Hear Me Out - Nuke Your Social Media

[Malik]

So hey. STONELANDS has broken even. Including the film option, it’s now in the black.

As I mentioned a few months ago, I’ve nuked my online presence. I was initially going to do it right after launch but things got a little crazy with the release and then Worldcon.

I’ve deleted all my social media except for my website and a very small personal Facebook account with a handful of friends and family.

Even posts that have gone viral have generated at best one or two sales; I don’t expect this to impact my career at all, except to give me more time to write.

More of us should do this. I do believe we’ll look back on social media the way we now look back on smoking. Get ahead of the curve.

Blog post at Killing Your Baby: Why Authors Should Disconnect from Social Media | Joseph Malik

 

[pmmg]

I dont have enough time to maintain my online presence, so I am close to this already...but I am no where close to breaking even.

I think all of us will find we have a different path to success, and while I hope I can follow somewhat something tries and true, I am not sure that really exists.

But, other than here and Goodreads, it would be hard to find me online.

 

[Prince of Spires]

A book, breaking even? What arcane magic is that?

Congrats!

I do agree that Social Media isn't necessary for an author carreer. It can work, if you put in the right effort. But I don't enjoy it and always forget I should post stuff and have no clue what I should post. So I just don't bother. Having a Facebook account is nice to run Facebook ads though. So there's that.

As for likening social media to smoking. There's some truth to that. Already just that both are designed to keep you as addicted as possible. And you're already trends to ban social media use by kids and teens. There are some similarities for sure.

 

[ThinkerX]

Facebook pretty much is my social media, with a sideways link to Instagram. I ended up on FB by accident - my lovely young daughter sent me a pic, but accessing it meant jumping through multiple digital hoops, and at the end of it, I had an FB account. (That was a dozen years ago.) I remain on FB largely because that is where many of my younger relatives hang out. (Plus the cat videos, groups dedicated to buying/selling, writing, model railroading, and whatnot.)

That said, I no longer advertise on FB - even ordinary posts on book groups - because of (mostly) Nigerian scammers, half of them impersonating best-selling authors. Yes, I spend too much time on FB. But there is such a thing as a saturation level, which is when I do other stuff.

I do have a mostly ignored FB author page, along with an author website (which is also a magnet for scammers).

My promotions are mostly via bargain-basement email newsletter sites.

 

[Devor]

I've been saying this for years. Running a Social Media account is a terrible way to market. It's on par with trying to market a book by selling a tee shirt. If you're selling enough shirts to make a difference in book sales, then you're probably making more off the shirts than you will the book.

Congratulations on breaking even, Malik. I didn't doubt it for a second.

 

[Diana Silver]

Absolutely congratz! That's such great news.

Also thanks for sharing this. I have never had any socials and was worrying about whether I should one day get some if I started to publish serisouly, so this is nice to hear ^.^

 

[Incanus]

Well, in my case, I'd have to sign up first, before nuking it. But that doesn't make much sense, does it?

I think I've seen a Facebook page once or twice, briefly. Never signed up. I didn't get it, and still don't. Never used any of the other stuff either. This site is about the most I do with SM. (I participated in a music recording site years ago, but that place went nuts, and I ceased.)

As an extreme introvert, social media looks like a place for extroverts. So, not much for me there.

 

[Malik]

Well, in my case, I'd have to sign up first, before nuking it. But that doesn't make much sense, does it?

I think I've seen a Facebook page once or twice, briefly. Never signed up. I didn't get it, and still don't. Never used any of the other stuff either. This site is about the most I do with SM. (I participated in a music recording site years ago, but that place went nuts, and I ceased.)

As an extreme introvert, social media looks like a place for extroverts. So, not much for me there.

I cosplay as an extrovert at fantasy cons. It's exhausting.

At the end of the day, the extrovert costume itches and smells just like any other costume, and you just want to go up to your room, tear it off, and throw it against the wall.

And take a long shower until your skin's red.

And then drink.

I'm done with this shit. I may never even do another con. The reality is, I hate all of it. I live in the woods. I hunt, fish, trap, and grow most of my food. I have no need for any of this, and what other people think of me has zero bearing on my life. Expending energy to ingratiate myself to people whom I'll never meet is moronic.

I set my phone on DO NOT DISTURB two days ago, with only a handful of numbers allowed to get through--family, found family, my agent, my attorney. Everybody else, leave a message. I'll get back to you. There has been literally no downside so far.

And I've written more in the past 48 hours than in the past two years. All the bullshit that I'd ordinarily throw out into social media? Straight into chapters.

You wanna read me? Buy me.

 

[Diana Silver]

Me I'm a pretty happy-go-lucky extrovert and I can tell you: it doesn't make social media any more palatable xD

 

[skip.knox]

Does Scribes count as social media? I've never quite been able to pin down that phrase anyway.

I'm a long-time user of net-based communications. I was on Bitnet before that was joined to the Internet, and I still subscribe to MEDIEV-L. I was in Compuserv groups using TapCIS (HB!). I ran a BBS for several years. And have been in and out of a good many net-based forums. This format feels entirely natural to me and I see much value in it. Heck, I was using forums as part of my online history teaching from somewhere around 1993-4.

It's the weird scrum that is Facebook and Twitter and all their kin and bastards that does not resonate. I do stay on Facebook, mainly as a way to stay in touch with more distant family and a few former co-workers whom I remember fondly. It's always good to spot a message from them. It's even worth gritting my way through FB babble to see them.

As for the rest ... *meh*.

 

[Gurkhal]

I've already killed my Social Media presence so I guess I got that one right.

 

[pmmg]

Does Scribes count as social media? I've never quite been able to pin down that phrase anyway.

I would say yes, it is a type of social media, just its reach is not that far.

 

[Prince of Spires]

Does Scribes count as social media?

I would say no. Not in the sense it's usually used as in news reporting and from an investment POV. MS a forum where you interact with people on a mainly text based basis. And yes, it's social in that you interact with other people. But Social Media is more a stream of constant information, often visual. It's original intent was to let you interact with friends and family, but now it's mainly random stuff the algorithm thinks you like.

It's a very different experience from a forum. Social Media is very time sensitive (even to the point where you can have stuff that's only available for 24hrs). If you miss it there's no finding it back. A forum on the other hand is a lot more static. You wont find someone replying to a 5 year old thread on facebook, but it's reasonably common here.