It really bothers me that I’m bothered about this subject, but since I’ve been using my blog to complain lately (sorry) I’ve decided to get something else off my chest. I was reading Arthur Crandon’s blog this morning and something he wrote really struck a nerve with me. Quoting Arthur—and I hope he doesn’t mind—he wrote, “I just want to start this weeks’ blog on a personal note. I am usually a very understanding and forgiving person. But yesterday someone ‘unliked’ my fan page – http://www.facebook.com/arthurcrandonauthor. Whoever you are, I just want you to know that I will hunt you down like the dog that you are, imprison you for many days of excruciating torture, then set packs of wolves on you to tear you limb from limb. I mean that, of course, in a very loving way.”
Although I giggled when I read the opening paragraph of Arthur’s blog post, I could identify with every word, in a very loving way, of course.
It’s not like I don’t have enough to worry about in my crazy life, but for some unexplained reason the fact I cannot entice people to join my Facebook Author Page drives me even crazier. I agonize over the fact that I have 839 friends on my personal Facebook page, yet; only 299 of them have joined my author page. Yes, I know, I shouldn’t care. But, sadly, I do care enough to write this blog about it. It’s not like my friends don’t know about my writing page…I post the link to it on my personal page at least once a week with a little blurb, “Please ‘like’ my writing page, because I want to share all aspects of my life with my friends.” Shouldn’t that be blatant enough? Shouldn’t they want to follow my writing life if they are my friends?
I’m not totally obsessed with the idea of having lots of fans on my Facebook page, but, I do keep a watchful eye on how many people ‘like’ my page, and when the number goes down rather than up, I do experience a little biting sting of rejection. And, trust me, as a writer I’m used to rejection. Everytime someone ‘unlikes’ my page the same questions arise: Why have they left? Am I boring? What didn’t they like? I try to be witty; maybe that’s why they left. I’m probably not as witty as I think. Less silliness and more serious writer talk, maybe? Sometimes, I post things to get creative juices flowing for myself and for the fans on my page. I’ll write a scenario and ask people to continue on with the story, and that will spark some interest occasionally. My favorite song lyrics and romantic pictures will get a good conversation going once in awhile. Love poems seem to fall flat, and promoting other writer’s pages doesn’t seem to draw any attention to my own page. If I just post reviews and excerpts from my own books I start to feel way too egotistical. I really do try to post something for everyone; okay, I admit it, the drop-dead gorgeous men on Hump Day are mostly for me.
So, once again, if you aren’t too bothered, would you mind ‘liking’ my author page on Facebook? It would mean so much to me. And, if you do ‘like’ it, please don’t ‘unlike’ it. I really don’t want to hunt you down like a dog…in a very loving way, of course. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Veronica-Blake-Author/224473460912244
(Thank you to Arthur Crandon. His full blog post is at: http://www.arthurcrandon.com/blog-blog-blog.html)