I will admit, I have a fairly laid-back approach to marketing. (And I have the sales figures to prove it.) It sort of grosses me out to be in 24/7 sales mode, to the point that it ruins all enjoyment I get from actually writing the books and talking to people about them. I also think that consciously setting out to be cool doesn't work any better in marketing than it did on the playground. We all remember that kid who just tried so hard and so painfully that it actually hurt to be around them.
I get that not everyone feels this way. I understand that there's a hell of a lot of book promotion going on in internet spaces, and that everyone is looking for the next thing to set them apart from the pack.
With all that being said, there still have to be lines. Look, I have a Goodreads author account. And I don't aggressively use it to sell books. I am on Goodreads because I like books and like talking about them. I will happily friend anyone who shares these interests.
If you friend me on Goodreads, and I see that you have 3000 friends and yet only 50 books (one person had no books at all), I am not going to friend you back. If you attempt to friend me several times in spite of this (one person is up to eleven attempts; good luck, Cupcake), you are now actively pissing me off. I will never buy anything you write, because you are either a soulless automatic process or someone doing a damned good job pretending to be one.
A little personality and thought, people. You can't be a half-decent writer without it.
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