Why social media isn't the magic bullet for self-epublished authors | Books | guardian.co.uk

"Authors - become a success through building an 'internet platform'!". For almost five years we've been subjected to the same message. At the London College of Communication's iGeneration conference this year, I heard that social media was now the only way to sell books, and witnessed glowing examples of the successful use of SM from epub authors such as Joanna Penn (who has her own consultancy and sells $99 multimedia courses on How to Write A Novel). At the Hay festival last month, I heard Scott Pack - self-described "blogger, publisher and author of moderately successful toilet books" - declare that mainstream media, papers and TV "no longer function in selling books"; that the net is now the only way for authors to - you've heard it before - "build a platform". Already every fourth tweet I receive is from an "indie" author trying to self-promote, saying things like "Hoping for a cheeky RT of my last tweet on my book & the 99p offer. B v grateful." And another - "Hope all is well! My dad just published his latest book on Amazon - if possible, I was wondering if you had any tips for him getting his book reviewed by any relevant bloggers. Appreciate any insight." And then there are the hundreds of tweets from social media ebook consultants and so-called specialists offering "the key to online marketing success".