I admit it. I’m starting to get social media burnout.
I’ve Vimeo’d, Instagrammed,Twittered, Tumbler’d, Flickr’d, YouTubed, and Facebooked myself into a communications coma. Lately, if I can’t pin it, Tweet it, post it, or Buzzfeed it, I don’t know quite what to do with it.
But if you’re a writer – especially if you’re a new, as-yet-unproven writer – joining the social media fray is expected. It’s practically mandatory. Luckily, I have no problem with the online social scene; I even – gasp! – enjoy it.
But there comes a point when you have to ask yourself – what about the writing? Isn’t that the most important thing? If I spend all my time flogging a book or writing a weekly blog or Tweeting about said book or said blog, when will I ever find time to just…write?
Isn’t the book, and the words that make up the book, of greatest importance, in the end?
Young Katie, writing her very first story.
I’m reminded of the infancy of music videos. From the very first MTV broadcast of “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles, the musical landscape as we knew it was forever changed. Suddenly, it wasn’t the music that mattered, but the videos themselves. It became a case of the tail wagging the dog. Eventually, MTV relegated music videos to the sidelines in favor of reality shows, and the music channel focused on pretty much anything and everything but…music.
Will social media follow the same path? Will it eventually become irrelevant, like cassette tapes and rotary phones, sidelined by the Next Big Thing? How did anyone ever sell a book before Goodreads and Twitter and Facebook came along, anyway?
But sell books, they did. And they did it by writing a really good story. By writing such a good story that word of mouth led to other people buying and reading the book. Yes, books were promoted and advertised and featured in book-of-the-month clubs; but mostly, they rose up the bestseller lists on a groundswell of reader connection and word of mouth.
And I don’t think that’s really changed.
I think, if a book is well written, it will find an audience. It’s like that old seventies Faberge shampoo commercial – “I told a friend, and she told a friend, and then she told a friend…” and the next thing you know, every girl is washing her hair with Faberge Organics shampoo. Of course, social media can help immensely, by getting the word – and your book – out there, to a wider range of people, via reviews, blog tours, author pages, and contest giveaways.
But I still think the single best thing a writer can focus his or her efforts on is simply this: write the best book you can.
And then? Flog the hell out of it. Because there’s no escaping the fact that social media – at least for the time being – is here to stay. We writers must learn to use it wisely and well. For me, that means limiting my time on Twitter and scheduling Tweets of my archived blogs. I may talk about my book or my work in progress here and there; but mostly, I just talk to people. Silly stuff, usually, or serious, as long as I generate a connection.
The single worst thing a writer can do online? Post “buy my book!” Tweets every five minutes. Those Tweets are spam, pure and simple, and people hate spam. (Except in Hawaii, where I hear they really love Spam.) Result? Folks will not only NOT buy your book, they’ll run screaming in the other direction…and probably not to Hawaii, either.
I don’t spend hours socializing online, but I try to connect on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest every day, not only because the people who read my blog/follow me/pin me are really fun, interesting people who never cease to amaze me, educate me, and/or make me laugh; but because they’re potential readers who might, one day, want to buy my book(s).
Because no matter how good a book actually is, if no one reads it, no one will ever know how good it is. And that would be a shame.
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