I have some thoughts on social media I'd like to try to put into words, as a lot of words are being shared about Threads and Twatter and such today. When I started with social media, back in the mid 00s, it was on Facebook because it was a great way for me to connect with high school friends. I was also just getting started as a writer, and it helped me connect with a lot of other writers and writing groups. I started on Twitter around the same time. 1/x
Before then, it was online forums for various special interests, all of which died out fairly quickly. My Yahoo chat and AOL Instant Messenger went the way of MySpace as Facebook Messenger became my chat of choice, because that was where my friends were. As I started to build my writing business, I realized social media was going to be the only way for me to really get my work out there, to spread the word. So I started using it for marketing. 2/x
I bought ads and tried different tactics. Some did all right. Most didn't. I eventually gave up on throwing good money after bad and took my business in a different direction, using Facebook and Twitter to share promotions through Bookfunnel (something I do to this day). And I still used them both heavily for socializing, as I tend to be shy in person and was never in the group of cool kids who got to do cool things with cool people. 3/x
A decade later, and I was definitely getting tired of Facebook. But it was a necessary evil, because if you want to market your work, you have to go where the people are, and that's where they were. I was unsatisfied with it for social purposes though, and I became withdrawn (some might say depressed). I explored other options like Google Circles (remember that?) or Ello (Anyone remember THAT?) but none of them really hit the spot. 4/x
One of the most fun things I ever did on social media were a couple of joke accounts on Twitter, which were far more successful at getting followers than my own pathetic tweets were. If you were in the literary community, you might have known @fakeeditor or in the hockey community, @zanonsbeard. Those accounts were loads of fun while I was using them. They're both retired now, by the way. But I was still dissatisfied. 5/x
I joined Instagram, because that seemed to be another avenue for marketing, but I quickly learned I was terrible at it. I had my Local Hero Press account for promoting books and my own account that I originally used just to repost my Lego webcomic from a decade earlier (The Adventures of the S-Team, if you ever followed it-it's still online at ianthealy.com/comic). But still, Instagram sucked. And I have books to sell. 6/x
Sometime around then is when I first happened upon Counter Social. I liked it, but trying a new social media platform is kind of intimidating when you're shy and exhausting. ("I have to make new friends? I don't know anybody here!"). Also, it was a site where it seemed marketing wasn't really welcome, so I barely posted here at all for like the first year. I finally hit upon a way I feel is ok (or at least tolerable) to market on #Coso. 7/x
I make sure to use the #selfpromotion hashtag, so anyone who truly doesn't want to see it can mute it. And I don't swamp you guys with it. I don't like seeing ads, so why should I make you guys see them? But I do still need to sell books, so I try to find a happy medium where I occasionally tell you if I have a promo going on and the rest of the time I post memes or snark unmercifully, because you guys seem to like that. 8/x
Then Twatter got bought, and shit started going sideways everywhere quick. I knew I would need somewhere else to market my stuff or else risk getting submerged beneath the deluge of other writers who were way better at gaming the system than I am. I looked at Mastodon. Sucked. I joined Hive and use it exclusively for marketing to the other six people using it. I requested a Bluesky invite but haven't got one yet. And now there's Threads. 9/x
Will I still use Twatter and Facebook and Hive and Instagram (barf) and every other avenue I can? Yes. Because this is my business. I write books because I love to write books. I market them because it's expensive to write as many books as I do, and I depend on sales instead of Patreon or Kickstarter or any of that bullshit. Will I market on CoSo? Yes, but I'm not going to be an obtrusive asshole about it. 11/x
So in the end, if you're judging me for my decision to sign onto Threads and eventually Bluesky and whatever the next one is, I guess you can mute me or block me or whatever. But this is my life and my business and when I introduce myself, I don't tell people I sell construction parts, I tell them I'm a writer, because I'm fucking proud of my body of work and I am going to keep producing it and selling it until I die. Thanks for listening. 12/12
@ianthealy If Threads looks to be a good place for me to get my work out there, yeah I'd market there, and when my next book is out around August, I will, like you, make the occasional marketing post.
The business we're in isn't easy, and it isn't profitable.
I have no problem with anything yous aid.
@NiveusLepus I always feel I should sign off any conversation thread with you like this.
