Book Blogging 101: Viral or Spam?
What I learned from Marcus Finch. When good ideas go awry.
Do I need glasses? Or is everyone posting the same thing?
This is a rather hard piece for me to write, considering I’m a big proponent of original blog tours and promotional pieces. But, I was a part of a very big publisher spam event. I keep on thinking how could I have avoided it?
Frankly, I’m embarrassed by the whole event. The grumpy tweets that went out, an even more aggressive comment that was made. People obviously were very annoyed with the mass amount of posts that were made by a handful of bloggers. I tried to get angry as people tweeted they were being spammed by our blogs. But, hell if I wasn’t the one doing the posting, would I be reacting just as negatively? Probably. Especially when I saw some of my Finch compatriots that I hadn’t realized were a part of the tour. I shouldn’t have been surprised…it was a YA book. And if there is a promo blitz this chick is always involved so here I was spamming the crap out of people with a blogger that people think shouldn’t be involved in any publisher promotions because of her past actions. So, yeah…if I was on the outside of the tour, I would have been pretty annoyed too.
But, looking back, unless I would have told the publisher I wasn’t doing it, after I committed…that was the only way I would have gotten out of things knowingly.
And I’ve never intentionally backed out of a blog tour after I’ve said yes. (there was a time when the assets went into junk and I had forgotten to write down the date on my calendar — big oops, I’m still embarrassed about that one)
Yet, that is probably what I should have done. I was expecting that I would be in a blog tour with clues posted on my blog about a major character. I believed, from the initial email that the clues would be different each blog. In fact, since the emails had no other correspondence I didn’t even know how many, or who else was participating. I didn’t think that everyday a group of blogs would be posting the same clue — everyday — for weeks. Until I got the assets email and was like — “Um…what is this?”
There was a lot of clues. For everyday. But, again I believed that I might be the only blog that was doing it. I was the only one on the email. I believed that the character was maybe a fun character that people would be interested in finding out more about. But, as the first day went live — and it was too late to back out, realization hit. I now had two weeks of spam posts that were going to be broadcast from my blog. And there was a lot more then just me, participating in this event.
Holy Hell.
I did it though. I had made my commitment. I set the times for early in the morning and made sure that I always had other posts going live for each day. There was a giveaway attached for a very hyped book, so I figured the people interested in Richelle Mead’s series would be the one to pay attention to the posts. And they did. Thousands of entries into the contest. But, I increasingly became uncomfortable. There were also a lot of tweets. Not directed at me, just generally broadcasted, about how the campaign was overkill.
It was overkill. And I apologize for my spam from the last two weeks. But, like all #fails, I did learn a few things:
1. I should have asked more questions. I was overwhelmed by a name, Richelle Mead.
2. I should have paid attention to the other participants of the tour
3. When I got the assets I should have asked more questions, or told the tour organizer that I was backing out. I would probably have lost the contact. But, what can you do? There are other contacts and publishers, right? ((sob))
The final outcome of the situation was that I did end up emailing the Marketing Assistant in charge of correspondence and told her about the negative feedback I received. Hopefully in the next brainstorming meeting, she’ll bring this up if this type of campaign is implemented again. That, and I’ll know to stop and “think” before I get blinded by a hyped up book and a big named author.
Have any of you been “hooked” into an event that you didn’t realize the scope until it was too late?
Book Blogger News
Plagiarism WTF?
I literally stared slack-jawed at the screen when I saw Wendy Darling of the Midnight Garden tweet this particular gem out:
From what I can tell, nothing is resolved and my heart again goes out to Wendy Darling and her fellow bloggers. This is the second time they have been plagiarized in the last couple of months. In fact – the plagiarized post went LIVE the day they posted about being plagiarized by another blogger. This puts a lot of question marks around the post – because – *gasp* could this be an intentional FU to them? A retaliatory attack to their earlier stance against plagiarism? Either way, both suck. Good luck, ladies. And good job on catching it…again.
Amazon Responds
There was also another case of plagiarism that didn’t go that viral, mainly because the person plagiarizing was doing so on an Amazon review. There was no contact information made viable for this Amazon Reviewer, so the review was reported to Amazon and very quickly Amazon responded by taking down the review. So, just know that there are ways around things and companies like Amazon and Google will quickly respond to cases of plagiarism. The desired outcome is that the piece is taken down. They aren’t flogged, or ruined. Their content is just taken down.
