Data, April 14

 

Margaret Atwood

Twitter: 13 tweets. 1 on World Book Night. 1 linking to her short stories. 2 linking to an online essay. 2 on new publishing houses. 5 responses to readers.

Neil Gaiman

Twitter: 31 tweets. 1 on a closing bookstore. 3 thank yous to readers. 4 responses to readers. 1 on his writing process.

Beth Groundwater

Facebook: 2 posts.

Ted Morrissey

Twitter: 3 tweets.

Salman Rushdie

Facebook: 1 post.

Emily St. John Mandel

Twitter: 1 tweet. 1 on receiving copies of her new book.

John Scalzi

Blog: 1 post.

Twitter: 2 tweets.

Data, April 13

 

Margaret Atwood

Twitter: 12 tweets. 2 linking to a review of her estory. 1 on audiobook publishing. 4 responses to readers.

Neil Gaiman

Twitter: 40 tweets. 3 responses to readers. 1 on audiobook publishing. 1 on publishing a picture book. 1 on a future appearance. 2 links to books.

Beth Groundwater

Blog: 1 post. 1 on the availability of her new novel on Kindle.

Facebook: 3 posts. 1 on an appearance. 1 on her novel being available on Kindle.

 

Salman Rushdie

Twitter: 8 tweets. 1 responses to readers. 5 on an appearance on the Charlie Rose Show.

Emily St. John Mandel

Twitter: 2 tweets. 1 response to a reader. 1 thank you to a reviewer.

John Scalzi

Blog: 5 posts. 1 on book tours. 1 profiling a novelist. 1 on the Hugo Awards.

Twitter: 14 tweets. 1 on the ebook lawsuit. 2 links to his blog. 2 on his writing process.

Facebook: 1 post. 1 on the Hugo Awards.

Will Weaver

Twitter: 3 tweets. 3 on the adaptation of his short story to a play.

Data, April 12

 

Margaret Atwood

Twitter: 19 tweets. 6 on future appearances. 5 thank yous to readers. 2 responses to readers. 1 on her writing process. 1 plugging a newspaper article about her. 1 on non-book merchandise. 1 on a review she is writing.

Neil Gaiman

Twitter: 34 tweets. 5 responses to readers. 1 on an audiobook award. 1 thank yous to readers. 1 on the ebook lawsuit.

Facebook: 1 post.

Beth Groundwater

Blog: 1 post. 1 on future appearances.

Facebook: 3 posts. 1 on a future appearance.

 

Salman Rushdie

Twitter: 3 tweets. 1 on a movie based on one of his books. 2 thank yous to readers.

 

John Scalzi

Blog: 5 posts. 1 on a future appearance. 1 promoting a podcast. 1 on the lawsuit involving ebooks. 1 on book tours.

Twitter: 28 tweets. 1 on his writing process. 5 asking for questions for his podcast. 1 responses to readers. 1 on the ebooks lawsuit.

Will Weaver

Facebook: 1 post.

Data, April 11

Joe Abercrombie

Blog: 1 post. 1 on writing awards, panels, and public votes.

Margaret Atwood

Twitter: 10 tweets. 2 on the publication of a future book. 4 promoting her books. 2 on a future appearance. 1 response to readers. 1 thank yous to readers.

Neil Gaiman

Twitter: 6 tweets. 1 on an appearance. 1 on his writing process.

Beth Groundwater

Blog: 2 posts. 1 on National Library Week. 1 on being interviewed.

Facebook: 1 post. 1 on her writing process.

Ted Morrissey

Twitter: 1 tweet. 1 on his writing process.

Emily St. John Mandel

Facebook: 1 post.

John Scalzi

Blog: 4 posts. 1 plugging a movie review he’d written. 1 profiling a comic book publisher. 1 linking to the lawsuit publishers are bringing against Apple.

Twitter: 19 tweets. 1 plugging his blog. 2 on his writing process. 1 on the Hugo Awards.

Will Weaver

Twitter: 1 tweet. 1 on a future appearance.

