Social media is a fascinating facet of modern life. On the personal side of things, it keeps people connected, disseminates information… but, sometimes, also causes conflict. On the career side of the ledger, social media is often written off as nothing more than a marketing tactic. However, there are actually several unique and powerful uses… Read more »
A weird flex: I can lay claim to be as formally uneducated in our craft as just about any writer. I’ve never taken a creative writing class, any right-thinking MFA course would have discarded my application at first glance, and I remain unclear as to what a Writers’ Conference even is. Nonetheless, a memoir, a… Read more »
I sat there shaking, my finger hovering over the button. This was it. Possibly the first of many, or perhaps a bad experiment that would fail after one round. Regardless… I pressed the button. That was my first video post as a writer. I had been writing blogs, but they felt rushed and didn’t seem… Read more »
The digital world is constantly evolving, and big shifts occurred in the social media landscape as we head into 2020. TikTok continues to grow rapidly, Instagram decided to remove its Like counts, Twitter changed up its format–and those are only a few of the changes that took place this year. For authors hustling to make… Read more »
We’ve talked before about red flags when your social media following is growing too quickly, but you should always see a little steady growth happening month to month. That said, theory and practice rarely align perfectly. As your following grows, it’s also inevitably evolving. Which means you will have times when what has worked for… Read more »
As I entered the new year, I realized something terrible: my Twitter account is an utter mess. My home feed is filled with more strangers’ random life comments than relevant content, and my lists include several which I am included on, but are no longer active or timely. Sometimes I am alerted by Facebook that… Read more »
I have a love/hate relationship with social media. Who doesn’t? I love the aesthetic prettiness of Instagram, and taking pictures of coffee and books. I love that I can keep up with people from high school and college on Facebook. I love reading the minute-by-minute quips of my favorite thought leaders and writers on Twitter…. Read more »
Many—perhaps most—people on social media try to build their platform by posting, posting, posting. But being truly social requires a bit more than this. Like in any relationship, building a social media platform requires engagement both ways. Social media is more than a megaphone. There are hundreds of conversations going on out there all the… Read more »
In platforming conversations with authors, I often get asked: how many social media networks should I be on? The short answer is that it depends. There is no magic number. How busy are you? Is social media fun for you, or a stressful chore? How are you keeping up with what you’re already doing for… Read more »
Social media is, of course, a cornerstone of an author’s online platform. But once you’ve got your accounts set up, what do you do with them? “I don’t have anything to say,” is a common refrain among authors first starting to use social media. And indeed, there is a lot of pressure to post frequently… Read more »
