Journalism of Courage
Authors are using social media to go beyond just marketing their books. They are also gathering invaluable feedback,discussions and critique
Author Amish Tripathis Facebook group page is buzzing with activity these days. The author whose book,Immortals of Meluha ,was well received by readers,released the sequel to the book,The Secret of the Nagas recently. To some of Tripathis posts,more than 100 comments follow. The discussions begin with the book,move on to the writing and the inspirations. Similar discussions ensue on Tripatis Twitter page. Tripathi isnt selling his book on Facebook or Twitter,atleast not directly. All he is doing is engaging in “a meaningful conversation” with his fans. But like Tripathi,a new crop of writers is using social media to get invaluable feedback.
Author Ashwin Sanghi agrees. He had begun his journey as an author by self publishing his first book online. In the last five years,Sanghi says his online identity has matured. “It is not independent of my writing,in fact,it is integral, he says. Sanghi is on Facebook by his pen name Shawn Hegel,which he used for his first novel,The Line of Rozabal. On any given day,Sanghi tweets around 8 to 10 comments on Twitter. On Facebook,his availability is 10-15 per cent higher and he blogs and replies to emails as well. That turns out to be 40 to 50 quality interactions per day, he says. Sanghis Facebook page is a corporate author page where he does not need to sit and add or reject people. My personal page is different. That is not open for everyone,but as a writer,I think I need to be fairly accessible to my readers online. Which is why I am very active on my online pages. In fact,for the cover of his next book,Sanghi plans to conduct an online poll. “Facebook offers the questions and opinion poll option. That for me is excellent. I often use it to get immensely valuable feedback from my fans and my interaction also goes beyond books. Often we have had threads discussing some philosophy or some interest.
The plus point of this is the marketing leverage it garners. “You engage the reader and that could make your book sell, says popular American crime writer,Lawrence Block,who is quite active on Facebook. “I have been using Facebook for two years now,but I have been blogging and tweeting for only two months. I get a lot of comments,many of them provocative and interesting,its quite enjoyable to hear from readers.
On Harry Potters birthday this year,J K Rowling had a new offering for her fans. Pottermore,the interactive website had finally opened up for fans around the globe. The website had taken over two years to develop,and promises to provide users with interactive reading experiences where readers could closely follow Harry. It is also said to include 18,000 words of content that has not been published earlier. The ardent fans’ reaction to Pottermore is evident on social networking sites. Some sport euphoric status messages,thankful of their registration being completed,while some show caution.
