Do You Like Teaser Posts?

Since I started working toward publication (and then being published), I’ve collected up a handful of Facebook friends/groups who are authors – and I’m noticing a trend that I find somewhat annoying. As I usually do when confronted with something I find annoying, I’ve stopped to ask myself, “Self, are you annoyed because you’re an oddball, or is it really annoying?” Because, you see, I tend to be annoyed by things that other people thing are great and awesome and oh-so-witty-and-clever. It’s a personality thing, I guess. But I keep coming back to the fact that, in this case, I really just think it’s annoying. And so I’m throwing it out to you for comment: do you like teaser posts?

Now, before you answer, let me define what I mean by a “teaser post.” (I’m all about being on the same page definition-wise.) To me, a teaser post is when you post something like, “Oh! Got some great news today! Can’t wait until I’m able to share it with you!!” (There’s always a plethora of exclamation points with these posts, seems like.) Or, another great example, “Oh wow! Big announcement coming soon!!” (<– note again, lots of exclamation points…is it that that’s annoying me, maybe?)

Every time I see things along those lines, I just cringe. To me, it’s like the mean girl sticking out her tongue and sing-songing, “I’ve got a secret and I’m not telling you.” But then, of course, she goes and tells all her friends. Then they titter behind their hands about the awesome secret and generally do whatever they can to try and get you to beg them to tell you what their secret is. And half the time, at least in my experience, the secret was really less about whatever “news” they had and more about getting some attention and trying to make people envious.

I suspect (hope?) that what these people think they’re doing (or what they’re trying to do) is build anticipation for some kind of big reveal. But it just seems to me there’s a better way of doing that without stooping to dropping hints about some super secret surprise that only the in crowd gets to know about. For me, a big reveal build up is along the lines of, “Tune in on Monday for the cover reveal of next month’s release!” or “I just signed a contract for a three-book series! Tune in on Tuesday for all the details!” Note here, however, that there’s a specific time when all will be revealed and there’s enough information that you know what you’re waiting for. Those are both key, to me. Specific time means that you actually DO have every intention of sharing whatever your secret is. And the detail means you’re not trying to fish for attention, you have a specific item that you’re going to share but you’re waiting on some particular thing to fall into place before you can. To me, if you can’t do both of those things, then you shouldn’t be putting it on Facebook yet. Call a friend. Send an email. Dance in your kitchen. But don’t be a tease.

So what do you think…just me?