Social Media
Do writers need to be on social media?
Much like websites, no, you don’t technically need to be on social media, but there may be circumstances where it is practical. As of my writing this (April 2022), publishers are pushing more of their marketing work onto writers, and much of that self-promotion will happen on social media. There’s also something to be said for having an established presence online so people searching for you can get a sense of who you are and not someone with the same name.Does it make a difference to publishers if I have a large social media following?
Yes and no. If you’re selling a memoir as an influencer or celebrity, social media following will be part of the equation. Some editors have said that the number of social media followers alone is a poor predictor of sales (Harris). Author Jane Friedman points out that disappointing social media outcomes may not be because social media is a poor predictor of sales, but that publishers haven’t done enough to coach authors through a social media campaign.However, we’re also talking about followings that are in the scale of at least hundreds of thousands. Chances are, you are not a celebrity influencer. The calculus for your marketing potential is quite different. If a publisher selects your book, it will probably be because of the contents rather than your social media following. In this situation, your social media presence will be more about participating in the promotion of your book as a good team player.
What does social media do for me if I’m not famous?
Social media keeps you in sync with the industry and makes it easier for the right people to find you. I know many people who have gotten opportunities through direct messages on Instagram and Twitter. It’s another channel for the right people to learn about your work and find you. Connecting your social media accounts to your personal website can also be a search engine optimization boost.Should I make professional social media accounts separate from my personal accounts?
We touched on this in the website section. It depends on the professional image you are trying to put into the world. Are photo dumps of baby pictures consistent with your writing persona? If you write about parenting, a mellow personal feeling social presence could be an asset. If you write gritty crime fiction, perhaps not.Should I self-publish creative work on social media?
If you are sharing a link to work you have published elsewhere, absolutely. If this work has never been seen by anyone else before, it gets more complicated. Once writing is published online, other publishers will probably not be interested in republishing it. I personally choose to not initially publish creative work on my social media channels because I would rather have another publication pay me for first publication rights. Publications at other outlets can also be listed on your CV.Works Cited
Friedman, Jane. “Yes, Social Media Can Sell Books. But Not If Publishers Sit on Their Hands.” JaneFriedman.com. 8 Dec 2021.Harris, Elizabeth. “Millions of Followers? For Book Sales, ‘It’s Unreliable.’” The New York Times. 7 Dec 2021.
Content by Paige Welsh, 15 April 2022
Licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0
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