I’ve wanted to be an author since I was a little girl. Some of my earliest memories involve me telling stories to whoever would listen (my parents have put up with a lot). If I could, I’d spend my life daydreaming and writing whatever I want. But becoming an author nowadays takes more than just constructing stories — you need to build a good author platform. As a natural introvert, however, the “social” aspect of social media is not something that comes natural to me. I have a secret weapon though: research. So, if you’re also a budding author trying to work out what to do on social media, read on and I’ll share what I’ve learned.
Where does your author self live?
As someone who’s academic research revolves around storytelling and authorship, doing research to work out what is needed for an author platform is something that came naturally to me. So, 56 author advice articles later, and I can comfortably say that, when it comes to social media, Facebook and Twitter are clear front-runners. Other social media platforms were mentioned, such as Instagram and Pinterest, but Facebook and Twitter each appeared in almost two thirds of cases. I know that Instagram is becoming increasingly popular, particularly among book bloggers, but these two have some notable strengths and weaknesses to consider.
From my own experience, Twitter is a good place for community building, while Facebook seems better for retention. Perhaps this is because I had more offline friends on Facebook, but it was definitely the space where I felt more relaxed and able to be “me”. There’s something quite cozy about building your author page and then being able to craft posts for the audience you know you have. There’s also less chance of your words being unwittingly separated from their context and running away from you! With fewer opportunities to reach out and interact with unknown users, however, Facebook was definitely the more limited of the two.
Twitter, meanwhile, gives you plenty of opportunities as a writer to reach out. Whether it’s sharing blog posts from your website, retweeting something another author has said, or even engaging in current news and trends, there’s more you can do to interact widely. There are countless hashtags relating to varied interests, making it semi-easy to find a community you want to be part of. Hopefully a community that might be interested in your work! But Twitter is also much harder to control than a Facebook page. Unless you want to limit access to your account — and potentially limit your audience — posting something on Twitter means acknowledging that your words may be taken out of context and reach an audience you didn’t expect. It is, in many ways, the more exciting platform of the two, but it’s also the more risk-filled option.
Who are you online?
Everyone has a personal brand. In an offline world, your clothes, the way you speak, and your body language all tell other people who you are. These impressions may be misinterpreted, for sure, but at least you can try to present yourself appropriately for whatever situation you find yourself in. On social media, however, you’re speaking to everyone all at once. Your audience doesn’t always get the context of what you’re saying — they only know you from whatever fragments they might have seen before. And if they’ve only ever seen two tweets, with one declaring your passion for animals and the other wishing death to all dolphins? There’s probably going to be some confusion over who you are.
In my research about building an author platform, maintaining an author brand came up frequently. Online, you don’t get to adjust yourself to suit each separate audience. Instead, you’re facing many possible audiences all together and you want to appear consistent. This is where it’s helpful to think about your author brand. Who do you want to be online? Are you playful or serious? Which topics are you interested in, and which ones do you want to avoid? Using myself as an example, I try to seem upbeat, serious about my interests but avoid potentially contentious topics. I’ve seen other authors who focus their brands on the themes of their work, tweeting about current events related to those themes, and presenting advice when they feel it is right. Very different brands, but consistent in how they work.
The important thing to remember in building your author brand is the “real” you. Readers expect authenticity. It gives them something to connect to, letting them feel like you’re a friend as well as an author. This doesn’t mean you have to show them everything about you and your life — from a branding perspective, humans are very inconsistent, and this isn’t helpful in building a relationship without the full context of your offline life — but you should aim to be as real as possible within the boundaries you’ve set for yourself. Even those of us working through a pseudonym have to give our readers something real to relate to. Be genuine in your responses and let your author brand be something authentically you, even if it is a carefully constructed authenticity.
Finding the Balance
The most important thing when building your author identity on social media is to find a balance. It’s easy to get caught up in trying to build an audience for your work, tweeting endlessly about your writing, piling up those promotional links, and just being very enthusiastic about your writing. That’s great but, to those watching not yet invested in you, it’s boring. It won’t help you make sales. Instead, think more about engagement. If someone tweets about your work, tweet them back your thanks. Share news articles that interest you or post questions you’d like to discuss. You don’t want to seem like you’re all sales all the time.
On top of this, make sure you have a balance in how much you use social media. We’re writers — spending six hours on Twitter won’t help us finish that WIP! But social media can also be exhausting. Whether you’re overwhelmed with messages that you can’t work out how to answer, or feel like you’re shouting into the void, it takes energy to engage with it and it’s not always healthy. Twitter, for example, makes it easy to find a community of other writers online, but that can make it easy to fall into the trap of constantly comparing yourself to others. If that happens, you need to step back. Keep a balance so that social media doesn’t become something that hinders your progress as a writer.
Social media has become a necessary evil for authors nowadays. It can be a great opportunity to build your platform and show readers who you are, encouraging them to invest in your journey. It does, however, need some careful thought to make the best of it. Which platform is going to work best for you, how to create an authentic author brand, and how to move forward in a sustainable way… These are all questions we need to think about as we build our author platforms on social media.
Do you have any suggestions or helpful tips I may have missed? I’d love to hear your ideas and about your successes!