Facebook: 1 post. 1 on a future appearance.

Data, April 10

 

Margaret Atwood

Twitter: 2 tweets.

Neil Gaiman

Twitter: 39 tweets. 4 on his writing process. 3 on interviewing. 5 thank yous to readers. 10 responses to readers.

Beth Groundwater

Blog: 1 post. 1 linking to an interview she gave.

Facebook: 2 posts. 1 promoting an interview.

Ted Morrissey

Twitter: 2 tweets. 1 on giving a lecture on writing.

Facebook: 1 post. 1 promoting an literary journal.

Salman Rushdie

Twitter: 2 tweets. 1 links to a blurb about his upcoming book.

Facebook: 1 post. 1 plugging his new book.

Emily St. John Mandel

Twitter: 3 tweets. 1 on interviewing. 1 thank yous to readers.

Facebook:

John Scalzi

Blog: 3 posts. 1 linking to the first four chapters of his new book. 1 profiling a Nebula award winning novelist.

Twitter: 27 tweets. 6 link to free offering of the first four chapters of his new book. 1 responses to readers. 2 promoting another author. 1 promoting a future appearance. 1 on being interviewed.

Facebook: 1 post. 1 linking to a giveaway of the first four chapters of his new book.

Will Weaver

Blog: 1 post. 1 on writing for editors, rather than for self.

Twitter: 6 tweets. 1 promoting an appearance.

Facebook: 1 post.

Data, April 9

 

Margaret Atwood

Twitter: 1 tweet.

 

Neil Gaiman

Twitter: 50 tweets. 4 responses to readers. 1 on a judicial decision. 1 on the writing process. 4 thank yous to readers. 2 on future appearances.

Beth Groundwater

Blog: 1 post. 1 announcing a giveway of one of her books, about to be released.

Facebook: 1 post. 1 on a book giveaway for one of her books.

 

Salman Rushdie

Twitter: 8 tweets. 5 on the banning of Gunter Grass from Israel. 1 response to readers.

Daniel Russel

Facebook: 1 post. 1 on one of his books being available on Kindle.

Emily St. John Mandel

Twitter: 8 tweets. 1 thank yous to readers. 3 on publishing.

John Scalzi

Blog: 2 posts. 1 post on the Hugo Awards.

Twitter: 33 tweets. 7 on the Hugo Awards. 2 on an appearance. 3 on the writing process. 2 on one of his audio books. 1 response to a reader.

Will Weaver

Twitter: 1 tweet.

Biweekly Analysis 2

To continue with the format I used in the first bi-weekly analysis:

Frequency of use. For the most part, this maintained consistency with the first two weeks. Orson Scott Card has yet to use any social media (though I heard that he recently had a stroke, which would certainly explain this), and Joe Abercrombie’s use was minimal, but that’s why I chose to follow as many authors as I did, in case one or two of them turned out to be a wash. The most heavily used social media I’m studying was Twitter, and I suspect that was because of its immediacy. Facebook use picked up over the past two weeks, though at least half of the posts were personal in nature. Gaiman and Scalzi used Twitter heavily–a combined six hundred tweets between them. Mandel used Twitter far more heavily than she had during the first two weeks of the study.

Relation of the use of social media to the success of the author. This again remained consistent with the first two weeks. Successful authors obviously get more social media responses than less successful ones. Both Atwood and Gaiman made the point in a couple of tweets that they in no way attempt to respond to the vast number of tweets they receive–they pick and choose what they will respond to. In terms of sheer number of book sales, John Irving is the most successful author, and he used social media only rarely during the last two weeks. He is also involved with a intricate writing project that would explain this lack of use. Less successful writers (in terms of number of sales, not quality of writing) made few posts. I think this probably has to do with them viewing their roles in society as different than more successful authors. For example, Ted Morrissey appears to view himself as a teacher who happens to writer, rather than a writer who happens to teach, and many of his tweets and posts to his blog and his Facebook page seem to reflect this.