Book Blogger Question of the Day
Posting a cover, or small quote from a book is considered FAIR USE. Read about it here. You are critiquing something, so it falls within the terms of FAIR USE. The blurb is also in the FAIR USE category. The only time you step over the line is when posting long excerpts, then it is not FAIR USE. Or if you post a cover and claim it belongs to you…when it doesn’t.
Happy Thursday. Talk Less. Read More. Blog with Integrity.
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Don’t feel bad if I had saw Richelle Mead’s name I would’ve been blinded too. Those posts where annoying but that wasn’t the bloggers fault. Plus I just finished Indigo Spells the build up to Marcus Flinch wasn’t all that exciting. You would think after that tour his character would’ve been built up more in the book.
I was really annoyed by this particular promotion. I follow quite a few blogs by email and if I saw another clue, I would delete the email. I wouldn’t even check out the other posts for the day.
I saw your tweets apologizing and so I don’t blame you or any of the others bloggers. You guys were suckered in and I agree that keeping your commitment was the right thing to do.
I’ve slowed down my touring (to almost nothing) because I feel like I’m being used by some of these tour sites. And I hate giving up my time and blog space for an author that doesn’t deserve it. I don’t get paid, but since the tour organizers do, some of them really pressure you for the results they want. Not all, of course. But some.
I love promoting authors who write books that I want and for me, Id much rather work directly with the author than a third party. I don’t know what this third party is promising the author, but I do know what is promised when it is only me talking to him/her.
@ Lizzie I’m with you on this. I deleted every Marcus Finch email after the initial round because it was just too much of the same. It actually turned me off the book.
I also agree with the whole blog tour thing. I work with a few that I like but I agree it is a LOT of work and sometimes a lot of pressure for a few extra page hits for a day or two. Many are folks who never return (my blog is small and a bit niche). I wonder about working directly with authors and why more authors don’t contact bloggers themselves and instead pay these companies big money. I’m just a small blog but would post a one day promo piece directly for an author I’ve read (and enjoyed) in the past and all I’d want is a copy of their new release in exchange for the space and time. It would save them cash but would probably be a heck of a lot more work finding bloggers on their own. If I were an author I’d do it this way but I’m cheap and broke
Nice post, I appreciate your honesty and apology ParaJunkee.
I actually have to admit that I quickly got annoyed by the whole Marcus Finch promo, at first it sounded like a nice way to get some attention for the new book in this series. But soon it just came across as spam and I actually was afraid some of those hint would be spoilery and I started avoiding all the Marcus Finch post. I think being part of this as a blog is really difficult, because indeed at first you didn’t know it would be so much like spam and I think they haven’t given you enough information about it all. I hope they indeed learn from it and we won’t see promo’s like this again.
I love Richelle Mead and this series so I probably would have been duped too. The first day it seemed like kind of a neat idea to get promo for the book but I found the clues boring and things I already knew from the last book. Also an everyday post for weeks where it was the same thing on so many blogs became overkill. But publicists are good at tricking you and making you think you will be special. I had a similar experience where I was contacted to post a guest post on a books release day. I was told the author would be tweeting it and promoting it on her facebook page. I rarely get these opportunities so I was super excited. Until the day I posted it and it was the same exact post all over the place and the author had even posted the entire post right onto her facebook page. I was totally bummed.
I agree with Amber, sort of. My first sort of uh-oh was reading the copy I was sent and realizing Marcus Finch wasn’t a very big character.
I don’t regret participating in the campaign, but I’m happy I’m not on Twitter much so that I missed most of the kerfuffle.
I love Richelle Mead and this series so I would have been duped too. The first day it seemed like kind of a neat idea to get promo for the book but I found the clues boring and things I already knew from the last book. Also an everyday post for weeks where it was the same thing on so many blogs became overkill. But publicists are good at making you think you will be special. I had a similar experience where I was contacted to post a guest post on a books release day. I was told the author would be tweeting it and promoting it on her facebook page. I rarely get these opportunities so I was super excited. Until the day I posted it and it was the same exact post all over the place and the author had even posted the entire post right onto her facebook page. I was totally bummed.
+JMJ+
I felt free to ignore the Marcus Finch promo. Although the posts showed up on my feed, I didn’t think I was the target market for them and didn’t read any of the posts. So this is the first time I’m hearing about the news.
Apparently, there’s a wider definition for spam these days. The last time I checked, “spam” was a generic promotional e-mail sent out to a bunch of people or a generic comment left on a bunch of blogs, with no purpose other than to draw traffic back to one’s own blog. That’s why I didn’t consider the Marcus Finch posts to be spam. If you sign up for someone’s feed, then you sign up for all content, promotional or otherwise. It can be really annoying, but you can also ignore it.
As for this specific issue, I think the publisher did all the bloggers a disservice by not disclosing the details of the plan. Yes, the onus was probably on you to have asked more questions, but the whole promo reeks of taking advantage and not really respecting what individual book bloggers are about.
I was initially curious the first couple of times I saw the Marcus Finch posts. I noticed them on your blog and another blog I follow through triberr. As I haven’t been on Twitter much these past few weeks I didn’t really see the angry tweets or feel like I was being spammed with it.
I didn’t actually read more than one of them as it just wasn’t that exciting. Or a tease. Perhaps it was because I hadn’t read book two yet and because I don’t really enter big giveaways like that.
But it was definitely overkill. Because it wasn’t like a scavenger hunt for clues. It was the same stuff without any unique additions that I know of on any of the participating blogs. And by the end, every time I saw the question of “Who is Marcus Finch?” A retort in my mind would scream, I just don’t care.
Which kind of sucks because I love Richelle Mead AND her writing and her books and I will forever buy them. But I now have an adverse reaction to a character I have not yet met. Which makes me sad.
I know these blast promotions can be helpful and effective but this did feel a bit of the overkill variety. It might have been one thing if a small set of blogs had the first clue, then another set the second, etc. But to see the same posts day after day after day I just ended up ignoring them. Isn’t that the law of diminishing returns?
And oh poor Wendy I saw that tweet and that blog and that is dreadful.
Yes Promo Overkill and its nothing against you or the other bloggers . I would have loved to have seen it played out differently with different blog with a set of clues ..not all my friends blogs with the SAME clue.
I admit I haven’t read this series at all. So the clues were interesting but it also reeked of another Promo overkill we talked on twitter about Insurgent and the other news that came out ( story siren on Candor) .
So I do hope that they take the news and I totally agree that they did a disservice to the bloggers. Did you get hits /pageviews from this ?? One wonders how they come up with these marketing ploys . Did it really help the author or the publisher ???
Sorry to hear about Wendy again
So that’s what was happening! I was really confused when half the blogs I follow on a regular basis suddenly started posting the same thing at the same time. I was actually thinking something was wrong with my reader or something. I think this is an example of the publisher thinking more is better when more was just really annoying. Blogs should have gotten clues and posts that were unique to them rather than blitzing the community with the same post. After a day or two, I just started to ignore them. Probably not the reaction the promoters were hoping for.
I didn’t really see too many posts about the campaign. I saw a lot of tweets about it but those go by so quickly that I don’t really register all of them.
I agree with Amber, I thought Marcus Finch was going to be a much bigger character than he actually was.
It would have been nice if the posts had been a little more original but the bloggers who participated can’t be blamed for the spam like feel to these posts.
Rachel! Thanks so much for writing about this subject. We’ve seen a number of big marketing pushes around books, and while I understand the marketing intent, I personally don’t think they’re as effective as the publishers are hoping for. They can often backfire with over-saturation, as people stop reading the posts or getting plain annoyed by them. A reader like me just doesn’t respond to that sort of push, though maybe others do. (I hope I didn’t make you feel bad with my jokey tweets on Marcus Finch! The whole blitzing thing was mildly irritating, but I thought it was sort of funny, too. Especially since he’s such a minor character>)
I saw your tweets about feeling conflicted about being in the campaign, too. I don’t think anyone blamed the majority of the participants for Indigo Spell or even Insurgent. From the posts that went out afterwards, it seemed as though there was not a lot of clarity in how the campaigns were presented to you guys, and I understand the need to see your commitment through. I’m glad you gave feedback to the marketing person afterwards, though.
