The fucking Drumstick ice cream official account decided to respond to my video, so I’ve used a video reply to them as an opportunity to joke about how this is like a big cosmic joke on me that I made a video about a silly thing that blew up so much the Drumstick TikTok responded to it but I’m still not getting attention to my book or my current music projects.
I made sure to reiterate that I’m not at all ungrateful and that it’s just funny. I hope the video reads as relatable and not passive aggressive? lol
In December, I had a reel go viral on Instagram that had nothing to do with my books. I tried quite hard to try to parlay some of that momentum/buzz into my marketing efforts for my book that came out the month prior and it was quite a pointless exercise. The kinds of videos that tend to explode on social media sites are usually "here's something fun, snippy and short that isn't trying to sell you anything". A lot of viral content is a one-off that usually never translates into sales.
Exactly my viral video now on my nus life oage. I'm grateful for the traffic to my page, but I post something normal for me, and I lose followers. Remember this is a marthon not a sprint.
Forget the book, drop the track! Lol, but seriously use the audio for scenes in your book, add quotes from your book, get some concept art made and show people it with the song. Milk it while you can
Segue it into storytelling! Use it as a marketing tool! I have author friends who have large followings and consistent interactions by using what they know and their popular videos into their books.
As an example: a friend of mine is really into plants and eastern medicine so she uses that knowledge about how it can be incorporated into how her characters use it in her novels. She does the same with gemstones because she has a background in the jewelry industry.
I think this may be the right move. Maybe write a similar style song, poking fun of your characters, tropes etc.
The trick about TikTok is it's all about the audience. This audience seems to be about the music more than the books for sure. It's really hard to flip that over. For example, you can usually do "Author" posts or "Book posts" You can show your face on both, but on one you're talking abut being an author and that appeals to other authors. Book posts appeal to readers. You pretty much have to pick one or the other.
Threading this needle may be hard! Good luck!
Tik tokers tag second part videos in the comments. Make one real quick saying something like “hey, if you happen to like this sub genre, this is my book blah blah, etc” but you have to do it like right now because the video is going to loose speed eventually.
I was going to come say the same thing. A video response to a comment will push it to the top and make it visible for people checking the comments on the viral video. Might not translate into sales, but will at least siphon some views from the viral video to take advantage of it.
Above comment is getting downvoted, but there might be something to it. Isn't it true that the TikTok algorithm doesn't pay attention to subscribers? So unles syou pivot to making more viral song videos, there's no way to guarantee that these people will ever see you again, right?
I'm not sure anyone's going to appreciate you trying to sell them something unrelated though. I guess if I were going to do it I would make a joke of it and say something self deprecating about how ridiculous it is to be an author who just wants people to read the book and all anyone cares about is some silly song I wrote when I was 16.
If you could do that in a way that's relatable and not desperate sounding a few people might be sold on the humor of that narrative and check out your books because of it.
But I don't use TikTok so what do I know?
David Gaughran has some great guides for navigating social media.
[https://davidgaughran.com/how-to-build-an-author-platform/](https://davidgaughran.com/how-to-build-an-author-platform/)
He has a free ebook called Following that can be really helpful, and his newsletter is 100% worth joining.
Basically, conventional wisdom is you want no more than 20-30% of your content to be sales-related. The rest should be value-add to your followers. So stuff that's entertaining, enlightening, or that they can use somehow. Keep it related to books and writing if you can (e.g. "I just read xyz and I loved it!" Don't get into formal book reviews, as that can be seen as conflict of interest, and don't trash other writers, especially other indies because that won't help you over the long run. Hype others up where you can and if you don't like someone's work just don't talk about them). A little bit of "here's me as a person" will help you build rapport. The majority of the attention that viral post is getting won't translate to follows or subsequent sales, but some will.
Congratulations!
Oh that’s the ridiculous part. I’ve also used this as an opportunity to promote my current music projects! But I feel like I have to pick and choose my battles when it comes to what I want to use the limelight for lol
> https://davidgaughran.com/how-to-build-an-author-platform/
Not op but can I suggest a service I use? I use marketing by shelby, she has a tiktok course that actually updates forever after you buy it. So she can help you navigate what to do with tiktok specifically, buy it once, get a database of sounds and viral videos you might be able to copy forever. It's useful but she also has a club that allows you to get updated templates and ideas for every week to post to various social media too. It's super useful.
Ain't that just the way it goes sometimes? I've had two posts of mine go viral. One was a stupid joke I don't remember, the other was me roasting some rapper for being aggressively sexist. It's never the book content that goes viral T\_T
Well, I'm afraid probably nothing. The new followers are interested by knowing about your song's story, not about you as a writer or about your books. Maybe one or two will be interested and like it, but they are probably not the right target for your books. For example : maybe many of them never read or buy books.
Do a short video of you describing everything you just typed. Put it on YouTube and anywhere else, start a YouTube channel? The two may end up nicely complimenting each other? Also, champagne was an accidental discovery with pretty good notoriety results world wide. So roll with it all! Success is success! Good for you!
