Spoilers, to give or not to give.

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Whenever I’m on social media, there’s always someone who doesn’t want to talk about their book’s plot details. They say, “Sorry, I can’t talk about that….SPOILERS,” like it’s life or death and they have to keep such information to themselves. We’re not talking nuke codes here, but authors who are asked what their book is about act as if we were.

I have a completely different take when it comes to spoilers. I don’t care about revealing them, and here’s why. Even if you let a plot twist slip, a reader still has the entire book to read, if they want to read it. I think a lot of authors overestimate just how interesting their books are, and honestly, I don’t have that problem. Romance books are a dime a dozen, and the ending is already spoiled: the couple gets together at the end. I can’t think of a worse spoiler than that. So, I don’t mind talking about my books’ details, fights and makeups, breakups, and secret babies. Sometimes spoilers can even be a good thing, like when you’re querying. I saw an agent on Twitter say exactly that. She said, please don’t hide your spoilers in the query letter. I need to know what your book is about.

I mean, can you really spoil a 80,000 word book with a sentence or two? That seems very unlikely, especially if your book has depth, deep character arcs, and a plot that moves. Personally, I think you if you can spoil a book giving away a few details, your book is in trouble. You need more than one or two interesting things about it.

I started thinking about this last night when I was watching a free Teachable lesson about TikTok. He was saying how you need to find the hooks in your book, and a well-written book should have, I can’t remember now, fifty or so hooks that you can pull out to suck a reader in to buying it. Hooks aren’t exactly spoilers, but they’re close. Couples fighting or hurting each other, telling each other secrets. Emotional scenes that force a reader to get invested in quickly. Romance hooks on TikTok aren’t going to be all sexy scenes. My romances aren’t dark, and while I have spicy scenes, I only have three or four per 80,000 words. That’s not a lot when you think about it, and while I have used sex scenes on TikTok (and just got my first ban for violating community guidelines), I also search for scenes where there is high angst–that I may have to stick with because I don’t want my account suspended.

You almost have to use spoilers because how else are you going to captivate a reader in such a short amount of time? A reader isn’t going to want to buy your book if all you offer is bland excerpts because you’re afraid of giving away the good stuff.

I don’t have a problem with giving my work away. I give out a free full-length novel for newsletter signups, buy a Freebooksy regularly, and participated in Zoe York’s free promo last month. I think there is value in giving away content, and if the free content is good, it will entice readers and customers to buy more content, which hopefully is as good as or better than what you’ve been giving away. I’ve actually had fights with people who have said giving away content is useless (the one woman who blocked me on Twitter for it later turned around and gave away ARCs, so I guess she found value in giving away books after all), but there is a lot of evidence to the contrary, especially if you’re giving away a first in a series and that book is so good it propels readers to buy the others.

Now that my publishing has slowed down for the rest of the year (I formatted my Christmas novel and ordered the proof) I’m going to go through my rockstar proofs and bookmark hooks that I can use in videos and in social media. It’s interesting that I can post the same content on IG, FB, and TT, and the only place I have to worry about saying the word ASS is on TT. It’s kind of ridiculous, especially since you see accounts that have all sorts of raunchy things in them that aren’t being hit with a violation. But I will tone it down because surprisingly, I’ve been having fun on there, and looking for hooks and short scenes for the videos helps me find ad copy for FB ads and FB and IG posts. Like book covers, you need an eye to find excerpts that will resonate with readers, and something that you might think is intriguing is actually kinda boring. Remember that you have your whole book memorized and understand the context, a new-to-you reader won’t, and you can’t confuse anyone. Like your blurb on your Amazon’s buy-page, if it’s confusing, that won’t convert a browser to a buyer.

I’ve seen authors complain that sometimes a book review will reveal spoilers, and I have seen them with my books–one reviewer pointing out that there is no baby in Give & Take, a baby-for-the-billionaire trope. I wasn’t mad about it, in fact, it will encourage readers who want an actual baby (and not just the baby-making fun) in their books to steer clear. And it’s really important not to respond to reviews–reviews are for readers and you won’t gain any points with either reviewers or other readers if you comment or challenge. I never say anything–it was my choice not to make Emma pregnant in the story, and I’ll suffer whatever consequences come from that. But honestly, I don’t mind spoilers in any capacity–there’s a lot that goes into my books, and a spoiler isn’t going to ruin the experience for anyone if the rest of your book is as good as the plot twist that’s been “spoiled.”

Authors can be so precious about their books, but I see them as a product after they’re released and customers can say whatever they want about something they spent money on. Also, you need to put aside your feelings when it comes to reveals and spoilers because the one thing you’re hiding may be the very thing that draws in new readers.

Now, I’m going to go look for more spoilers, I mean, hooks, for TikTok videos that hopefully will not get me banned. It’s just another thing that made me crabby–this publishing can’t be easy, can it?

To read more about spoilers, look here:
Spoilers actually enhance your enjoyment

The case for spoilers: Why some people are happier knowing how the story ends

BOOKISH MUSINGS: DO SPOILERS ACTUALLY RUIN BOOKS?

Until next time!

Discover more from Vania Margene Rheault

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13 thoughts on “Spoilers, to give or not to give.”

  1. So true. I mean, I feel many movies gladly will move very close to spoiler-territory in their trailers, too, especially if they are in an easily recognizable genre. The audience knows Liam Neeson is eventually going to look for, find and kill the bad guys, but the question is HOW is he gonna do it? And as you say, with most romance, the HEF is usually guaranteed.

    You write a lot about TikTok which intrigues me. It probably shows my ignorance but I thought it was mostly teenagers roaming those cyber-corridors? How do you find your audience on that platform?

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    • I’m enjoying TikTok more than I thought I would, but I’m still stuck in their pesky “new account” algos and my videos don’t get a lot of traction. Still, though, it’s fun and actually while I’ve complained about the noise, I like listening to the music they recommend and finding something fitting for my snippets. You find an audience the way you do anywhere, using the appropriate hashtags. Searching the hashtags and finding authors who use the ones that fit your books. TikTok is a lot of work and I’m not putting in nearly as much time as I should. A post in one of the FB groups I’m in said you need to teach the algos you’re alive and post 4-6 times a day. I can’t do that. But I feel time spent there is better ROI than anywhere else I could hang out, and I’d be quicker with making the slides if I could stop reading my own books. 😛

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      • I was doing twice a day for a while and even that was a lot. it’s a shame because I see on FB all the time the authors who are making it work for them and showing their sales dashboards to prove it. i haven’t written it off yet, but if I don’t have time to post anything, I don’t worry about it. if you’re already at the bottom, you can’t go any farther LOL

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      • Sounds like Pokemon–gotta catch ’em all. I think catching Pokemon at this point would be easier than learning how to get the attention of TT’s algorithms… but if it makes things easier and less time-consuming, I’m all for it. They have templates and I have CapCut on my phone as well, but I just haven’t taken the time to explore anything. There are also classes you can take but I bought a couple MailerLite classes on a Black Friday two years ago that I still haven’t taken (and God only knows if I can find them to log in). So paying for something probably wouldn’t be the best for me right now. haha.

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      • Everyone is trying to hijack us for their own platforms by copying functionalities all around – chats, snaps, rooms, groups, video calls, all sorts of AI of course and a gazillion other things. It takes some maturity and focus to actually get writing done. I still have an IT-company of sorts and feel a pull from that direction as well in keeping updated on everything that could be even remotely useful and relevant. But I no it’s a abyss so I try to only skim the surface and then use my few bits of sparetime for writing and reading (incl historical romance :)). But Gawd, it’s hard not to get pulled in. I have two work-related FB groups, one about AI and webdesign and I have to set a timer each morning for just those newsfeeds. And don’t get me started on AI and writing … okay, ‘nuff said. Better get on with, ah, some more reading and such 😉

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      • I know what you mean. It’s difficult to stay on top of it all, yet, you have to or you get left behind. I have an associate’s in HR and there are so many organizations to join and talks to listen to and certificates to qualify for and that’s on top of your job and Bob propositioning Sally in the breakroom. At least with the blog staying current is two-fold–for my own knowledge and for something to write about here. I like passing along information, but if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have 50% of the content I do, either. Free marketing like TikTok is great if you can take the time to harness it and there are enough success stories of people going viral that makes it really tempting, but so far, all social media is kind of blah for me and the only things I do consistently is post here and send out my newsletter. I have a difficult time investing energy in something that isn’t guaranteed to pay off. Like you said, at least with writing you end up with a product you can sell for years. You can spend an hour making a TikTok video for 300 views and then it sinks. Doesn’t seem like a fair trade, but my FOMO can peek out anytime, and there’s always the “what if…” that keeps us all wondering…and trying.

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  2. I agree. Because I’ve watched movies that give away everything in their trailers, I just know how much to let drop about the book is all. If you want to learn about my characters – you have to read the books regardless of a few spoilers here and there. And good luck with your TikTok. My account is still in purgatory.

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    • That’s how I feel too. Most of my books are 85k+ words. Revealing a few details isn’t going to hurt anything. I haven’t posted on TikTok for a while, and I’m not sure if I want to put in the work I would need for it to go anywhere. I hope you get out of jail soon. I’ve had a couple of videos taken down for community violations, but their guidelines seem so arbitrary. Good luck!

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  3. That’s why I don’t watch trailers. Why would I wanna read something that takes hours and hours to read when it’s been spoiled? I’ll just go on to the next book. This is a weird take.

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  4. “Authors can be so precious about their books.” You really don’t understand anything about art if you don’t understand things are crafted a certain way to affect psychology in a certain way. You’re the worst type of person to have conversations with about Movies, TV, and books.

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    • 200,000 books are published every month. That’s the latest statistic that i can remember from Alex Newton of K-Lytics. Once your “art” is on sale, it’s a product. You’re not special for writing a book. People do it every day. But you’re very brave to insult me anonymously. well done.

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