What the media was used for. Some authors–Atwood and Scalzi–used Facebook much more heavily than they have in the past: Atwood published a novella on the internet during this period, and her heavier use was tied to its publication, and she also used Facebook to promote non-book related projects–a movie and a science fiction magazine she is launching. Scalzi used Facebook and especially his blog for two unique reasons (unique among the authors I’m studying)–he is running the Hugo Awards this year and used Facebook and his blog to announce the nominees for those, primarily, I think, because blog and Facebook entries have more shelf-life, if you will, then tweets do.

A surprising use during the last two weeks was that the most accomplished of the writers–Atwood and Gaiman–both raised questions either on Twitter or their blogs concerning their current writing projects and how the readers think they should be developed. Atwood asked if her readers thought she should write a sequel to her recently published e-novella, Gaiman on what he should name a character. Given how accomplished they are, I doubt this was done because they were genuinely stuck and wanted the opinions of their readers. I suspect this was done in order to engage the reader in the new project, increasing the odds that the reader will then buy it when it becomes available. Irving had done this earlier.

Overall conclusion. With the Hugo Awards coming out this week, both Gaiman and Scalzi (both nominated) made heavy use of social media to announce and promote the awards. Mandel, and emerging writing, made heavy use, especially of Twitter, in promoting a successful essay she wrote, as well as getting the word out on the placement of her most recent book on the Indie must read list, and in broadcasting good reviews of the book. There seems to be two big uses of social media these last two weeks–one was promotion of awards and reviews, and the other was reader engagement.

Data, April 8

Joe Abercrombie

Blog: 1 post. 1 displaying the cover of his new novel.

Facebook: 1 post. 1 with a new book jacket cover.

Margaret Atwood

Twitter: 1 tweet. 1 asking readers if she should right a sequel to her recently published e-story.

Neil Gaiman

Twitter: 23 tweets. 4 thank yous to readers. 5 responses to reader questions. 1 link to a magazine interview. 4 congratulations to a Hugo Award nominee.

Facebook: 1 post.

Beth Groundwater

Facebook: 1 post.

Ted Morrissey

Twitter: 2 tweets. 1 on his book being available from Kindle.

Facebook: 1 post.

Salman Rushdie

Twitter: 1 tweet.

Daniel Russel

Facebook: 1 post. 1 on his novel being available on Kindle.

Emily St. John Mandel

Twitter: 7 tweets. 5 thank yous to readers.

Facebook: 3 posts.

John Scalzi

Blog: 1 post.

Twitter: 17 tweets. 3 responses to an award nominee. 6 answers to questions about public appearances.

Will Weaver

Twitter: 1 tweet.

Weekly Compilation 4

Joe Abercrombie

Website: http://www.joeabercrombie.com/

Blog: 2 posts. 1 on a future appearance. 1 announcing the release date of one of his books.

Margaret Atwood

Website: http://www.margaretatwood.ca/

Twitter: 55 tweets. 1 promoting her estory. 1 linking to writing advice. 1 link to a publishing article. 7 thank yous to readers. 2 request to readers to help her write a novel. 8 answers to readers questions. 6 promoting a short story she’s writing. 3 responses to readers. 1 on her writing process.

Facebook: 6 posts. 1 promoting one of her books turned into a movie. 1 promoting one of her poems turned into a multimedia project. 1 announcing a new sci-fi magazine she is releasing. 2 promoting a new short story. 1 promoting a film. 1 on a new publisher publishing one of her books.

Neil Gaiman

website: http://www.neilgaiman.com/

Twitter: 362 tweets. 13 references to an interview. 6 on a future appearance. 14 thank yous to a reader. 5 connections to Judy Blume. 6 book promotions. 1 on publicity. 21 on his writing process. 33 answering reader questions. 1 response to a request for an appearance. 13 asking for readers’ help with a book. 1 on publishing. 3 plugging non-book merchandise. 2 plugs for a book. 6 on a book turning into a movie. 1 plugging his book. 1 link to a video of his poem. 2 on the writing process. 6 on getting nominated for a Hugo award.

