[Gabriel Beyers]

I don't Twitter, but if you do I could use your help.

I have started a Kickstarter campaign to try and fund two of my upcoming titles. I am 1% funded with 25 days left in my project. What I need is for some of you wonderful people who Twitter to pass along my Kickstarter link to your followers and help me spread the word.

If you will do this for me I'd be willing to give you a Smashwords coupon so that you can download my novel Guarding the Healer for free.

If this is bad form, I apologize. But I've fallen on some hard times and this may be the only way these two titles see the light of day.

Here is the Kickstarter link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gabeswriting/contemplations-of-dinner-and-predatory-animals?ref=card

Thank you for the help.

 

[MosesSiregarIII]

What about MY needs?

 

[Alain Gomez]

If this is bad form, I apologize. But I've fallen on some hard times and this may be the only way these two titles see the light of day.

Or...

You could start a blog to help promote your work (free)
Participate on this forum (free)
Get your own Twitter account (free)
Use Facebook (free)
Maybe offer to guest blog (free plus the person who runs the blog gets a little something in return)
Participate on Goodreads (free)

 

[E.W. Saloka]

I don't mind tweeting and am happy to do that for you. Why don't you just go on twitter yourself,. it only takes a few weeks of being diligent with following people and then thanking them. Soon they just find you and follow on their own.  There is also a facebook thread on this site that allows you to like other author pages.  Before you know it with twitter you have at least 200 and it does not take much longer to add from there.

 

[CollinKelley]

It took me about 2+ years to build up a following of more than 3,000, but it's been time well spent. I interact the most on Twitter and I know I've sold books that way. Don't rely on others to tweet for you -- dive in yourself.

 

[StephenEngland]

If I remember correctly, I joined Twitter in late April--early May. Now I have over 1600 followers. It's not hard to do--it will take elbow grease. So get out there and do it. You'll find people willing to cross-promote, but not too many of us have the time to help for free. We're already underpaid writers. 

 

[CollinKelley]

I'm always happy to cross-promote fellow writers, but I encourage them to help themselves first. You can't build an army if you aren't willing to lead. 

 

[jackblaine]

Those who politely advised you to do as much free promo yourself as you can are correct--that is great advice.  As for the other, less polite responses, sorry--I think you must have caught some people on a bad day judging from the unnecessary harshness of some replies.  

Hope things get better soon for you.

 

[Debra Burroughs]

I'd be happy to tweet your link some, but really you should learn to do Twitter, and all the other free avenues, yourself. I started in August 2011 to make a concerted effort to build my Twitter following and I am up over 2100 followers now. But it takes a concerted effort. There is some very good advice in the previous posts.

If I were you, I'd take each one and start learning to do them to help yourself. In this day of social media, no one can say "I don't do that." To get you started, I would recommend your buying Kristen Lamb's ebook called "We Are Not Alone" for $4.99. You can download the free Kindle app to your computer and then download the book on your PC if you have no other device. If you can't afford $5 to learn how to promote your books, you better sell something or fast dinner for a few days to come up with it.

Good luck!

 

[Gertie Kindle]

Go right here to find out how to get followers.

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,87359.msg1372451.html#msg1372451

I've got 2779 followers and I usually pick up 10-20 a day.

Let me know when you've got your Twitter account. I will gladly follow you and put you on my KB authors list. From there, and a few other lists, I retweet several authors a day. You might just be one of the lucky ones.

Also, check out Mike Hicks blog for more hints and tips on twitter. kreelanwarrior.com

 

[Gabriel Beyers]

Or...

You could start a blog to help promote your work (free)
Participate on this forum (free)
Get your own Twitter account (free)
Use Facebook (free)
Maybe offer to guest blog (free plus the person who runs the blog gets a little something in return)
Participate on Goodreads (free)

I already have my own blog.
I do participate on this forum.
I don't have my own Twitter account because of all the other social media I'm involved with.
I have a personal and fan page on Facebook.
I'm busy enough with my own blog and don't have time to do a guest post.
I do participate on Goodreads.

Sorry that this hit such a tender nerve with all of you. I was simply reaching out to other authors that may or may not have tried a Kickstarter campaign. I didn't know that posting a link on Twitter was that much trouble. And I wasn't asking for free help. I offered to give a free copy of my novel to any one willing to pass along the link. I know it's not much, but is all I can swing at the moment. I never said I wouldn't help promote your work on all of my other social media outlets.

It's not like I'm lying back and asking others to promote. I'm doing massive promotions myself. But my Kickstarter campaign ends in 25 days and it is an all or nothing program. I plan on joining Twitter in the future, but with all the other things I'm doing, along with working full time, it tends to wear a person thin.

Once again, forget I even mentioned it.

 

[Alain Gomez]

I already have my own blog.
I do participate on this forum.
I don't have my own Twitter account because of all the other social media I'm involved with.
I have a personal and fan page on Facebook.
I'm busy enough with my own blog and don't have time to do a guest post.
I do participate on Goodreads.

Twitter definitely helps to boost your blog traffic. It would be a good idea to get an account.

