But sometimes it becomes necessary.
After more than a year as a member of Rave Reviews Book Club, it’s time for me to say goodbye. It was good while it lasted, but there are some major philosophical differences between what I believe and how the board chooses to run the club.
That’s okay. It’s their club.
It has been an honor to serve in the trenches, spending most of my tenure with RRBC as a member of the Tweet Support Team. I’ve made some true friends along the way, and met some fantastic people who I will miss interacting with, if they choose to unfollow me on Twitter.
It’s not all bad, of course. The hours I spent working on the TST can now be applied to finishing my latest book. I hate to say it, but so much time on Twitter has been something of a distraction. And my stats on Amazon show that sales via links on Twitter are few and far between. (I always use one of my affiliate IDs for book links, just to get the stats.) In fact, in the past year, I think only twice has a link to a specific book resulted in a sale of that book, and one was a link from my blog!
Am I suggesting anyone else should quit? Of course not.
Can I recommend the club to other authors? That depends.
For authors just getting started, the club provides an opportunity to get honest reviews for their books, from people who are motivated to leave a review. For a new author, those reviews are priceless. But for an established author, one who is seeing consistent royalties every month and already has the reviews and a strong fan base, I believe their time would be better spent writing their next book. Although I wouldn’t try to discourage them if they wanted to join.
What’s next for me? A lot more BIC. (Butt In Chair) And God willing, I’ll publish a few more books this year.
So, as The Bard once said, “Parting is such sweet sorrow…”
I will continue to follow your work and give you support on any social media you ask; just remember to hit me up if I seem to miss one, I am not the best at keeping track of Twitter.
Aww! I wanted to respond with ‘nooooo’, and I still feel sad that you’re leaving, but if your departure means that you’ll have more time to spend on you and your books, then I must bid you farewell (only from the club) and wish you the best. You have been so supportive. Keep working hard, my friend. It’ll pay off! ‘See’ you around!
Good luck to you!! You need to do what works for you! 🙂
This is a great post. I’m sorry to hear you’re leaving the club, but I understand your reasoning. Your support has been amazing! Thanks for everything you’ve done.
Lorraine, I second what others have said — I’ll miss your support & good cheer, but I agree with your reasons for going & wish you great success!
Thanks you for such amazing Twitter support, Lorraine! Blessings to you!!
Sorry to hear that, but I wish you all the best. If you ever need my blog space, or Twitter support its yours. You’ve helped me a bunch and I would love to return the favor.
I understand your feelings…but it is a good place to start for an author. Thank you so much for your support!!! The best of luck to you!
Lorraine: You were very supportive of all of us on Twitter. I always appreciated your original tweets. I understand that we all need to set boundaries and make decisions that advance our growth. I’ll continue to support your tweets if I see them. I still have a lot to learn about social media. Blessings and good luck, Jennie
Totally understand and I hope you don’t see a mass “unfollow” on Twitter. Your efforts on the TST have been much appreciated and good luck with the “butt in chair” time!
thanks for the statistical info about book sales. I agree Twitter is more of a distraction than a marketing tool. Right now: distracted by twitter.
Happy writing (BIC!).
Will miss your support, don’t worry, I will not un-follow you. Your past support has been great and will follow your blog to keep abreast of your latest activities. A.G. ps. keep my email if you ever need anything.
I’ll continue to follow you on Twitter, and I signed up to receive your newsletter. You’ve always supported me with you tweets, and I appreciate that. Much success to you with your next book. If you ever decide you want a book trailer, remember I’m in the business of making them at http://www.booktrailerservices.com. Here’s to moving up higher in your personal success as a writer.
Lorraine, you’ve been a great supporter in the few months I’ve been a member. I will continue to support and follow!
Thanks for all your support. I totally understand. I won’t be hitting unfollow, either.
I’ll miss you and continue to support you. Blessings to you!
Della
Thanks for all of your support, Lorraine. You’ll be missed. Happy Writing! 🙂
I, also, will not unfollow you, and I think it’s unfair to do so to those leaving the club. So I’ll be seeing you!
sorry to see you go Lorraine but I completely see your reasoning. I’m a big supporter of the club but anything which is part of a marketing and promotion strategy has to work for you and can’t be at the expense of you creating a product. what works for a period, won’t work for another and Twitter is just one string in the promotional bow — – –even in the digital world generally (social bookmarking is the future!). I hope you’ll stay in touch with your RRBC friends and supporters and let us know how you’re doing. I too completely sign off from social media periodically – it can suck all your time if you’re not careful can’t it? Good luck with the writing and take care
sorry to see you go Lorraine but totally get your reasoning. Social media can be such a drain on time and ultimately you have to make time to write, otherwise there’s no product to promote. My time is going to be more stretched shortly and I too will be stepping back from promotional activity come autumn, otherwise the little time I have for writing will be swamped entirely. Knowing your audience and where sales come from is key and if twitter isn’t working, then it’s time to focus on activities that do- time is too precious. I’m looking into social bookmarking which arguably is the future and social media strategies will increasingly be weak without. It will be good to see what difference it makes, if any. I’ll let you know! I hope we won’t see you disappear entirely from Twitter though – I’d love to hear how you’re doing and how work is going. The key reason I like RRBC is the friends I’ve made and general support I’ve received, rather than sales – I would miss seeing those updates from you. Don’t be a stranger!
Firstly, I’d like to say thanks for sharing, Lorraine. I too shall miss you and your lovely supportive tweets. But I see your reasoning. Social Media is a distraction. I’m only on there a few short periods now. Like you, I’d like to concentrate on my writing. I certainly won’t unfollow you. Why should I? And thanks for following me. I too have met some lovely people via Rave Reviews Book Club. Especially through the Chatavods. But our writing has to come first..
Have a great life, Lorraine. Enjoy your writing. Bums on seats. Me too…
You will be sorelyy missed, but I Understand. You will conttinue to have my support, & I wish you much happiness.
The only people I unfollow on Twitter after they leave the club are those who never bothered to follow back in the first place. 🙂
I’m not much of a Twitter fan. Although I appreciate all the lovely tweets I receive from the club, it has done little for sales, which is the bottom line. Thankfully, Anelia and I have other marketing tactics that are more productive.
I wish you well in your writing endeavors.
You’ll be missed for sure, but good luck with the “BIC” which is also an aspiration of mine…I never seem to have the time to do both and once I get lost in the whirlpool of social media, my writing pays the price. “Unfollow” is a dreaded term…won’t happen..promise. will continue to support your tweets whenever possible. Take care and have fun!