Tuesday, August 24, 2010

If you do it too much, it starts to burn a little

Today, I must prove a point. Bear with.
I'm going to the Uproar show to see New Medicine. New Medicine is awesome. New Medicine plays great music. I'm going to Tweet about New Medicine. And then I'm going to FaceSpace and MyBook about New Medicine and then I'm going to mail letters, hand written to everyone in my address book about New Medicine and then I'm going to write my own song about how crazy awesome New Medicine is. And that song will rock like New Medicine.
Then, I'm going to put on my New Medicine shirt and write a book based on New Medicine's rise to the top which will be a best seller on the NY Times list. I'll then Tweet about how amazing the book is, how amazing my New Medicine shirt is and take some new medicine from the cabinet because the old stuff blows.
Tomorrow, I'm going to have a contest inspired by New Medicine, say nothing but New Medicine everytime someone talks to me, and create my own charity called New Medicine's punkettes for all the little girls who want to be New Medicinites when they grow up. Then I'll Tweet about that...*end point*
By the end of the week, you'll care less and less about New Medicine because I've said it SOSOSOSO much, their name has lost all meaning. I'm only using New Meds as an example, even though I reference them sometimes a lot, but the truth is, the more I see writers push their work over and over and over and over, the less I care. There are a few debut books this year I was honestly interested in, until the writers, themselves, over-hyped their own work.

I think the line is very fine between effective promo and self-gratification. Sometimes I take a liking to something based on other people's opinions, and others I feel the source maybe isn't as great/deserving/good/fill in the blank as I *want* them to be.

Choose your words wisely, friends. Because there's someone reading them and soaking it all in, good and bad. Be courteous of your readers, and non-readers, and more importantly, grateful (as opposed to entitled) anyone cares at all. With that said, thank you all for reading all my nonsense day after day after New Medicine day (I had to).

So tell me, does a lot of hype get you pumped or turn you off? Leave a comment today and be entered to win an autographed New Medicine CD. Winners announced Friday.
CandylandatUproarwithNewMedstoday. OUT.

19 comments:

Summer Ross said...

Alot depends on the Hype. If I really want to read something, cause it just looks good to me, then it wont matter if they talk about it every 5 seconds, I'll read it or see it. It might get annoying, but My choice to read something wouldn't not be based off how often it is talked about.

Jaydee Morgan said...

Too much hype can become a turn-off for me. However, like Summer Ross said above, if it's something I want to read, I'll read it anyway. I just may put it off a bit longer (at least until all the hype dies down).

Patty Blount said...

What a thought-provoking post! And yes, I've been experiencing this phenomenon lately. Hm.

vic caswell said...

jiminey, maybe i haven't been paying attention... i hadn't noticed this anywhere... or maybe it's because i obsess over things that i don't notice people obsessing over their work... but plugging, plugging, plugging, would MOST DEF get annoying!

Linda G. said...

When something is hyper-hyped, I tend to get numb to it. Kind of tune it out. With me, a little bit of seasoning in a stew goes a long way. I don't know it that's the norm, though, or if I'm just weird.

Unknown said...

I hope you aren't talking about Mockingjay because, MOCKINGJAY! And apparently NEW MEDICINE! WOO!

Penelope said...

Great post. I like a bit hype--I think it creates the feel of something special. Too much though, and I grow numb to it.

DL Hammons said...

I believe its a fine line, but its a line that needs to be pushed for sound business reasons. Yes, over-hype will turn off some people, but I feel the number of people it ends up attracting will ultimately outweigh those it drives away. You see it time and time again!

Zoe C. Courtman said...

Lotsa hype *always* shuts me down, and leaves me with a vague "enh". Great post - cuz there be a LOT of over-hyping around these days :/

Brenda Drake said...

I can only handle hype in small doses here and there, any more than that and my brain turns off to it. It's sort of like falling in love with your favorite cookie. The first one is so delicious you want more and more and then when you get more and more of it and your senses dull to it.

It's a fine art giving just enough here and there to heighten awareness and desire for something.

Matthew MacNish said...

Hype is never good. Word of can be great, in fact it's usually just enough.

New Medicine.

Kelly Polark said...

I forgot to tell you that at the concert, I said, "I'm going to the New Medicine tent" to my mother in law and she thought I was getting first aid! :) But I have my own autographed CD (Woo hoo!) so take me out of the running of today's contest so someone else can love their music too!

Lenny Lee said...

hi miss new medicine! whoops i mean miss candace. ha ha my brother says youre new medicine ocd and whatever youre takin for it isnt working and you need some new medicine. ha ha. my sisters hyper and it gets us crazy sometimes. ugh! i like when people could feel good about their stuff and say it but not so much that it makes you say yikes and you want to just get away from them.
...hugs from lenny

Elana Johnson said...

Ah, this is so hard. Of course we have all our stuff up on our blogs. Bios on website. Even the bios on Facebook and twitter. We have our book name in as many places as we can. And when exciting/scary/bad things happen to us/our book, we want to share.

It's a very fine line that everyone has to consider. I do think hype is better received from someone else, but no one cares about your book the way you do, you know?

So yes. I feel you. I get it. I'm trying to walk the line...

February Grace said...

Another reason to love you! I adore this post.

I felt this way recently about so many people tweeting and retweeting the same links for an online event many were participating in. I had to unplug for a few days it just got to be too much.

Respectfully I disagree with DL that over-hype in the end always seems to attract more people than it puts off. I also think you have to wonder about the people that it attracts and what your goals are. If your goal is to have one book published and get a huge following for it- then it seems to me any hype at all is good hype.

But if you're trying to build a loyal and happy readership, especially for an online platform such as a blog- you have to be careful. Like a song played once too often on the radio, there is the risk you can see a title or an author's name and just think "oh boy, again?"

I think most people we see around in our writerly community strike a good balance. What I get really tired of honestly is hype about the same book again and again that I personally have no interest in reading...Anne's comment here has me ROFLMAO.

Cause...I mean, guys- MOCKINGJAY!!!

Thanks for another well written post and well made point, Candyland!

~bru

Anonymous said...

The line between promotion and hype is so fine that it blurs super easily, and sometimes I don't even realize I'm sick of something until I'm knee deep in it.

So I absolutely get what you're talking about. Hype can be killer in the worst possible way.

Slamdunk said...

Sufficient promotion versus over-hyped is hard to define. One of those you know it when you see it--or read it.

Glad you got your point across.

Vicki Rocho said...

I hear you on the hype. Instant turn off. I say start the ball rolling and let OTHER people hype your book for you. I'm more likely to listen to independent third parties anyhow.

Kelly Breakey said...

No truer words have ever been spoken. I think this applies to everything in the social medial statosphere as well. It becomes less about making the connection and more about the numbers. I hope I never lose my ability to interact with the people that I follow and who follow me back.

Can I have the CD now?

Kelly