I suck at a fundamental part of being an author in the 21st century. Honestly, I do.
I totally suck at social media.
My blog has the most famous attribute of a London bus--you wait forever for a post and then three come along at once.
I tweet sporadically.
And I wouldn't touch facebook with somebody else's rusty pole.
Why, when I am obviously so eloquent *rolls eyes* do I find keeping up with social media such a challenge.
Firstly, and probably the main reason, is that I have a very limited time set aside to actually write. And that includes blog posts. I'm sacrificing a day's work on my latest manuscript* to write and upload this post. There is a key word in that last sentence. Sacrificing. I see social media as a necessary evil which keeps me from the part of the job that I love, the act of story telling.
Secondly, much of social media boils down to authors waving their arms around and screaming 'hey, look at me'. It's hard to be heard amongst the shifting tide of other authors or the latest tropes and the louder and more often you shout the more likely someone will take a look at what you are offering. (Of course, go too far on that path and start forcing your way into conversations or your wares on unsuspecting readers and you will do more harm than good.) Unfortunately, as I've said before somewhere on this blog, I'm really not very good at blowing my own trumpet *insert lewd joke and Frankie Howerd's eyebrows here*.
That said I'm well aware that some changes need to be made. I will attempt to ensure there is at least one post a week here at the blog. Sometimes it won't amount to much more than what my plans and goals are for the coming month or it could even be as little as one of my own photos to brighten up your day, but I will attempt to be more visible.
Now, if I could just get some more traffic at my blog I'd know I wasn't just shouting into the ether.
*intended to be a short story for the Dreamspinner Random Act of Kindness submission, the story has escaped the confines of the 11k word count and is now racing through novella territory and heading toward novel length. Something else I suck at...
I suck at social media, too. :D Twitter free and Facebook free, Tumblr and my blog are the only things I keep up with, really.
ReplyDeleteI love Tumblr but it's such a time suck. I don't have enough hours in the day as it is! I tend to use Tumblr more for fan stuff than author issues, hence why Lillian Francis doesn't have Tumblr :)
DeleteTrouble is social media is such an important part of being an author if you want to get the word out about your releases.
I suck at it too...
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of starting a club :)
DeleteI love tumblr but for me tumblr is for fannish stuff /o\ I know I should probably use it as an author platform but you're right, it's such a time suck and I need every spare minute I have /o\ Which means, I can also appreciate your dilemma. Spend time on social media or write.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that it's a lot of hand waving "look at me" and it's easy to get lost in the sea of authors that's for sure. I guess I look at it as I'm never gonna be a Nora Roberts or whomever but I can at least give it my all and be as successful as possible and do the best that I can do. Which means my best is MY best, not someone else's best, MINE.
I do think it's a good idea to do at least a post a week so it's not all promo (although I've never thought that about your posts) and maybe if you could do more Twitter (can you do that on your phone from work?) there are so many authors on Twitter and some of them are so visible and they interact with people and get loads of followers. That might be something that's quick and easy for you to do, tbh. Just a thought.
And yes, LOL, you do suck at writing short stuff, but that's one of the things I love about your writing. It's so complex and compelling *HUGS*
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DeleteGrr, too early in the morning. let's try and send that again. Lucky I copied it.
DeleteFirstly, Ouch, you wound me with your last sentence BB! I think you mean I suck at keeping things short. Did you not read that review of Waiting for a Spark that said 'that's how to write a short story'? Don't answer that, I know you did :)
I agree with being YOUR best and not trying to live up to someone else's standard.
I can get Twitter on my phone, but we aren't actually supposed to have our phones on our desks, let alone use them.
It is a dilemma. With the new release coming up I've been doing nothing but writing blogposts this week. Totally Bound are so much better at getting you promo opportunities than any other publisher I've worked with so far but that means a decent outpouring of content. Unfortunately that means I've only added another 500 words to the current manuscript and I've still got two more posts to write, plus one for your site and *breaks off sobbing* I want to get back to Pip and his problems!