gaming the system by spamming a service with the intention of generating some quick sales. This tactic is deplorable and actually does more harm than good.

Author Molly Greene points out that Twitter was not meant for these tactics “You do realize this is spam, right? Twitter is not a direct-sale platform, and Twitter rules call foul "If you send large numbers of unsolicited @replies, hashtag or @mentions in an aggressive attempt to bring attention to a service or link." That means repeatedly tweeting or DMing a high-pressure request to buy your book is not only deeply annoying, it can get your Twitter account suspended.

Author Alexa Bourne mentioned “I too have unfollowed people who only tweet about their own books. I occasionally mention my own- when I sign a contract, get a cover, have a release or a contest- but I'd rather be friendly with people and have them decide to read my book because they like my professional personality, not because I've hounded them with my buy links.”

Spamming Twitter Rewards Indie Authors Trending Terms is a post from: E-Reader News

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