On Writers, Social Media and Ahhhh What The Heck Am I Doing?!

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine, a published author whose book isn't selling so great and not because of a lack of talent. He's a great guy and we actually met on social media but when I asked him about social media recently, he hadn't thought about it outside of Tumblr and that got me thinking...



I'm a writer and I'm on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and GoodReads, I'm making friends left, right and centre all in the hope that eventually, when I have completed the best manuscript I can, that I'll have people out there to read it and support it, to promote it when it's published. It seems so strange that already I'm online, fangirling over other books and crying over how difficult editing can be before I'm even close to that stage when friends of mine who are ahead of me haven't figured out where to promote themselves best yet. I'm commenting and messaging and just trying to make friends and it can be really difficult, especially when you're awkward, but it's definitely worth it, which is why I suggested he do the same.

In this day and age, social media is everything. People are on it for hours every day, sharing with both friends and the world in general. If you know someone with a lot of followers, then you want them to talk about you or shout out your work. Being a writer can be a lonely job, even when like me, you're still agentless and are just trying to produce something you're proud. No matter what stage you're at, social media can be your saviour. You can share parts of your work and get feedback on it, it's wonderful! Once you're actually published then it's one of the only ways to know what people think and what else they'd like to see. You're on it most of the day anyway so why not take advantage of the fact people want to share their opinions with you?

At this moment in time, I'm trying to get involved with authors and I'm hoping to get involved with publishers. You see that I've got reviews on here and I'll keep sharing them on Twitter or pictures of books on Instagram. My writing means that I'm an informed reader and I still get excited over others books too. I might only have a small follower count at the moment but as I improve, my followers will grow and I can share more of my own work. I've already started this process and yeah, it's partly because I want free books, but I look forward to being able to offer my book for free one day too. But until then, I'm happy to try and help other writers, or just inform readers in any way I can.

My latest photo - see me improving?

So what's the point of this all? It's never too early to get involved with social media and to start planning on sharing your own work.

Remember:

• Get involved with the social media of your choice and the people who talk books (BookTube, Bookstagram, BookTwitter etc)
• Start making friends or at least noting who gets or talks about what.
• Don't let the social media take over but keep it regular and sharing what you love on there.
• Share the news about your book as it comes and you might have people asking YOU for an ARC one day!
• Most importantly, have fun.

The links to my Instagram and Twitter are at the side of my blog so feel free to contact me on there and comment below. Who knows, maybe we'll be able to help each other out with our writing one day.