Authors get tired of Facebook. It's saturated, takes a long time to gain a following, and, after a while, it gets a little boring.
Most of the time when authors hear the word, "marketing," it resembles the sound of Styrofoam scraping the floor or nails scratching those weird, smooth folder covers. Does anyone else get goosebumps when this happens? Only me? OK.
So how do we break up the monotony?
Introducing the backwards mermaid, by author and literary agent, Alyssa Roat:
For those unfamiliar with Alyssa or her Instagram, she doesn't often post photos of coffee cups or a word document of her latest first draft.
(Guilty as charged)
But she does incorporate her weird side into her posts. Hence, the backwards mermaids: mermaids with a fish head and
human legs on the bottom. Weird? Yes. Somewhat creepy. Uh huh. Do I love it and want to follow all her posts? Of course!
Writers have to think outside of the box in all creative marketing endeavors. In fact, there can no longer be a box. Let's turn it into an icosohedron as PWR Studios encourages us to do in this video.
Editors no longer let novelists get away with, "It was a dark and stormy night," in manuscripts. So why should writers try cliche marketing techniques? Why not have a little fun with it?
Here are some fun marketing techniques I've stumbled across by other writers:
Brooding YA Hero Twitter Account - I follow a number of parody YA accounts, including creating one myself. This YA author has landed herself a book deal from her large following on her snarky tweets.
Bob Hostetler - Bob, a novelist, agent, and comedian, posts a joke a day. Often these involve puns.
Megan Alms - A fellow professional writing major posts gorgeous photos of her poems on Instagram and Tumblr.