Bernadette Calonego's Blog: Eventful - Posts Tagged "whales"
Whale Droppings
About two years ago, I followed a friend's advice and started posting on TikTok. It was supposed to be really good for book authors and readers, I was told.
I tried different styles of videos but couldn't really bring myself to talk in front of the camera. When I showed off my books, I had 300 views or so. Which is not stellar.
But gradually I discovered what kind of stories really took off. It baffled me.
One video for instance that went viral was about how whales poop in the ocean and that you can see the product on the surface of the water and what it looks like. So far, it has garnered 160000 views and a lot of comments!
As I cannot duplicate this winner, I had to find other topics that many TikTokers might be interested in. Soon I found out that if I talk about me and how a Swiss born woman fell in love with a fisherman in northern Newfoundland, the views just multiply. Especially when I talk about what is so exotic for me in my new home. A video about me standing on the jetty and waiting until my fisherman's boat approaches the harbour, is one of the viewers' favourite.
Anything that is a true crime case is also eaten up by TikTokers. So I try to find interesting cases, like the one of an American woman hunting bears in Newfoundland with her husband and shooting him in the twilight (she was accused of murder but acquitted by a court in Canada).
Sometimes I'm in for a surprise: When I talked in a video about rhubarb growing like crazy in the short summers of northern Newfoundland while apple trees don't exist there, 74000 viewed it and 640 liked it. What?!
The videos about my mystery thrillers sadly don't see that kind of success. They don't seem to be as intriguing as rhubarb or whale poop. I comfort myself that life is not predictable and if I can catch the attention of people with some unusual content, I make at least some of them happy. As I do with my books.
I tried different styles of videos but couldn't really bring myself to talk in front of the camera. When I showed off my books, I had 300 views or so. Which is not stellar.
But gradually I discovered what kind of stories really took off. It baffled me.
One video for instance that went viral was about how whales poop in the ocean and that you can see the product on the surface of the water and what it looks like. So far, it has garnered 160000 views and a lot of comments!
As I cannot duplicate this winner, I had to find other topics that many TikTokers might be interested in. Soon I found out that if I talk about me and how a Swiss born woman fell in love with a fisherman in northern Newfoundland, the views just multiply. Especially when I talk about what is so exotic for me in my new home. A video about me standing on the jetty and waiting until my fisherman's boat approaches the harbour, is one of the viewers' favourite.
Anything that is a true crime case is also eaten up by TikTokers. So I try to find interesting cases, like the one of an American woman hunting bears in Newfoundland with her husband and shooting him in the twilight (she was accused of murder but acquitted by a court in Canada).
Sometimes I'm in for a surprise: When I talked in a video about rhubarb growing like crazy in the short summers of northern Newfoundland while apple trees don't exist there, 74000 viewed it and 640 liked it. What?!
The videos about my mystery thrillers sadly don't see that kind of success. They don't seem to be as intriguing as rhubarb or whale poop. I comfort myself that life is not predictable and if I can catch the attention of people with some unusual content, I make at least some of them happy. As I do with my books.
Eventful
Right now, I am multitasking, juggling several books at the same time, emerging from one, diving into another one.
My new mystery novel "Stormy Cove" is released on May 24. But another things is happe ...more
My new mystery novel "Stormy Cove" is released on May 24. But another things is happe ...more
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