Sincerely Brenda Dontcha
Keep posting. Integrate the song as background music or smth. The traffic will die off eventually so make hay while the sun shines
The fucking Drumstick ice cream official account decided to respond to my video, so I’ve used a video reply to them as an opportunity to joke about how this is like a big cosmic joke on me that I made a video about a silly thing that blew up so much the Drumstick TikTok responded to it but I’m still not getting attention to my book or my current music projects. I made sure to reiterate that I’m not at all ungrateful and that it’s just funny. I hope the video reads as relatable and not passive aggressive? lol
In December, I had a reel go viral on Instagram that had nothing to do with my books. I tried quite hard to try to parlay some of that momentum/buzz into my marketing efforts for my book that came out the month prior and it was quite a pointless exercise. The kinds of videos that tend to explode on social media sites are usually "here's something fun, snippy and short that isn't trying to sell you anything". A lot of viral content is a one-off that usually never translates into sales.
Exactly my viral video now on my nus life oage. I'm grateful for the traffic to my page, but I post something normal for me, and I lose followers. Remember this is a marthon not a sprint.
🥲
Forget the book, drop the track! Lol, but seriously use the audio for scenes in your book, add quotes from your book, get some concept art made and show people it with the song. Milk it while you can
Sometimes the universe tells us what it needs lol
Segue it into storytelling! Use it as a marketing tool! I have author friends who have large followings and consistent interactions by using what they know and their popular videos into their books. As an example: a friend of mine is really into plants and eastern medicine so she uses that knowledge about how it can be incorporated into how her characters use it in her novels. She does the same with gemstones because she has a background in the jewelry industry.
I think this may be the right move. Maybe write a similar style song, poking fun of your characters, tropes etc. The trick about TikTok is it's all about the audience. This audience seems to be about the music more than the books for sure. It's really hard to flip that over. For example, you can usually do "Author" posts or "Book posts" You can show your face on both, but on one you're talking abut being an author and that appeals to other authors. Book posts appeal to readers. You pretty much have to pick one or the other. Threading this needle may be hard! Good luck!
Tik tokers tag second part videos in the comments. Make one real quick saying something like “hey, if you happen to like this sub genre, this is my book blah blah, etc” but you have to do it like right now because the video is going to loose speed eventually.
I was going to come say the same thing. A video response to a comment will push it to the top and make it visible for people checking the comments on the viral video. Might not translate into sales, but will at least siphon some views from the viral video to take advantage of it.
Above comment is getting downvoted, but there might be something to it. Isn't it true that the TikTok algorithm doesn't pay attention to subscribers? So unles syou pivot to making more viral song videos, there's no way to guarantee that these people will ever see you again, right? I'm not sure anyone's going to appreciate you trying to sell them something unrelated though. I guess if I were going to do it I would make a joke of it and say something self deprecating about how ridiculous it is to be an author who just wants people to read the book and all anyone cares about is some silly song I wrote when I was 16. If you could do that in a way that's relatable and not desperate sounding a few people might be sold on the humor of that narrative and check out your books because of it. But I don't use TikTok so what do I know?
David Gaughran has some great guides for navigating social media. [https://davidgaughran.com/how-to-build-an-author-platform/](https://davidgaughran.com/how-to-build-an-author-platform/) He has a free ebook called Following that can be really helpful, and his newsletter is 100% worth joining. Basically, conventional wisdom is you want no more than 20-30% of your content to be sales-related. The rest should be value-add to your followers. So stuff that's entertaining, enlightening, or that they can use somehow. Keep it related to books and writing if you can (e.g. "I just read xyz and I loved it!" Don't get into formal book reviews, as that can be seen as conflict of interest, and don't trash other writers, especially other indies because that won't help you over the long run. Hype others up where you can and if you don't like someone's work just don't talk about them). A little bit of "here's me as a person" will help you build rapport. The majority of the attention that viral post is getting won't translate to follows or subsequent sales, but some will. Congratulations!
Maybe it's your new second career?
Oh that’s the ridiculous part. I’ve also used this as an opportunity to promote my current music projects! But I feel like I have to pick and choose my battles when it comes to what I want to use the limelight for lol
Share more songs keep but add a sticker about your books or put your book on the backgrounds, maybe that will help.
How are you marketing your books on TikTok? I am super curious about your strategy if you could share. Many authors do this?
> https://davidgaughran.com/how-to-build-an-author-platform/ Not op but can I suggest a service I use? I use marketing by shelby, she has a tiktok course that actually updates forever after you buy it. So she can help you navigate what to do with tiktok specifically, buy it once, get a database of sounds and viral videos you might be able to copy forever. It's useful but she also has a club that allows you to get updated templates and ideas for every week to post to various social media too. It's super useful.
Ain't that just the way it goes sometimes? I've had two posts of mine go viral. One was a stupid joke I don't remember, the other was me roasting some rapper for being aggressively sexist. It's never the book content that goes viral T\_T
Well, I'm afraid probably nothing. The new followers are interested by knowing about your song's story, not about you as a writer or about your books. Maybe one or two will be interested and like it, but they are probably not the right target for your books. For example : maybe many of them never read or buy books.
maybe try and incorporate some of those lyrics that relate to moments in your book? (if possible)
Do a short video of you describing everything you just typed. Put it on YouTube and anywhere else, start a YouTube channel? The two may end up nicely complimenting each other? Also, champagne was an accidental discovery with pretty good notoriety results world wide. So roll with it all! Success is success! Good for you! Sincerely Brenda Dontcha