91
Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: Booktok anyone?
« Last post by Bill Hiatt on January 01, 2026, 10:09:07 PM »It will be interesting to see how that works out.
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92
Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: Booktok anyone?
« Last post by The Bass Bagwhan on January 01, 2026, 10:58:42 AM »Thanks everyone, I've been dabbling in the Reddit HorrorLit sub-reddit for a few years now, but I'm well aware of the etiquette involved.
What I'm talking about is crafting a video-based advert that might do one of three things, or a combination of each. These appear as any video does in social media newsfeeds, inside the sub-reddit stream, with the heading "promoted" so there's no suggestion of muscling into any thread and making a nuisance of myself.
One would be an ad focused purely on my horror writing and aimed at appropriate sub-reddits.
Two would be an ad for my writing brand in general ... potential audience might be too broad.
Three would have a focus on audiobook lovers and my audiobooks. There are sub-reddits for this too.
Option one is probably the best as a means to test the waters. Also, it will be a good project to assess the time and effort required to create a usable video and create the ad, etc.
I'll look for some Reddit ad tutorials today, dig a little deeper and keep posted here.
What I'm talking about is crafting a video-based advert that might do one of three things, or a combination of each. These appear as any video does in social media newsfeeds, inside the sub-reddit stream, with the heading "promoted" so there's no suggestion of muscling into any thread and making a nuisance of myself.
One would be an ad focused purely on my horror writing and aimed at appropriate sub-reddits.
Two would be an ad for my writing brand in general ... potential audience might be too broad.
Three would have a focus on audiobook lovers and my audiobooks. There are sub-reddits for this too.
Option one is probably the best as a means to test the waters. Also, it will be a good project to assess the time and effort required to create a usable video and create the ad, etc.
I'll look for some Reddit ad tutorials today, dig a little deeper and keep posted here.
93
Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: Booktok anyone?
« Last post by Bill Hiatt on January 01, 2026, 06:23:53 AM »Are there still some non-AI options left? When last I searched, I just got AI ones.
I used to love working with CrazyTalk, which was mostly about animating faces, with a little head and shoulder movement, so I suppose that, by today's standards, it would look primitive, and it took time to adjust the mesh because the algorithm sometimes required manual correction. But it had the virtue of being able to use any image in which the figure one wanted to animate was facing more or less forward. I've seen AI options that basically give you a fixed set of pre-animated heads and won't even let you use your own voice.
Actually, Reallusion, the company that made CT, does have a more flexible program and does 3-D head animation, but it's very AI-dependent. Its remaining 2-D animator is designed only for cartoons.
No one knows what the future may hold, but I'm still much more comfortable with solutions not dependent on AI.
I used to love working with CrazyTalk, which was mostly about animating faces, with a little head and shoulder movement, so I suppose that, by today's standards, it would look primitive, and it took time to adjust the mesh because the algorithm sometimes required manual correction. But it had the virtue of being able to use any image in which the figure one wanted to animate was facing more or less forward. I've seen AI options that basically give you a fixed set of pre-animated heads and won't even let you use your own voice.
Actually, Reallusion, the company that made CT, does have a more flexible program and does 3-D head animation, but it's very AI-dependent. Its remaining 2-D animator is designed only for cartoons.
No one knows what the future may hold, but I'm still much more comfortable with solutions not dependent on AI.
94
Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: Booktok anyone?
« Last post by Post-Doctorate D on January 01, 2026, 05:40:10 AM »I found a photo of me when I was young and surprisingly thin. Would love to animate that and pretend I am both again for a few minutes. I suppose AI is involved?
There are ways of doing that with or without AI.
95
Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: Booktok anyone?
« Last post by LilyBLily on January 01, 2026, 05:33:32 AM »I found a photo of me when I was young and surprisingly thin. Would love to animate that and pretend I am both again for a few minutes. I suppose AI is involved?
And will placing it on social media sell my books? Probably not. But I'd love to see myself dancing.
And will placing it on social media sell my books? Probably not. But I'd love to see myself dancing.
96
Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: Booktok anyone?
