Either Do Social Media, Or Get a Publicist

I have to confess something.  I hate doing social media.  That’s an ironic thing seeing as this post is appearing on social media and I’m wanting a lot of people to follow what I say.  But I really do.  I’d rather be writing one of my books or short stories, putting together a game, or videotaping for one of my shows.  Basically, I’d rather be creating the things I set out to create.  Anything else feels like a distraction.

It especially feels like a distraction when I’m having to promote to get people to look at these side projects, such as blog posts, Twitter, etc.  In essence, I’m promoting the promotion.  I have enough side projects as it is; I don’t need another one.  And on top of everything else, it feels like I’m wasting my time when I look at the number of views, and I make up a quarter to half of the views!

I know that social media has an effect.  I’ve seen it myself.  It’s subtle and has not made too large a change in my numbers, but I have seen occasional spikes when I tweeted something important, or posted something people wanted to read.  But it’s frustrating how much work goes in to such little results.

But then, a couple months ago, a man named Stefan with Skyboat Entertainment, an audiobook company, gave me the kick in the pants I needed.  Someone at a GLAWS meeting was asking about social media.  They kept going on about it, and it became clear that what they really wanted was for him to tell them they didn’t have to do it, or at least provide an alternative.  He gave them a wake-up call by shrugging and saying, “Then you have to get a publicist, or just not expect anyone to read your books.”  He laid it out there as plainly as could be.  It may suck if you don’t enjoy doing social media, but you have to do it, or you have to get a publicist.  Those are your two options if you want to sell books.

I hear Stefan’s deep, gravel voice every time I want to quit posting.  Like a trainer shouting from the edge of a boxing ring, Stefan’s words lay it out there for me.  Do it or quit.  Those are your options, plain and simple.