I Didn't Become a Writer to Make TikToks
The strange balancing act of being an indie author.
In a slight departure from what I usually plan to post here, today I feel like talking about social media marketing. And the absolute time suck that it is…not just in everyday life, but in the life of a person who would much rather be working on my new WIP or editing Book Two of The Seance Society.
When I decided to self-publish, I knew I’d be responsible for marketing. What I didn’t realize was how much it would compete with the very thing I wanted to spend my time doing: writing.
Every hour spent learning TikTok, designing Instagram posts, or trying to decipher an algorithm is an hour I’m not editing Book Two or working on my next novel. That’s the strange paradox of being an indie author. The better I become at selling books, the less time I have to write them.
I want to work on my YA beach ghost-hunting romance, not editing TikTok videos. Or fleshing out my adult contemporary forced-proximity Handyman WIP, rather than constantly brainstorming engaging content to attract followers on Instagram. I’ve already spent my creative energy on my stories. I don’t have much juice left over for social media.
Since I decided to self-publish, I’ve spent the vast majority of my free time across platforms trying to figure out the algorithms to build my audience before I publish my book. It is a lot of work. And I am already exhausted!
Maybe every writer has to make peace with this balancing act. The stories don't sell themselves, but the stories are the reason any of us started this in the first place. I'm still trying to figure out where that balance is. I just hope I don't spend so much time chasing algorithms that I forget to chase the next story.
Until next time…