« Last post by PJ Post on January 01, 2026, 05:16:17 AM »TikTok has plenty of old folks, and again, you don't need a million followers, just a few thousand fans. In fact, something to be aware of, TikTok Shop is becoming a significantly more mainstream distribution channel.
97
Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: Booktok anyone?
« Last post by Bill Hiatt on January 01, 2026, 12:39:58 AM »What I've seen of the TikTok stats suggests that the demographics trend much younger. I was addressing TikTok specifically, not social media in general.
98
Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: Booktok anyone?
« Last post by PJ Post on January 01, 2026, 12:28:02 AM »This guy is in his mid-sixties, has over 5 million Youtube subscribers, 2 million on Instagram and 350k on TikTok - and I'm reasonably confident that he's never done a dance video anywhere.
Now, you're probably thinking he's an outlier, but I can post bios of tons of old folks doing well on social media.
The whole you have to be young or pretty or dance or whatever are all myths - or worse, excuses.
___
So much this!
Which is why so many writers fail at social media - they're constantly begging people to buy their sh*t instead of just engaging with the platform.
Now, you're probably thinking he's an outlier, but I can post bios of tons of old folks doing well on social media.
The whole you have to be young or pretty or dance or whatever are all myths - or worse, excuses.
___
That Reddit advice is also good for social media in general. Sites and groups have norms. You need to know them before you start posting.
When I first started, a surprisingly large number of authors got themselves into trouble by promoting in an FB group in a way that it wasn't open to. (In those cases, reading the guidelines would have helped.) We've all heard about people who got into trouble on Goodreads as well.
When I first started Substack, I looked around very carefully to see what people were doing. Advertising your own work occasionally is fine. Putting up a note to advertise a post is routine. But jumping into an unrelated discussion and advertising your work is considered a violation of etiquette.
So much this!
Which is why so many writers fail at social media - they're constantly begging people to buy their sh*t instead of just engaging with the platform.
99
Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: Booktok anyone?
« Last post by Bill Hiatt on December 31, 2025, 09:45:09 PM »That Reddit advice is also good for social media in general. Sites and groups have norms. You need to know them before you start posting.
When I first started, a surprisingly large number of authors got themselves into trouble by promoting in an FB group in a way that it wasn't open to. (In those cases, reading the guidelines would have helped.) We've all heard about people who got into trouble on Goodreads as well.
When I first started Substack, I looked around very carefully to see what people were doing. Advertising your own work occasionally is fine. Putting up a note to advertise a post is routine. But jumping into an unrelated discussion and advertising your work is considered a violation of etiquette.
When I first started, a surprisingly large number of authors got themselves into trouble by promoting in an FB group in a way that it wasn't open to. (In those cases, reading the guidelines would have helped.) We've all heard about people who got into trouble on Goodreads as well.
When I first started Substack, I looked around very carefully to see what people were doing. Advertising your own work occasionally is fine. Putting up a note to advertise a post is routine. But jumping into an unrelated discussion and advertising your work is considered a violation of etiquette.
100
Marketing Loft [Public] / Re: Booktok anyone?
« Last post by Jeff Tanyard on December 31, 2025, 04:59:41 PM »From what little I've seen of Booktok, it seems mainly for Romantasy books aimed at a Millennial/Zoomer female audience. If your writing doesn't fall into that category, then you might want to lower your expectations.
As far as Reddit goes, it's a huge site that has strict moderators and social customs, and I'd be very cautious about suddenly showing up and promoting a book. Do a LOT of reading of the site first before even thinking of posting anything there.
Not trying to rain on anybody's parade or anything. Just want y'all to know what you're getting into. And I should stress that my experience with both of those sites is almost nil, so take this whole comment with a huge grain of salt.
As far as Reddit goes, it's a huge site that has strict moderators and social customs, and I'd be very cautious about suddenly showing up and promoting a book. Do a LOT of reading of the site first before even thinking of posting anything there.
Not trying to rain on anybody's parade or anything. Just want y'all to know what you're getting into. And I should stress that my experience with both of those sites is almost nil, so take this whole comment with a huge grain of salt.