It revolved around "social media" (or "anti social media" as I call it) and my use of it to promote posts and books. What do I use and what responses do I get?
Twitter -apart from a few re-tweets I have never had any questions asked or feedback and I've been on Twitter since it virtually started (correction -two years AFTER it started)
Pinterest -again, I have been on here since it actually started and get re-pins but never any feedback of any kind.
Google+ I cannot even remember how long I have been on that. Just checked and from the start it seems. Never realised that. Before Google "rebooted" everything my Google+ had over 4 million views and around 2-3,000 views a day. Now, I get some "+'s" but never any feedback or responses of any kind.
You Tube Comics Community -I've been a member for a long time. I began posting solidly, daily for a year-and-a-half. No feed-back, no interest shown.
Face Book - I have been on that for so many years now. The BTC&B FB page I started in...2009. A good few Likes (same people) and maybe three questions or feedback.
LinkedIn -there since the start. Same thing.
Jacketflap -again: years.
Now you are talking thousands of views per day and Comic Bits Online, the AOP and this blog gets extremely high numbers of views. Nothing. No questions, no sales and at times it really does seem as though I am posting to no one -but the stats show there ARE people out there.
I discounted my books so that I would get zero from sales just to promote my books -nothing. I offered copies on CBO -no takers. Sent people review books they requested -no reviews (it seems to be people out for freebies). I have literally tried everything -nothing. Not even from 'comic communities'.
I have looked at this lack of response/lack of sales from every angle over the last few years. There is just no logical sense to it. But I am not the only one. I know small publishers -comics and prose books- who are producing incredible original work that has taken months or years to put together and they get the same thing.
Don't take my word on it:
http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2018/03/did-free-content-kill-paying-customers.html
and:
http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2018/03/on-did-free-content-kill-paying.html
There is a funny story I was told by one publisher who, at an event, had some fellow shrug when he was invited to check books out. "Too expensive" was the response. In fact, the publisher was so desperate to promote and sell that he was getting no money if a book sold. He thought "dammit!" and said the the shrugger "Pick one. Free. Any book you like the look of!" The Shrugger looked away. "Seriously, no catch -take one and read it: you may like it!" The shrugger walked off with the publisher following, offering several books for free. Shrugger would not have it. According to the publisher he then stopped. "What the **** was I doing? I was so desperate to have someone just look at my books that I was chasing someone around the convention hall!" He saw Shrugger later on -two big convention bags full of Marvel, DC and Image books -that he would have PAID for.
The publisher quit.
He had all the same anti social media as I had -though he was envious of how many people viewed mine (?!).
Here is another laugh for you. In 2016 I announced on anti social media that I was going to organise a one day comic mart since many had folded after years of exploiting people. Absolutely flat cost for tables -dividing up how many tables could get into a hall and then charge a flat rate for each table to cover the hall hire. Not £150, £200, £250 or £300 for tables but somewhere between £15-20 a table.
Not one single taker
The event, obviously, was cancelled. Traders and comic sellers talking about being ripped off at events with high table costs had a venue in central Bristol (within easy reach of most of those I contacted) and good parking -CHEAP tables. No.
That, folks, is the state of things. Maybe in 2019 -who knows.
So, yes, I use as much "social media" as I can but it still results in silence. You go work out why no one responds.
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