Facebook: 1 post. 1 promoting one of his books.

Beth Groundwater

Website: http://bethgroundwater.com/Home.html

Blog: 3 posts. 1 on delivering a finished manuscript. 1 on receiving her author copies. 1 on the close of a bookstore.

Facebook: 12 posts. 2 on finishing a manuscript. 1 post on National Library Week. 1 on being a reviewer for a film festival. 1 on receiving advance copies of her new book. 1 plug for a book. 1 on guest blogging. 1 on how she structures her writing day.

John Irving

Website: http://www.john-irving.com/

Facebook:

Ted Morrissey

Website: http://tedmorrissey.com/

Blog:

Twitter: 6 tweets. 1 link to his ebook. 1 posting a lecture he’s giving. 1 on his writing process.

Facebook: 1 post. 1 plugging a local artist opportunity.

Salman Rushdie

website: http://www.salman-rushdie.com/

Twitter: 3 tweets. 1 on his writing process.

Facebook: 3 posts. 2 on one of his books being turned into a film. 1 promoting a book.

Daniel Russel

Website: http://www.danielirussell.com/

Facebook: 1 post. 1 on his book being available on Kindle.

Emily St. John Mandel

Website: http://www.emilymandel.com/

Twitter: 48 tweets. 1 congratulating another writer. 14 thank yous to readers. 8 promoting a good book review. 8 on her essay. 2 on a future appearance. 1 thank yous to independent booksellers. 1 on her writing process.

Facebook: 8 posts. 1 on a positive book review. 2 promoting her new novel.

John Scalzi

Website: http://scalzi.com/

Blog: 21 posts. 1 on the release of a new series. 1 on an internet slanderer. 2 promoting a giveaway of his books. 1 promoting the new audio version of one of his books.1 on the cover of one of his books released in Hungary. 1 profiling a newly published author. 1 announcing a blurb he gave to another author’s book. 3 on the Hugo Awards. 1 a plug for a film essay he’d written. 1 post on collecting books for needy libraries. 1 on a writer describing his book. 1 essay on a song. 1 post a photo of a character from one of his books with his cat.

Twitter: 258 tweets. 15 book promotions. 3 on slander. 1 on writing advice. 15 on future appearances. 1 on Nebula Awards.1 audio book promotion. 33 on the Hugo Awards. 6 responses to readers’ questions. 1 a plug for a blog post he’s written.1 thank yous to readers. 2 on a book charity. 1 on his writing process. 1 on publishing. 1 response to a potential writing opportunity.

Facebook: 1 post. 1 book promotion.

Will Weaver

website: http://www.willweaverbooks.com/

Blog: 1 post. 1 a repost of his Huffington Post essay.

Twitter: 5 tweets. 1 on his essay at the Huffington Post. 1 on the writing life. 1 plugging a radio interview.

Facebook: 3 posts. 1 linking to his essay in the Huffington Post.

Data, April 7

 

Margaret Atwood

Twitter: 1 tweet.

Neil Gaiman

Twitter: 37 tweets. 11 responding to readers. 2 on the writing process. 4 on getting nominated for a Hugo award. 1 a link to Scalzi’s Hugo Award nominations. 2 thank yous to readers. 2 on interviewing Stephen King.

Beth Groundwater

Facebook: 2 posts.

Ted Morrissey

Twitter: 2 tweets.

Salman Rushdie

Twitter: 1 tweet.

Daniel Russel

Facebook: 1 post. 1 on his book being available on Kindle.

Emily St. John Mandel

Twitter: 6 tweets. 1 thanks you to readers.

Facebook: 1 post.

John Scalzi

Blog: 2 posts. 1 on the Hugo Award nominees. 1 on a book nominated for a Hugo Award.

Twitter: 57 tweets. 32 on the Hugo Award nominations. 1 on a future appearance.

Will Weaver

Twitter: 1 tweet.