Hi all,
First things first, before we get into the BookTok discussion, WHERE ARE YOU, ECHO BLUE? is coming out in less than FIVE MONTHS (!!!). There are going to be a bunch of giveaways soon with some other fun things coming up, but for now, a little housekeeping.
It takes a whole lot of people to get book buzz going. If you like supporting authors, and if you like supporting me, would you please consider:
Pre-ordering on Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, or Watchung Booksellers (my local indie).
Adding it to your Goodreads TBR. Plus, enter the Goodreads giveaway to win an advanced copy!
Requesting your local library carry it.
Asking your local bookstore if they will carry it.
Pre-ordering from your local indie book store. Don’t know where your nearest one is? Look on Bookshop which will link you to your local bookstore. (Just click on the link in the top right corner Choose A Bookstore and it will give you options to purchase it in your area.)
Do You Need TikTok To Sell A Book?
If you’re in the online book world, this is a constant question, but has been even more relevant in the past few weeks since this article came out.
The labor of self-promotion or platform-building or audience-growing or whatever our tech overlords want us to call it is uncomfortable; it is by no means guaranteed to be effective; and it is inescapable unless you are very, very lucky.
It’s true. Self-promotion is inescapable. You see people writers going viral on TikTok and it changes their entire career. I joined TikTok a few years ago because that’s what authors were supposed to do. Did I want to join another social media site? No! But it seemed negligent not to. Two years later I only have a little over 300 followers and most of my videos aren’t widely watched. It’s true that I barely post (which is something algorithm likes), though I have been playing around with it more recently.
As author Andi Bartz said yesterday in her Instagram post, it’s really hard to be an author these days on social media. You’re going from newsletters to Instagram reels to TikTok to Threads. You want to take responsibility for selling your own books. you want to put yourself out there and be creative. You want to show people all of your hard work. But by the middle of the day, you’re fried.
My sister-in-law, a designer with an amazing Instagram account, and I made an agreement. If we’re going to be online we should commit to being “creative.” What does creative mean? It means, play around with different formats. Don’t obsess over likes or views or comments.
But apps give you feedback, or “likes” or views if a post does well. It’s very hard to ignore the app’s “reward” system because the reward system is meant to trigger you into posting more, into checking your likes, into going back. This is not how art works.
The other night, it was 1am and I was awake, thinking about a new post I made on TikTok and checking to see if it was doing well. It was one o’clock in the morning! I should have been sleeping at one in the morning—not checking a post. How am I going to be a productive writer if I’m checking the TikTok algorithm in the middle of the night?
I started beating myself up, asking myself, Why am I doing this? What’s wrong with me? This was supposed to be “creative.” But then I realized that the app has trained my brain to keep coming back, to find out how my posts are doing, to get the “reward.” As it’s wisely explained a recent New York Times article:
"[These] devices lure users with some powerful tactics. One is “intermittent reinforcement,” which creates the idea that a user could get a reward at any time. But when the reward comes is unpredictable.”
Of course you keep, I keep, going back. I’m hoping for the carrot. Because these apps work like slot machines, except tailored to your preferences. (Imagine what that does to our teenagers? That’s for another newsletter.)
TikTok has the most sophisticated AI program in the world. So what makes me think I, Hayley Krischer, can beat it? I can’t. This isn’t War Games. This isn’t a game of tic tac toe with Joshua. And by the way, let’s not forget that when you get that reward, you also get the serotonin boost. When you get the serotonin boost, you get that feeling that you’ve done something productive as a writer. It gives you the feeling of control as opposed to just sitting there praying that your book will sell, praying that the marketing department does their job, praying that you’ll get rave reviews.
The next morning when I woke up, instead of looking at my phone, I picked up the novel I’m reading for my book club. (It’s “Hope” by Andrew Ridker. Really funny, smart book about a Jewish family falling apart.) I made my coffee and read for 45 minutes before I had to wake my daughter up. It was a great way to start my day and refreshed my brain. It shut all the worry off.
The irony is that I made a TikTok post about this very topic. I said: “Writing is not about social media. It’s not about the likes. If you want to be a writer, you have to write.” So why can’t I give myself my own advice? That’s always the problem, isn’t it?
Goop Translations: Gwyneth Goes Skiing
Back by popular demand!
Goop:
Gwyneth Goes Skiing, the stage musical comedy parody of Gwyneth Paltrow’s infamous ski trial that premiered in London is now heading to the United States. “Gwyneth Goes Skiing,” scheduled for May 16-26 at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City. —Via Deadline
If anyone need forget, as GP was leaving the courtroom during her ski trial, she told Terry Sanderson, the man who plowed into her while skiing, then unsuccessfully sued her: “I wish you well.”
Goop Translation:
You are a sad trash of a man, Terry Sanderson. But I’ll give it to you sir, the public trial allowed everyone to get a glimpse of my perfect skin. This case drove hundreds of thousands of users to my website, Goop, and we subsequently sold thousands of units of Goop Glow. That’s right, it’s $125 for 1.7 ounces.
In fact, we’ve sold so much Goop Glow that we’ve decided to tout it on our website as “one of the greatest skin care products of all time.”
Do we have any proof of that? Of course not. We don’t need it. I have you instead, and the legacy of our ski trial, reminding people that you’re a loser and I’m a winner. That I’m better than you. That I’m better than all of you. You want your skin to look like mine did in that courtroom? Buy Goop Glow.
Do I use Goop Glow? Sure, I do. But I also get laser treatments. I also use prescription medications. I get facials from the best in the business. You think I’d limit my skin to a $125 product? Please.
Sir, thank you for stupidly suing me. Because I can’t buy that kind of advertising.
I truly do wish you well.
Thank you for reading!
-Hayley