When Everyone Says You’re A Dumbass, Guess What? You’re A Dumbass. - Rachel Thompson

Rachel Thompson

Author • Poet • Advocate

JOIN RACHEL'S MAILING LIST

When Everyone Says You’re A Dumbass, Guess What? You’re A Dumbass.

by 16 Comments

ID-10097894

FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I wasn’t going to even bother with this whole scenario that occurred on Twitter yesterday, but several of my followers were honestly so shocked by this, they asked me to write about it. So here ya go: 

I received another mass tweet from someone I’ve never met, who doesn’t follow me, telling me to purchase his poetry, retweet his tweet, and get others to support him.

Normally, I just unfollow these folks – it’s obvious they don’t ‘get’ the social in social media. But for whatever reason, his aggressive manner rubbed me the wrong way. So I tweeted him back: ‘you might want to interact, engage, perhaps follow people, not just spamming the same link to hundreds.’

He was not pleased. He decided to tell me how Twitter works. Yea, I know.

(I’m thinking maybe he didn’t read my bio. Not that I say I’m sort of guru, because I’m not. But because maybe he would see that I own a media company and was really just trying to help him.)

Let’s deconstruct.

WHEN EVERYONE SAYS YOU’RE A DUMBASS, GUESS WHAT? YOU’RE A DUMBASS

Growing up, my older sister used to say this: if enough people say you’re an asshole, you’re an asshole. Being young, and a sibling, I disagreed – ya know, just to be contrary. Anyway, back to the guy: multiple people engaged in the conversation, and to a one, we all suggested that he spend time interacting, curating interesting content, being generous to others, and connect with readers — as opposed to making his timeline singularly self-focused.

Instead of taking the advice of other authors, he insisted that there was something wrong with US – that he has every right to spam links (he called it advertising) etc., and we have no business making suggestions that he try a different tactic. (Hint: read the Twitter Rules on spam). He even went so far as to say how sad it is that authors won’t support each other, a ‘subtweet’ jab directed at me. Whatevs.

Sigh. I directed him to my @BadRedheadMedia stream, where I give out hundreds of free tips weekly. To authors. To support authors.

JOE WILSON TV

One lovely new friend suggested I watch this hilarious (and stingingly honest) video (Stop Spamming Me With Your Work On Twitter) from @JoeWilsonTV. Every author, musician, actor, screenwriter, and businessperson needs to watch this video and take it to heart. (In fact, I love it so much, I just asked Joe’s permission to use the clip for this post — I promised not to spam it. And he laughed. Score!)

What I loved about Joe’s video was this: I’m not (he’s not, you’re not) the Twitter police. Do whatever the hell you want. But if you want to sell some damn books:

  •  Stop spamming us with your links. Once every few days is plenty. 
  • Don’t rationalize your spamming because you look like a dumbass
  • We support you when you’re not being a dumbass – when you are, not even your mother wants to be around you or read your books.

POINTLESS

I ended up blocking this guy (after I wished him all the best. What.), because he just kept going on and on about his amazingness, his right to spam, but mostly because he didn’t bother to admit or consider for a moment, that perhaps, just maybe, he might be oh, just a tiny bit mistaken in his marketing efforts.

Actually, the main reason I blocked his ass was this line: my own stats prove that Twitter sells my books.

This is patently false. Nobody has those kinds of stats — not because Twitter isn’t effective for book sales – it absolutely is – um, we think. But because there’s no way to check click-through rates to one’s book link (unless you’re using a customized link shortener like bit.ly – which he isn’t),  because Twitter nor Amazon provides us ANY data about that. We also don’t know how many clicks from Twitter (or anywhere) result in sales. All we know: our sales and rankings (updated hourly) on Amazon.

Listen, it’s just Twitter. Use some common sense – if you wouldn’t do something in real life, don’t do it on Twitter.

If this guy wants to actually sell some books, I suggest he take free advice from people who can and want to help him. Maybe he’ll learn a little something.

I know I did. I learned my sister is always right. Dammit.asshole card

 

 

If you’d like to read a free sample of my third release, Broken Pieces, here’s the link to Amazon. It’s also available on Barnes and Noble. The print version will be out before Christmas from Booktrope. 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

  1. Good for you! I’ve started to block people who send me spam as soon as I follow them. Even worse are the ones who don’t follow back and STILL spam me: “I can’t even be bothered to follow you on Twitter, but you should buy my book/promote my agenda/find me on Facebook anyway”.