AND I have news. Thanks for including the news about this second plagiarism problem. The girl came onto my blog again to apologize and say she didn’t realize what she was doing was wrong. While I am sort of dumbfounded by that (and told her she needed to educate herself about plagiarism and copyright before doing anything else online), she did delete the offending blog posts, so fortunately this situation ended relatively quickly. From my two experiences, I think it really is best to tackle these things head on without hesitation.
P.S. I have been very dismayed when I’ve found myself participating in blog tours or initiatives with certain other bloggers as well, and I’ve turned down a couple of opportunities because I didn’t care for the association or to drive any traffic that way. It’s…annoying that we have to choose between our principles and our desire to maintain good relationships with publishers, etc. I’m very lucky that my two plagiarism situations resulted in the bloggers removing their content and/or themselves from the blogosphere, and with what appear to be sincere apologies.
Thank you thank you THANK YOU for writing this post! I actually started to ignore my blog feeds because of this event. At first I was interested to pick up the book, but as the hours/days/weeks past… I got more turned off from the promo event. I really hope that the people who coordinated this event rethink their approach because honestly, this was worse than reading a dozen negative reviews.
I think that particular campaign really hurt the book because I had never heard of that series before. After seeing so much of it, I have no desire to read it. I can say I rolled my eyes at the amount of times I saw a post about the book. It was insane.
Yes! I felt spammed too. I love my bloggy friends so I tried to ignore it but it was powerful.
Poor Wendy!
She can not cut a break.
I’m surprised she hasn’t let it get to her.
Rachel, thank you for speaking exactly what was on my mind. In my head, I couldn’t wait for this campaign to be OVER! I was tired of seeing it in my tweets as well as posts. Once the 11th past, I felt most relieved. It took up space where I could have other interesting posts up, but like you I was not going to back out of a commitment once I made it. So I bit my tongue and didn’t say much till it was over.
I hadn’t realize that there was controversy with another blogger. And I should have asked more questions or at least ask other known bloggers to see if they were on this event as well. I thought too, that I was just a handful of bloggers participating not the whole freaking blogoshpere!
I have learned my lesson!
I did feel a little bit spammed by all the posts, but I just scrolled over them in my blogger dashboard. Just scrolled right past them and it didn’t bug me too much, but it did go on for quite a while so I can understand why there were complaints.
Great post though.
Sorry to hear about Wendy’s plagiarism again! Kudos to her for handling it so well though. x
I never clicked the links for that campaign felt to spamming to me. Great post btw.
Great post! Got really tired of Marcus Finch really fast, so I started deleting the posts from my reader without even opening them. I think it would have worked much better if different bloggers presented the clues on different days instead of drowning us in duplicate feeds. Very annoying!
I think it would have worked much better if different bloggers presented the clues on different days instead of drowning us in duplicate feeds.
This.
*raises hand* I was one of the grumpy tweeters. I didn’t tweet at anyone specifically; I just tweeted my overall dislike for the Marcus Finch promo. And I don’t blame the bloggers. I doubt you all were told that you would all be posting the SAME MATERIAL on the SAME DAY. And how long did the MF promo go on for? 2 weeks? Way too long.
I am so annoyed with Marcus Finch that I will probably never read the book because I will never want to look at it ever again. And when the Insurgent promo was going around, THAT killed my desire to read that book. It’s still sitting on my shelf.
This is a great piece you wrote. And I think it’s a great learning experience for all of us. I wouldn’t have thought to question the person in charge of the MF promo or pressed for details about the material I was given. But I will give it more thought from this point forward. And I hope authors, publishers, and publicists come across this post and read the comments. Hopefully they, too, will gain some insight. There is such a thing as too much promotion.
Agreed!!
Thanks B, I appreciate it. I saw your tweets, but I also saw a lot of other tweets. Some were just gen I HATE MF tweets — and others were a little more blogger specific. I think there was something about flogging if I wasn’t mistaken. I was kind of scared…
I just feel sorry for all the bloggers who had to participate in this promo, Rachel! To be honest I’ve looked through the first post but when there were the other 10 on my Google Reader on the same day as soon as I saw blue colour and Marcus Finch I kept skipping so mostly it backfired for all the bloggers big time because not many people were clicking through. Good thing, we’ll never forget that name, right?
