Thread by @melisscaru

Here's a writerly topic I've been meaning to try to talk about for a while: social media!

Bear in mind that I'm NOT any kind of social media expert, so I can only speak from personal experience, but I'm happy to share what I've got. 😁

Social media (for a writer) can work pretty differently at different stages of your career.

Before you get a book deal, *unless you're a nonfiction writer*, seriously don't worry about building your platform or how many followers you have or anything.

What social media is great for as an unpublished fiction writer:

* Making friends and connections!

* Learning stuff and finding great resources!

* Moral support in the writing/querying trenches!

This can actually be really important.

I continue to learn a TON on social media just by listening. (I mean, you have to have a mental filter for who actually has any idea what they're talking about, but...😅)

Friendships I've made online have certainly helped me professionally (though that's not why I made them).

If you're reading this, you may well already know the value of being part of the online writing community! 😁

Suffice to say that pre-publication I don't think you need to worry much beyond making sure you're not a jerk to people and don't do anything wildly unprofessional.

Okay, so what about once you're published? (Whether trad or self!) From the moment you have a book deal, suddenly you have something to sell.

If you're like me, this feels weird and awkward. 😅

I'm sure people who are actually marketing professionals could give you much better advice, but my from-the-heart advice sounds like Cheesy Mentor Speak from a bad cartoon: sell your books by not trying to sell them.

(Uh, let me actually explain that... 😅)

There are a couple of different aspects to this, and I'm going to speak from my own experience here.

For one thing, after I got published I kept on using social media mostly the same ways. Making friends! Chatting about writing and geeky things! Retweeting cool stuff!

I try not to be like HEY BUY MY BOOKS in people's faces. That gets annoying fast. But I know as a follower I never mind when people post NEWS about their books.

Book on sale? Sure, tell me about it!

Cover reveal? WOOHOO!!! Shout it to the rooftops! Show me the pretty art!

Boosting other people whose work you genuinely admire is also always great. I love hearing people squee about books (or art, etc). And it's a great way to make friends—both others who love those creators' work and the creators themselves!

Next, the weird dark magic part: going viral.

Okay, so I've had a handful of tweets go viral in the 10K+ likes range, and a bunch more in the thousands. I can't speak to going REALLY big. But I have some observations for you.

First: Results May Vary. 😂

Going viral is NOT some ticket to fame and fortune. Mostly it's just hugely distracting and kills your productivity for a couple of days. 😂

The big question is whether your viral tweet/thing is, as the kids say, on brand.

I gained thousands of followers from my swordfighting in ballgowns thread! Because people who are interested in swordfighting in fancy dresses are INHERENTLY AWESOME and I want to be their friends. 😁

Er, or more to the point, we actually have something in common. 😂

I did NOT gain more than a handful of follwers from my All Dogs Are Mighty viral tweet. Even though I bet a lot of the people who liked it also share a love for dogs and Marvel movies! Because that's not really mostly what I tweet about, and it's not what I write about.

But I wasn't TRYING to go viral or gain followers with either of those tweets. I was just posting random ridiculous thoughts that popped into my head.

And honestly, that's what we're all here for. 😁

So I guess my message here again is just...relax. Be yourself. Don't worry about metrics. Talk about what interests YOU! Even if it's something you think no one else cares about. If it's perhipherally related to your book somehow, so much the better, but don't worry about it.

Social media CAN sell books, I won't deny it. I know I have readers who've found me on Twitter (*enthusiastically waves hi!*). But I personally prefer to still think about it primarily as a way to meet interesting people and learn stuff and look at pictures of cats. 😁

This doesn't mean I don't think about the marketing aspect! There is NOTHING WRONG with wanting to sell more books via social media. Of COURSE you want that. Let's be honest, this is my professional account, my Author Presence on the internet, and I don't forget that.

I just try to keep that all in the back of my head, and focus primarily on having fun here. Because it's WAY less stressy that way. 😂 And that's worked out fairly well for me.

Your mileage may vary! There are lots of good ways to use social media. You may focus on building your platform, or on bringing attention to worthy causes, or on NOTHING BUT PET PICTURES. My way is not remotely the best way, and certainly not the only way.

If you're a stressed-out writer trying to decide how to approach social media like my "make friends and shitpost" worry-free approach, however, well, fly free and enjoy it! 😁

(Whoops, that should be AND like my approach. WHEEEE HEY ALSO DON'T STRESS ABOUT TWITTER TYPOS!)

Oh, and another thing about social media is that it distracts you from work, aaaaaand I should probably get back to that. 😅 Hope this was vaguely interesting!

Oh, I thought of a couple more tips!

* LIFT PEOPLE UP! Helping out others a couple rungs down the ladder is a great way to make Internet Friends and also just nice.

* Talking about stuff that excites you about your books is a great way to mention them in a genuine, engaging way that's not HEY BUY THEM but also still makes them sound good. 😂 (Like, "I had so much fun researching the cuisine of ancient lesbian dragon cults for this book!")

* People do look at your profile and sometimes your pinned tweet if you say something interesting and it gets retweeted across their timeline. So if those might catch the interest of people who might like your books &/or want to follow you, great!

* I know I personally like to keep my account light & positive, but I want to emphasize that this is NOT remotely a requirement. (Points to the internet, which is full of people who talk about heavy things & have many followers.) I think being genuine is way more important.

And really, I think that's the key. If you've met me in person, you know that yup, this is what I'm actually like. 😂 I'm not faking that I'm super professional or always witty or have my act totally together. I think most people would rather see that humanity.

Also cat pics.