Sorry that this hit such a tender nerve with all of you. I was simply reaching out to other authors that may or may not have tried a Kickstarter campaign. I didn't know that posting a link on Twitter was that much trouble. And I wasn't asking for free help. I offered to give a free copy of my novel to any one willing to pass along the link. I know it's not much, but is all I can swing at the moment. I never said I wouldn't help promote your work on all of my other social media outlets.

It's not like I'm lying back and asking others to promote. I'm doing massive promotions myself. But my Kickstarter campaign ends in 25 days and it is an all or nothing program. I plan on joining Twitter in the future, but with all the other things I'm doing, along with working full time, it tends to wear a person thin.

Once again, forget I even mentioned it.

This is an extremely helpful board for independent authors. In general, everyone is very nice and usually more than willing to help out a fellow author (see thread on LC Evans). But if you would like community support you have to act like you're part of the community. You basically posted a thread that asked everyone to:

1) Tweet my book
2) Get a copy of my book as a reward

A more appropriate request might have been:

1) I am having a hard time with money, could you please help by tweeting my book
2) As a reward I will feature your book on my blog and/or my facebook page

 

[Lisa Grace]

Hi Gabriel-

Your book sounds great and I saw that Brandie Lagarde who writes angel books too--gave it a great review. Keep your head up. We all get a little busy. I'll pray for your finances and congratulations on the great reviews. To get compared to Stephen King and Dean Koontz is quite a compliment.

 

[Nicki Leigh]

Twitter might feel a little daunting at first, but just think of it as a chatroom. Some folks use it to promote. I tend to use Twitter to touch base with my readers along with other writers. It's something I enjoy doing, but I tend to keep my tweets a day below 5-10, unless there's something big going on for one of my followers or myself.

Why not try it out and see if you like it? I know it easy for us to get worn thin by social networks, but if you're comfortable with the ones you already use, why not try branching out?

 

[Gabriel Beyers]

I appreciate the kind words and advice, and I do plan on starting my own twitter account soon.  I'm not here to start a firestorm, but I never once asked anyone to tweet my book or go buy my book.  I have a Kickstarter program running.  I was asking if anyone was willing to post the link to my Kickstarter page.  That is all.

I'm sorry if there was some confusion.

 

[CazzySmith]

Consider yourself Twittered and Facebooked You're very brave for trying this and I wish you lots of luck.

 

[Gertie Kindle]

I appreciate the kind words and advice, and I do plan on starting my own twitter account soon. I'm not here to start a firestorm, but I never once asked anyone to tweet my book or go buy my book. I have a Kickstarter program running. I was asking if anyone was willing to post the link to my Kickstarter page. That is all.

I'm sorry if there was some confusion.

Would you perhaps like to explain what this Kickstarter program is?

Oh, and by the way, go over to bit.ly to shorten that link (free) and you can track your clicks from there including origination point and country. Also, it might help if you give us a tweetable line which is less than 140 characters and preferably no more than 135 characters. Any more than that will interfere with retweets. The tweetable line should contain your twitter handle, again, for tracking purposes and so people can find you to follow. I don't retweet anything unless a twitter handle is there so that my followers know immediately it isn't from me.

So you see, your request isn't so simple after all.

 

[daveconifer]

Gabriel, don't take the reactions personally.  Whenever Kickstarter is brought up the thread goes badly.  Without getting into it, there's a culture and work ethic among most of the writers here (including me, honestly) that doesn't lend itself to the Kickstarter mentality.

A lot of us are having economic troubles right now.  I knew going in that 2011 was going to be a hard year for the Conifers and it's lived up to my expectations.  So don't feel like you're alone there.

You handled this thread with grace, I applaud you for that...

 

[Gabriel Beyers]

@Cazzy and Lexy: Thank you. I appreciate your kindness and help. Please feel free to call on me to help you out in anyway way I can.

@Margaret: I apologize for not better explaining Kickstarter. I copied this straight from their page: "Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative projects.

We believe that:

• A good idea, communicated well, can spread fast and wide.

• A large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement.

Kickstarter is powered by a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands. Kickstarter is focused on creative projects. We're a great way for artists, filmmakers, musicians, designers, writers, illustrators, explorers, curators, performers, and others to bring their projects, events, and dreams to life.

The word "project" is just as important as "creative" in defining what works on Kickstarter. A project is something finite with a clear beginning and end. Someone can be held accountable to the framework of a project - a project was either completed or it wasn't - and there are definable expectations that everyone can agree to. This is imperative for every Kickstarter project.

We know there are a lot of great projects that fall outside of our scope, but Kickstarter is not a place for soliciting donations to causes, charity projects, or general business expenses. Learn more about our project guidelines."

I also apologize for the long link. I was wrongly under the impression that a link on twitter did not affect the character count. A shortened link would be http://tinyurl.com/7gjt35h.

@Dave: Thanks. I appreciate that. I really didn't mean for it to sound like I was taking it personally. Too often what we type on message boards comes out wrong and the true intent gets lost in translation. I guess this is just an instance where we all agree to disagree, shake hands and go back to our own corners.

Thanks everyone. It's been an interesting conversation.

 

[Gertie Kindle]

Gabriel, I still need a tweetable line from you with your twitter handle. PM me if you set something up that I can tweet.