@NiveusLepus @ianthealy if I required Twitter to sell stuff, I'd still use it and quite frankly I've done worse things to survive than sign up to a social media platform. ๐คทโโ๏ธ
@ianthealy Oh, no, you're going into it with eyes open. Unless you go live off the grid, you're going to have to interact with "evil corporations*. What I find odd is those who a couple of weeks ago were saying Zuckerberg is as evil as Musk are now lauding Zucks as a savior. Humans.
I think judging other people for what they do with their time, whether it be what SM platform they visit or who they sleep with, is not my jam.
I donโt do it, I try to ignore it here. People are people. CoSo is amazing and I have wonderful people here who sincerely care about me. That said, I am DONE hearing about SM platforms.
I also have no opinion on being right or left handed. Not everything merits our limited energy.
Thank you for your thread and best of luck!
@ianthealy I read every word and I sure understand your point. One of the best things on CoSo is learning. Learning about risk and security has been good - but we should also respect risk tolerance. That's where you are, understanding and enduring the risk necessary to achieve your goals. Bravo for saying so! You're post was a perfect learning opportunity for all of us.
@ianthealy You're welcome.
I know a few authors on Facebook, of wildly different genres, and they not only have Facebook, but they also have pages exclusively for their work. They promote their books, "talk" with fans, answer questions, sometimes have contests, let people know about sales, etc.
I also follow a couple authors on Tumblr. Just a bit more well known (in some circles): Diane Duane and Neil Gaiman.
Go where it all leads you!
@ianthealy Do what you need to do in order to support yourself. :)
Big hugs.
Kidding. Judgment free- zone (tho I may judge the companies themselves)
People gotta do what they gotta do.
As long as you donโt gotta leave here.
๐คจ
@Beanc You know, you were one of the very first people who greeted me here. I remember, just like Pepperidge Farm.
@ianthealy and I didnโt even scare you off ๐
@Beanc TBH, you didn't try very hard. You could have done a way better job. Consider yourself on notice!
@ianthealy mustโฆ. Rectify.
@ianthealy Maybe we should have a specific tag for marketing so folks can make filters?
@NiveusLepus That's why I use the #selfpromotion hashtag. It would also be a good tag to be searchable for folks looking to support other #cosonauts and their businesses.
@ianthealy Great! Ill use that one.
Thanks bud!
@ianthealy @NiveusLepus
I've wondered if we had another tab/category where we could go to see the promos or 'ads' would be a request that would help those of us looking to support local artists?
@damselfly59 @NiveusLepus I'd say start using the #selfpromotion hashtag and pin that into its own column.
@ianthealy I'll be much the same with my comic shops. I'll make sure to talk about many things, and slip the odd comic related post in.
@ianthealy do you have a newsletter or something? This may be the first time I realize that you are an author. I went to your page and I linked from there to Amazon and I downloaded your first book so that I can take a look at it. It doesnโt look like it would be urban fantasy or I would suggest that you go to Umbralings on Discord. I connect with a lot of people there because I do write urban fantasy. I connected on Threads, for the same reason which had to do with promotion/advertising.
@J_Windrow My newsletter is actually from my publishing company, Local Hero Press. There's a sign up on the main page. Http://localheropress.com
@J_Windrow I do have an urban fantasy as part of my superhero series: Rooftops. I also have an, um, suburban fantasy in my standalone book Blood on the Ice (hockey and vampires).
@ianthealy check out Umbralings on Discord.
@ianthealy I get a 404 on that link. It said your publishing company? Because Umbralings is just for undies. Circle of Origin as well.
@J_Windrow Looks like it was down briefly. It came back up about a minute ago. https://localheropress.com/
@ianthealy threads is Zuckerberg.
I really didn't like the vibe at Mastodon. Like dealing with a bunch of cranky ITT tech computer guys who think they're geniuses.
Twitter will be my go-to when BIG drama is going on in the world. I hope CoSo can catch up. There are smart, cool people here.
There are a lot of frankly terrible things about Threads and Meta in general. I've done what I can to limit what they can use, but I know they're using all of it anyway. However, Threads will be another avenue for me to try to sell books, and since I have a company to run and authors to pay, I have to sell books. Will I use Threads even though it's terrible? Yes, because that's where the people are going. 10/x