Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

What events do writers hold when a new book comes out?When a new book comes out, Utsudo usually holds share-and-like giveaways for signed copies — the first volume for a series, or the full set once it’s complete — hoping to boost online reach. She also holds comment events purely to give back to fans. But as Facebook reach keeps dropping, these events aren’t as effective as they once were.

Signed-book giveaways for new releases

　　Usually when a novel is about to be published, I hold a signed-book giveaway.

　　It’s the usual share-and-like raffle format. For a series, it’s the first volume; for a standalone, I give that book directly. Later I also tried waiting until a series was complete, then holding an event to give away a signed box set.

　　Running events is partly about spreading through social media, hoping to increase online reach and contribute a bit to my work’s exposure. After all, I’m no celebrity, so I’d better do a little more myself XD

Social media reach keeps dropping

　　But since I started publishing, I’ve witnessed reach steadily decline… Of course it might be because readers have grown numb to these kinds of events, but evenFacebook’s algorithm is lowering the reach of posts that prompt user interaction.

　　

　　Either way, the results of events have fallen short of expectations. Even paying for ads doesn’t work like it did a few years ago QQ

　　I’ve thought about other ways to run events, but I don’t have any ideas yet ”

Events to give back to fans

　　Besides this approach, I’ve also launched several events purely to give back to my fans.

　　These don’t require sharing, though you still need to like the post and comment. Sometimes it’s a raffle, sometimes the best comment wins. Of course, how winners are chosen is explained clearly in the original post, so there are no disputes XD

　　This is mainly a way to bond with existing fans and encourage interaction, so of course I don’t expect it to grow my follower count much.

　　I feel like social media events come in just a few formats. Have any of you seenmore unusualones, or have different ideas you could share?

FAQ

Further reading (in Chinese)

• Previous: #41 (in Chinese)
• Next: #43 (in Chinese)
• Start from the beginning: #01 — Utsudo’s debut
• Column introduction
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.