    Sometimes I’ll spam them back–“okay, but only if you follow my blog/check out my page first”. Surprisingly, a lot of them have and ended up being loyal followers. Who knew?

    Reply

    • Honestly, I’m not sure what happened to common sense with regard to promotion on Twitter — or really any social media channel. It’s like some people are in a tunnel and won’t turn around.

      I know that I can only help those who want to learn — the others, well, best of luck to em.

      xx

      Reply

  2. I agree re: enough with the spamming. Nothing wrong with trying to sell your books, music or whatever but I get tired of finding out people are only chatting with me so I buy their stuff. I do enjoy the social aspect of ahem, social media..and we can also promote. I’ve had people who instantly became my BFF until they tried to corner me into reading their books. When I explained I am super busy with my own writing etc, but would be happy to read theirs when I had some time, they dropped me like a hot rock. LOL Ah, well. You always offer up honest and helpful information, if people decide to continue being a dumbass then you sister was so on point.
    Steph

    Reply

    • I’m not sure it will ever change, truly. Some people just don’t bother to learn how to properly market, so they throw shit against the wall and hope something sticks. It’s sad because there’s so many great books and blogs out there to HELP people, and they just don’t bother to learn or feel it doesn’t apply to them.

      Reply

    • Ha, thanks Terry. All great examples.

      Yea, the people who can’t seem to understand that social media is social are the ones who worry me the most. Because they just don’t understand — it’s not about them. We all want to hawk something, and building a fan base helps immensely — that is where Twitter is a wonderful tool. But to use it as link spam, it’s a waste or their and our time.

      Oh, and yea, I get emails and tweets requesting reviews — I’m not a reviewer! There are thousands of reviewers out there — talk with them!

      Reply

  5. ..great post and i’m so glad you shared that video…it really is spot on….. whoever the dickhead is that was spamming you, I gotta say that you did all of us a great service….cuz you took his “spam” and turned it into a gourmet meal for your serious friends and fans on how not to be an asshole on twitter….. bravo to you……next book should be a cookbook – smile –

    Reply

  6. Clap hands, Rachel!

    The other day I had a tweet from someone I’d had no interaction with whatsoever – the usual thing: I’m asking all my Twitter friends to friend me on Facebook. Friends? He’s never even said hello. Anyway, I politely told him that I don’t add authors to my personal page, but if he’d like to follow my author page, I would do the same for is, if he had one. No response. Same tweet again two days later. I told him this was spam. No response. I looked at his timeline. All it was, was hundreds and hundreds of auto spam tweets of this fashion. Obviously never actually looks at Twitter, so doesn’t read messages. I’ve had another one from a total stranger asking me to vote for her story in some competition. I told her this was spam and that I wouldn’t vote for something I’d never read. She told me that I was rude, and that everyone else had done so. I doubt it…. I’ve never seen her on Twitter since. Maybe she found that her approach didn’t work, and, like many who behave similarly, declared that ‘Twitter doesn’t work’ when it comes to promoting your stuff. I’ve had a lot of that; usually from total strangers asking me to feature them on my blog. I don’t have a book blog…..

    Reply

    • Ha, thanks Terry. All great examples.

      Yea, the people who can’t seem to understand that social media is social are the ones who worry me the most. Because they just don’t understand — it’s not about them. We all want to hawk something, and building a fan base helps immensely — that is where Twitter is a wonderful tool. But to use it as link spam, it’s a waste or their and our time.

      Oh, and yea, I get emails and tweets requesting reviews — I’m not a reviewer! There are thousands of reviewers out there — talk with them!

      Reply

  7. I saw that conversation, and read through it for a bit… and I ALMOST jumped in, too, but I figured if you couldn’t convince him, what good would I do? LOL

    Reply

  8. That was a funny exchange. I truly enjoyed how he kept inflating his own ego. It was like self-fellatio. Out of curiosity, I checked out his timeline and was not shocked to see him stroking himself for a bunch of random people (more than a few I noticed were not on his followers/following lists) who hadn’t responded with kind words of Twitter wisdom like you did. Oh, and after the whole affair was over and he was blocked, he was still bitching about you. The butthurt ran through him.

    Reply

    • Oh lord. I figured his ego was more hurt than anything. It’s sad when people just cannot take responsibility and admit that they fucked up. It’s also a little hilarious.

      love you, Will

      xx

      Reply

Trackbacks

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *