What to Like about Like-Fests

young buck by KSBrooks
Like-fests are fun and leave your breath minty fresh.

Each Wednesday morning at 5 a.m. Pacific time, we here at Indies Unlimited host a “like-fest.” Sometimes it will be for Amazon.com author or book pages, Facebook pages, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, Goodreads or other social networking platforms. One thing is certain – every Wednesday a large community of authors, readers and reviewers stop by and a good time is had by all.

This past Wednesday, we ran an Amazon.com like-fest. The turn-out was great and we had lots of new participants and books. An interesting question was posed to me by an author: Maybe you can explain something to me about this amazon.com Building Your Empire-Fest. Why should I care about other writers following me or liking me on Amazon? I’m trying to get readers to read my work, not other writers.

Valid question. It’s debatable what technical purpose “likes” serve. There have been rumors that Amazon.com “pushes” books up in the search results if they have over a certain number of likes. I have not been able to corroborate this from an actual source, so as far as I know, it’s still a rumor.

What I can say is that participating in the like-fest is fun. Getting to communicate with authors I otherwise would have never met, seeing their books’ covers, and discovering new things – while helping them – makes me feel like I’m part of a friendly community.

On a less personal note, clearly writers know people who read – and a lot of the time they’ll purchase a book as a gift for someone they know. I’ve seen it happen many times – an author has a friend who likes baseball, and one of the books in our like-fest has the World Series as a back-drop. “Ooh! I’ve grabbed your book as a birthday present – my friend loves baseball!”

When it comes to likes – just like anything – perception can be crucial. The number of likes may influence someone who is on the fence about making a purchase. If they see zero likes, they may think “Wow, that book really hasn’t gotten any attention. I’ll keep looking.” If they see 50+ likes, then that might sway them into thinking it’s worth their time.

So tune in every Wednesday morning. You never know what you might find, you’ll get some good exposure, and you just might have fun doing it.

Author: Administrators

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8 thoughts on “What to Like about Like-Fests”

  1. I love the like-fests. I have found new friends in the writing -and reading- world, via the FaceBook one. I also noted a couple of sales shortly after the Amazon one. Thanks for the time and effort everyone puts into the posts, and liking. 🙂

  2. I had my reservations at one time, too, but I have come to see the value in like-fests. I have come across books I want to read – or give as gifts – and I have ‘met’ a number of interesting people this way. Now I like like-fests. 🙂

  3. Yes, good observations. I find it helpful to stumble out of my writing cave and see what others are doing, make contacts, breathe some fresh air. Thanks!

  4. I love the Like-Fests! I like meeting other authors, getting and sharing ideas for our pages, and it’s a good reminder for me to keep my pages and profiles current.

  5. Like-Fests are like the quiz after the tutorial, to make sure I did it right. Plus I get to see what other authors are doing with their social platforms, and make new friends.

  6. Yes, still on the fence if Likes work or bump up a book, but it is fun connecting with other writers during the liking. There are some great novels out there and wow covers. I’ve discovered authors, purchased a few and added many to my wishlist (can’t buy them all at once-one day maybe.) and have recommended a few. It’s a fun time and a great way to make new friends.

  7. I’ve only participated in one ‘like fest’, through facebook, and I seemed to do an awful lot of ‘liking’ for little return of interest. I had more luck with people liking my facebook author page and I’ve met some interesting authors through that event. The initial feeling I get from Indies Unlimited is that it’s a friendly and supportive arena for independent authors like myself. It’s great to see/find a site like this (Thanks to S P Mount). I’ll definitely take a look next Wednesday… for now though, I’m off to do a little more exploring.

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