There is yet another platform that authors can sell books! Authors with an established Twitter following are participating in an experiment with the Hachette Book Group to engage their audiences in a new way to buy books. An argument can be made against this experiment, however. Some say Twitter is primarily a space for socializing and status-updating, not a market place or book store.
“Authors with large Twitter followings, like John Green and Paulo Coelho, have become publishing powerhouses.”
“But some authors say they are eager to try anything that will help them sell more books.”
“Many social media users still see sites like Twitter, which introduced a buy button this fall, as a place to share ideas and experiences, not to sell merchandise."
The idea of yet another book-selling platform in competition for sales is somewhat tiresome. It would require a new way of formatting the book covers (new dimensions, new designs)
Implementing this program would cause for more advertisements and sponsored messages on users' timelines-the idea that authors will limit themselves to only their followers in doubtful.
While it is intelligent for author's to try to sell their books in any way possible, I agree that social media like Twitter should be left for socializing, not advertising! These new means of marketing will only make things more complicated!
ReplyDeleteI think Twitter is a great platform for authors to market and advertise their work, especially young-adult fiction and nonfiction writers since their target audience comprises a large portion of the users on that particular social media. Publishers should move forward with the use of digital advertising and social media is a good strategy in which users cannot avoid seeing certain brands, and as well as this, users can follow their favorite authors and establish an intimate interaction with those writers!
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