I’ll still read the book but I’m not one of the big fans and for me all that hype really didn’t matter.
I was one of the people who complained about in on Twitter. I love Richelle Mead, but I was so annoyed with how TIS was marketed. I’m so glad you did this post, hopefully the publishers won’t repeat it again.
That Marcus Finch stuff was out of control… I was soooo sooo sooooo sick of seeing it. It was TOTALLY spam by the time it was all done. YEESH! I am glad you posted this.. I was thinking about saying something about it but I am a smaller blog and thought if I said something the people participating who are my followers would be mad at me. So it’s nice that you can put this out there!!
I scrolled past any of the “Who is Marcus Finch” posts that showed up in my blog. I hate to say it, but I just didn’t care. It’s not the type of thing to get my attention. Maybe once, twice, but not for two weeks straight. Especially since I haven’t read any of the books before.
This reminds me a lot of the Insurgent campaign — does anyone remember that? I didn’t like how that was done either.
At the same time though, I like that the publishers are TRYING something different.
Gah I typed out a long comment and WordPress thought I already said it.
I ignored all the Marcus Finch posts when they showed up in my reader. I didn’t care who he was — I haven’t read any of the books — and I got sick of seeing them everywhere, day after day.
It reminded me a bit of the Insurgent campaign — does anyone remember that?
At the same time though, I like that publishers are trying new things. Maybe they just need to think a little more before implementing, though.
Argh nevermind, apparently my comment did post and I didn’t see it. Sorry!
Nice post Rachel. I pretty much ignored the Marcus Finch thing (that abbreviates to ‘the MF thing’ which is appropriate, lol). I am already hooked on the series and was planning to buy it anyway so this campaign did nothing for people who were planning to buy and probably turned off peeps who might have otherwise been interested.
Like I told you earlier in a tweet, I basically stayed away from them because I was a little worried about spoilers. I didn’t know how they were going to work, I didn’t want to know, and yeah…I was a bit annoyed by the everyday posts. It was overkill. I did tweet my annoyances on it after it’d been going on for about a week. But I would never blame the bloggers themselves for it because I know that you guys aren’t to blame. Hell, I fully admit that if I’d been asked to take part in it or seen a sign-up, I probably would’ve because Mead is perhaps my favorite author and I get majorly fan-girlish when it comes to her. Lol.
I think what they should’ve done for this promo like someone said above in the comments, was to split it up between bloggers on different days with different clues. Not a post every single day. One blogger could’ve posted a clue on a Monday, while another posted a different one on a Wednesday…etc.. Then it probably would’ve been a fun blitz for everyone.
Anyways, don’t worry about it.
Also–sidenote on Wendy: I’m so sorry to hear that. Just awful. Though I am glad it was all resolved, there’s still not an excuse for it to have even happened in the first place and I’m very sorry that it did. Hopefully no other problems will arise in the future. *hug*
<3
Pixie
Oh about the book cover, for example, do we have to cite that we got it from the author’s website, etc etc, or we don’t have to at all? Yikes. I thought it’s fair use, but just to be sure!
Book cover is fair use. Don’t need to cite it. Personally, I get mine from Goodreads. I include a link to Goodreads in my review, but never specifically say where I got it.
No citing! You are good.
I feel sick that Wendy had to go through that AGAIN! But I read her comment and I’m glad things got handled and concluded in a timely manner.
I noticed the Marcus Finch stuff, but honestly, I didn’t pay attention to it. I thought I’d figure it out when the book came to light etc. Sorry it was a less than postive experience for you. What are assets? Is that all the attachments (graphics, code, etc.)?
I’m so glad you posted. this. As someone who’s pretty new to the book blogging world it’s good to see behind the scenes sometimes at least that way I can learn and your bad experiences aren’t totally to waste. I did feel like the Marcus flinch campaign was overkill but I just tuned out. It sucks for you guys who were a part of it. I fully believe that bloggers can post what they want and readers can click away if they don’t want to read it. It’s a bummer though when readers take it out on you guys and when it’s more of a matter of keeping a commitment than actually wanting to share the content. ANy ways I really appreciate the honesty and reflection.
