I read an article the other day telling writers they should be connecting with readers online instead of other writers. He gave a few suggestions like going on Goodreads, following people who read the same sort of book you wrote, leaving comments on their reviews or joining the same groups and responding to the same discussions they do.
Is this what online promotion has come to? Authors stalking readers like prey? Many readers do like to interact with authors, and perhaps they would be flattered if it were an author they knew, but an unknown author trying to connect with an unknown 
reader seems tacky at best. I know I would hate it if I found myself in some author’s sights, and I can’t imagine I’m the only one who would.
I am not a reader who likes to connect with authors. (Though I love when readers connect with me!) To me, a book exists separate from its creator, a thing in and of itself. In fact, once I started coming in contact with writers, especially writers whose book I have read, I lost all interest in reading. It made me more cognizant of the person behind the story, and made the book much less personal.
I do have a group for connecting with readers on Facebook, the Genre Book Club, but most of the people who participate are authors in search of readers. The main problem is that I don’t seem to be able to get people to discuss the books they read. Everyone has different tastes, and few of the participants read the same books.
It is a conundrum, this online promotion. I do realize that connecting with other writers is not the way to sell a ton of books, but writers send me a lot more invitations to connect than readers do, and after all, many of us writers started out as readers.
The article also suggested attracting readers by blogging about the subject matter of your books. I do this, of course, when it comes to grief, but I said all I want to say about conspiracy theories, government intervention in our lives, and the scary possibility of an unstoppable epidemic in my novels. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life talking about such matters. The books were a way of my putting an end to those topics of research, and to keep them in the forefront of my mind and this blog would be appallingly boring. (For me, anyway.)
Still, this blog is a way of connecting with people, not as stalker and prey, but simply as two individuals who happen to be in the same place at the same time and like what each other has to say. And that’s more important than running after readers in the hopes they will buy my books.
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Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.” Follow Pat on Google+. Like Pat on Facebook.
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June 30, 2013 at 7:34 pm
If you read my post as well, I wasn’t advocating for stalking readers. I just thought connecting with readers on a personal level would help greatly in terms of sales and reviews.
June 30, 2013 at 7:39 pm
Sorry, I didn’t read your post until just now. Of course connecting with readers helps in terms of sales and reviews. But I was talking about how I wouldn’t like to be pursued by an author, even if it was Anne Rice.
July 1, 2013 at 5:32 am
Yeah, that might be a little weird.
June 30, 2013 at 7:50 pm
connecting with your readers could be as simple as following them back on twitter or accepting a goodreads friend request from them. Authors that do this often make more of an impression on their current readers and that, in turn, causes the current readers to recommend you to new readers….i know that tactic works on me! lol
June 30, 2013 at 7:56 pm
Following someone back is a vastly different from going out and pursuing them, and is my method of choice, too.
June 30, 2013 at 8:11 pm
Hi Pat,
I’ve been giving this whole writer-as-marketer a lot of thought lately. I think that the hard fact is that things will not reverse; we live in this new tech society, and it is rapidly changing so many things that we used to take for granted. I absolutely hate that I can’t be a solitary writer in my little beach place, publish my work, then get a check in the mail every so often. I’m joining this marketing circus kicking and screaming, but I am joining. The way I see it is, I join or I write great books that no one reads, let alone buys. So I tweaked my thinking a little and made it gray instead of black and white. I’m an avid reader and writer, so it is an easy stretch to hang with both in this virtual world. And yes, I will end up “marketing” my book to all of them, even you.
I hope I haven’t crossed the line of our new virtual friendship.
Take Care,
Patti
June 30, 2013 at 8:22 pm
Of course you haven’t crossed a line. There are no lines. There are just people doing the best they can do.
Best of luck with your marketing. If you need ideas, here is an indexed blog with all sorts of marketing tips: http://marketingfloozy.wordpress.com
June 30, 2013 at 8:23 pm
I like the floozy part:>)
June 30, 2013 at 8:34 pm
When I was first publshed, I did whatever I could to promote. A fellow author told me it was better to stick to one or two networking sites than to become a marketing floozy, and that’s when I started the blog. I decided I wanted to be a marketing floozy. That was a long time ago.
July 1, 2013 at 6:54 am
I’m with you, Pat. This online world just seems to be (increasingly) a ton of blah-blah, blatant self-promo and little else. If we are all “marketing,” who are we marketing to, but other sellers with a product of their own to push? As for Goodreads, I’ve encountered more hostility, more arrogant little fiefdoms with a 1000 rules and regs to learn and not even a “hello.” Right now, I think I’m going to forget it all and do what I usually do at this time of year–watch the Tour de France and pretend it’s a vacation to Europe.
July 1, 2013 at 9:23 am
Juliet – I so agree – I’ve experienced all of the above. The only way to keep my sanity is to keep writing and not worry about stalking anybody – lol!
July 1, 2013 at 3:31 pm
What a wonderful idea! I’m going to forget all that and do . . . anything . . . and pretend it’s something. I used to believe wholeheartedly in online promotion, but now I see that the only real benefit is in the friends I’ve made and the conversations I’ve had. It’s been good getting to know you better. What a life you’ve led!