Such a helpful article. As someone who’s new to community building it’s very tempting to feel overwhelmed at the idea of spreading myself so thin (I don’t mind actual broadcasting itself but the admin, editing, producing around it I don’t feel like I can easily get my head around). As well as that, I just really like text! I know I can write so I think I’ll stick to that and worry about other things later. Thanks so much for writing this.
This is definitely the best approach. I read a thoughtful article yesterday about the importance of 'standardising before optimising' in small business but I think it's applicable to how we use social media to promote our work too (annoyingly I can't find it now but I'll come back if I find it!)). The general idea was that we should standardise - figure out our capacity, how long tasks take, how much time we have, how often we want to do something, what workflows suit us best etc. BEFORE we try to optimise it. This then means the optimisation is more likely to yield results. Fwiw I've spent almost a whole year figuring out what I can realistically achieve on my own social media alongside doing my paid work (and I work in the space!) so now I can deliver more value in a smaller amount of time. Approaching it in stages is absolutely the right thing to do when your main priority must be the writing!
Sadly, there is a medium-sized group of bookstagrammers or readers on Threads that proclaim that they won’t read anything by authors they don’t “know” via social media. They want photos and videos and stories and captions filled with life anecdotes. I had to step away from that section of the internet because it was too much.
My personal opinion is that one should only give what they want of themselves, because, yeah, nothing we do promises a monetary gain. The Substack you write weekly may do better than the novel you wrote on for five years. But the YouTube silly content about books you read may do better than that.
I’m lucky that I have a few fans who want to read all of my work. I tried videos and gave up because they took up too much time. That didn’t make my fans leave. The ones who love my work, love my work, and think of the rest as just fun extras.
Hi Elle, thanks for reading and for your comment. I completely agree - anyone using the internet should only share what is comfortable for you , in fact I wrote another piece a couple of weeks ago about exactly this as its a concern I often hear from writers who are often private people. You can read that here (although I'm not sure links work in comments?) https://open.substack.com/pub/nicolawashington/p/faq-2-how-much-of-my-life-should?r=4mw0i&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web. I also totally agree that if you show up on these platforms in a way that is authentic to you (and that includes the medium you use as well as the content you share) then you can be confident that the people you connect with are really there *for you* rather than some projection of you that you've put out into the world. Ultimately this makes showing up online more sustainable in the long run.
I recently had to do a short video for my publisher about my next book (for the sales team in Australia - to get them excited about selling a book that they have not been involved in!). I was surprised by how much and how personally I was able to convey what I wanted to. I think I’ll use it myself when the book comes out! My agent said these kinds of videos really do help sales and pr teams connect with the work when they haven’t worked directly with the author.
That's a really interesting use of video that I hadn't considered. I can imagine that seeing someone talking about their book would be far more engaging for a PR or sales team - they'd be able to get a real sense of your personality and general vibe that I imagine would then inform how they talk about your book. You should definitely use it - especially if it's already there ready and waiting, it would be churlish not to! On social, video is also great for introducing ideas and themes and bringing people who've never encountered you before to your account, where hopefully you can charm them with your ideas and words so they want to go and buy your book!
Such a helpful article. As someone who’s new to community building it’s very tempting to feel overwhelmed at the idea of spreading myself so thin (I don’t mind actual broadcasting itself but the admin, editing, producing around it I don’t feel like I can easily get my head around). As well as that, I just really like text! I know I can write so I think I’ll stick to that and worry about other things later. Thanks so much for writing this.
This is definitely the best approach. I read a thoughtful article yesterday about the importance of 'standardising before optimising' in small business but I think it's applicable to how we use social media to promote our work too (annoyingly I can't find it now but I'll come back if I find it!)). The general idea was that we should standardise - figure out our capacity, how long tasks take, how much time we have, how often we want to do something, what workflows suit us best etc. BEFORE we try to optimise it. This then means the optimisation is more likely to yield results. Fwiw I've spent almost a whole year figuring out what I can realistically achieve on my own social media alongside doing my paid work (and I work in the space!) so now I can deliver more value in a smaller amount of time. Approaching it in stages is absolutely the right thing to do when your main priority must be the writing!
I agree.
Sadly, there is a medium-sized group of bookstagrammers or readers on Threads that proclaim that they won’t read anything by authors they don’t “know” via social media. They want photos and videos and stories and captions filled with life anecdotes. I had to step away from that section of the internet because it was too much.
My personal opinion is that one should only give what they want of themselves, because, yeah, nothing we do promises a monetary gain. The Substack you write weekly may do better than the novel you wrote on for five years. But the YouTube silly content about books you read may do better than that.
I’m lucky that I have a few fans who want to read all of my work. I tried videos and gave up because they took up too much time. That didn’t make my fans leave. The ones who love my work, love my work, and think of the rest as just fun extras.
Hi Elle, thanks for reading and for your comment. I completely agree - anyone using the internet should only share what is comfortable for you , in fact I wrote another piece a couple of weeks ago about exactly this as its a concern I often hear from writers who are often private people. You can read that here (although I'm not sure links work in comments?) https://open.substack.com/pub/nicolawashington/p/faq-2-how-much-of-my-life-should?r=4mw0i&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web. I also totally agree that if you show up on these platforms in a way that is authentic to you (and that includes the medium you use as well as the content you share) then you can be confident that the people you connect with are really there *for you* rather than some projection of you that you've put out into the world. Ultimately this makes showing up online more sustainable in the long run.
I recently had to do a short video for my publisher about my next book (for the sales team in Australia - to get them excited about selling a book that they have not been involved in!). I was surprised by how much and how personally I was able to convey what I wanted to. I think I’ll use it myself when the book comes out! My agent said these kinds of videos really do help sales and pr teams connect with the work when they haven’t worked directly with the author.
That's a really interesting use of video that I hadn't considered. I can imagine that seeing someone talking about their book would be far more engaging for a PR or sales team - they'd be able to get a real sense of your personality and general vibe that I imagine would then inform how they talk about your book. You should definitely use it - especially if it's already there ready and waiting, it would be churlish not to! On social, video is also great for introducing ideas and themes and bringing people who've never encountered you before to your account, where hopefully you can charm them with your ideas and words so they want to go and buy your book!