The Link Spam Challenge

Are you on Twitter? I am, but I've been slightly less engaged lately. It's not for a good reason, like trying to spend less time online and more time being productive. Pshaw! I've been less than enthused because instead of the informative and interesting tweets that had been filling up my feed, I feel like everything in there lately is Link Spam.

Link Spam is not crazy tasty

As I scroll down my feed, post after post is filled with "Check out my new book LINK", "ARCs available now LINK", "Another 5star review for my book LINK".

The thing is, I totally get it. You've got a book out, it's unbelievably exciting, and all you want to do is shout from the mountain top like the hills are alive so everyone will buy your book.

Unfortunately, too many authors think this is the right way to go about getting people to buy, read and review their book. Let me tell you a little secret; this isn't the right way. The right way is much harder. It takes more time and effort. You can't phone it in or pre-schedule it on Buffer.



I could go on and on about the right ways to use Twitter (and other social media), but let's save that for another post. Today, I'm offering a challenge. There are no winners and no prizes, though if accepted, the challenge should help authors win.

If you are an author with a book to promote, I challenge you to not link to your own book on social media for the next month. That's right I said it. You can talk about it all you want, but no links. None, zip, nada, zilch.

The only exception is if someone directly asks you for the link of where they can buy your book. Not "Hey tell me more about your book" or "Didn't you release a book this month?". I mean, "Can you please give me the link where I can buy your book?". Since most people on social media know how to use Google, I'm don't think that's really going to come up, but if it does, it'd be rude not to send it.

So what say you authors? Are you up for the challenge? Because here's my prediction. If you spend the same amount of time on social media as usual, but use that time to engage with readers instead of promoting, you just might find more people who want to learn more about you.

And there's the bread and butter. Because your Twitter bio will have the link to your website, which will have all kinds of info about your books.

So take some time and look at how many books you sold for the month of August. Now challenge yourself not to post your buy link for the whole month of September. I'm guessing you end up with higher sales and a more engaged audience, but that's just me.

If you're willing to give this a shot, please let me know in the comment box along with your twitter handle. Then come back in a month and let me know how it goes. I want to hear your story.