Is it just me or does the majority of the promo spamming and plagiarism have to do with the YA world? Mmm…. something to think about.
Do they (publishers, authors, whoever) think that is the only why to the get the attention of YA readers?
Does it say that YA reviewers can’t write reviews with their own thoughts cuz of the age range that reads them? (Not ALL just the tweens and teenagers.)
I’m not bashing YA readers/bloggers or authors it just seems like that genre has the most dealings with the two topics.
Well, the good thing is that you did notice.
Most people sing up for things and don’t even know who else is involved and how huge the things are.
I was so tired of these posts. I really was so the only thing I did was ignore them and not go, under any ANY circumstances, to the blogs participating.
I’m sorry… but it’s true.
I felt bad because I thought it was an awesome idea, the whole clue thing…
But after seeing that multiple blogs were posting the very same thing about the very same book with the very same clue?
:O
I thought spam and ‘get away now before it is too late’
But we’re always learning
While I did think that the social media campaign was overkill (not that I am blaming any bloggers, I totally would have jumped at Richelle’s name as well) I am most disappointed in the character himself. I thought that he was made out to be such a bad-ass rebel (from the clues) and I found him to be anything but (more surfer-ish puppy dog).
I can’t help but wonder how successful these huge viral campaigns are, for instance, after the controversy surrounding last year’s Insurgent campaign…
Great article!
I for one was annoyed by an entirely different thing. So many bloggers were participating with the daily clues and giveaways, but said giveaways where only for US/Canada. I’m not sure all bloggers were from US or Canada, but the publishers should have thought about the possibility of numerous international readers. The fact that it was the same clue for every blogger was a little weird, to be honest, but it didn’t exactly bother me that much. think it would have been better if the clues where different. And if there were less bloggers participating. How long did this event last? A week, two? Choose 7 or 14 bloggers to publish a different clue, one each day and it’s more than enough. You don’t see blog tours that last 2 weeks with tens of bloggers all posting the same thing.
I don’t think the bloggers are to blame, it’s the publishers who did a bad job in managing the whole thing. Maybe next time they’ll think a little more about arranging an event this big. Or hey, why not just stick to doing blog tours with interviews and reviews and guest posts and let the author itself to publish the clues/teasers?
It’s hard not to beat yourself up about stuff like this. You were had. So were other bloggers. I think going in with the best intentions is really the only thing you can do–and we get that.
I’ve been a part of a blog tour for a really awful book, and got pummeled when I gave my honest book review. I was removed from the tour and received a ton of hate mail.
But stuff happens, and we just have to keep doing what we do.
This is definitely a just-me thing, but I don’t think I minded the campaign much. That’s likely because I recognized it as spam and flew right over it. My feed has quite a few posts I’d consider spam in it because of who I follow. I got tired of one person’s because I didn’t even care for their reviews anymore and unfollowed them.
But speaking of following in a roundabout way, I don’t know why I’m not following you already. You’re awesome on Twitter! Better fix that now.
With the Marcus Finch campaign I think the spam would have gotten out of control even if only a small number of bloggers–think one or two, possible three–were part of it. I swear I saw people taking the clues from sites that got them from the publisher and reposting them!
I’ve been wanting to give Wendy a massive hug for ages and this makes me want to give her even more. She’s one of the nicest bloggers out there and she has to deal with more shit than she deserves to. I haven’t been plagiarized as far as I know, but I won’t know unless someone tells me or I stumble across it.
Lol! When I first saw the title of this post I immediately thought of a certain Finch without knowing that was the campaign you were specifically referring to. When I saw the first round of posts from this campaign I was curious. By day two, I was just automatically deleting anything blue in my feed, particularly since I couldn’t even participate in the giveaway being non-US/Canadian.
I think it was a creative way of generating a buzz for the book but would have been more successful had it been more controlled and less spammy.
It’s a hard lesson but a lesson learned. I saw a number of Marcus Finch tweets (and I don’t even follow a lot of YA bloggers) and thought: “wtf is this?” but mostly I just ignored it. Tours from publishers tend to get overzealous. I did one once and was so annoyed with it, I never did it again. We all learn as we go.