I was on Twitter and Facebook the other day, trying to market my books (you can pick up my latest, Crashing Into Us, right here, (http://www.amazon.com/Crashing-Into-Us-Bridget-Straub/dp/0985438444/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394120304&sr=1-1&keywords=crashing+into+us ) and I did something I rarely do, which was to ask that people share and retweet the link. Not one person did. I’ll be honest, I was angry.
I do my best to promote others, most especially those whose work I enjoy and believe in. Not as much here on the blog, although occasionally, and definitely through social media. I have close to 500 Facebook “friends” and 1076 Twitter followers. My books all have 5 star reviews, and at least some of these people have told me how much they have enjoyed reading the books. Not one person! I was hurt.
I was ready to give up. After all, why am I associating with people who clearly don’t care? Why am I consoling them through losses and rooting on new jobs? Do they even care that I promote them? In thinking about it, I concluded there are a very select few who have even acknowledged that I have done so. I was ready to walk away from Social Media completely. How many cat videos can one person take, anyway?
Bitter much? That’s what kept running through my head. That, and the nagging thought that if I’m not lighting the world on fire with book sales now, sitting in my room avoiding people was probably not going to help. I also didn’t want to be angry and hurt. I mean, seriously, who wants to be that person?
So I have decided to kill them with kindness – Kill being the operative word! – Just kidding. I just want to be nice and the best person I can be, and that shouldn’t have anything to do with whether or not people reciprocate. I have to be true to myself. I know people are busy and life gets complicated. I know that you can’t control others, no matter how lovely that might sometimes be. So I am coming at this from a place of forgiveness if not understanding, and I will continue to be supportive of everyone, unless of course they turn out to be real jerks, at which point I can always unfriend them. How about you? Have you experienced similar frustration with social media?
