Bridging the virtual divide

August 15, 2011 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News

Authors are using social media to go beyond just marketing their books. They are also gathering invaluable feedback, discussions and critique

Author Amish Tripathi’s Facebook group page is buzzing with activity these days. The author whose book, Immortals of Meluha , was well received by readers, released the sequel to the book, The Secret of the Nagas recently. To some of Tripathi’s posts, more than 100 comments follow. The discussions begin with the book, move on to the writing and the inspirations. Similar discussions ensue on Tripati’s Twitter page. Tripathi isn’t selling his book on Facebook or Twitter, atleast not directly. All he is doing is engaging in “a meaningful conversation” with his fans. But like Tripathi, a new crop of writers is using social media to get invaluable feedback.

Writers are progressively realising that being a presence online makes for a fantastic interaction opportunity. Using social media to promote a book is old news, but using it to bridge the gap between writer and reader seems like the next step in evolution. “What happens after I write a book and sell it?” asks Edinburg-based author, Lin Anderson. Anderson, who attends a number of book festivals and conducts library appearances around the country, feels that readers like to hear about the inspirations for a book. Anderson’s Twitter account is fairly active and she answers to a number of comments and questions on the site. “I also answer all fan mail to my website, which usually surprises many people, but I like to make contact with my readers. I think there is a gap between readers and many authors like to work in isolation. I don’t know what works best, but being available to your reader is a big learning. Some of the more popular authors might be deluged with contact they can’t respond to. However, I have noticed that some of these writers employ someone to tweet or blog for them, because they believe it’s important to keep the contact. After all, if people don’t buy and read our books, we couldn’t operate as writers.”

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