IWSG January 2024
January 3 question is: Do you follow back your readers on BookBub or do you only follow back other authors?
I don't have any followers on BookBub so...
To broaden this topic to include all social media, and I'm making a huge generalization here. There are people who are good at and enjoy having an online presence. They know how to market themselves and are comfortable interracting with and growing a fan base. I am not one of those people. I tried and it didn't work.
Now, back to BookBub. I don't know a lot about it. Is it the new Goodreads?
I think people should do whatever they want and follow follow whoever they want to follow without feeling the pressure to follow back. Does following them give you anything other than access to a possible customer? Because, lets be honest, some people will only follow you in the hopes that you will buy their book.
Thanks to Joylene Nowell Butler, Olga Godim, Diedre Knight, and Natalie Aguirre for hosting this month's blog hop.
Check out the other participants' posts here: https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html
So, what am I doing?
It's a new year and I'm definitely feeling that "clean slate" vibe. I barely wrote anything in November and December 2023, I needed to take a break and take the pressure to produce, to finish my book off for a little bit.
I couldn't tell myself the story I wanted to write. It was too foggy. Today, and every day, I pray for clarity.
Check out Laurell's blog post and link to her talk about what makes writers quit and what makes writers continue: https://www.laurellkhamilton.com/fear-bravery-and-the-pikes-peak-writers-conference/
I'm shucking off my pen name and going back to my given name. I have to say and spell my name a lot at work and every time I would say my real last name I would ask, "If my last name is Halsey, who the fuck is Jessa Forest?" I realized that I wanted to see my name on my book covers, not a small slice of me that only represents the writing facet.
Social media is not going to be part of my indie-author lifestyle anymore. This sort of ties in to the question for the month. I want to follow movie stars and musicians and Warhammer40K painters and only the authors that I really, really love, but my feeds are choked with #writingcommunity trends that provide me with no substance.
I'm rebranding The Slaughter Chronicles and getting new book covers for everything I've published. Rebuilding is slow and that's okay.
That's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading!
PS: did you see my new logo? Isn't it cool!!! Check out https://konnlavery.com/ if you need a graphic designer.
Social media is certainly difficult to navigate and manage. I struggle with consistency, but it looks like it's going to stay necessary for authors for the time being. I'm trying for a "fresh start" approach, like everything else for the new year though.
ReplyDeleteYou are a cynic, Jessica. I LIKE that about you. Yes, you can spend every waking hour on all the "tools" of self-promotion but it's better to find just a few that "fit" you and your brand and develop them. I'd forgotten all about my BookBub account. Sigh. Now I'll have to update and engage.
ReplyDeleteThere are way too many social media sites to engage with all of them.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of rebuilding. I'm doing that with some of my earlier books. They just sit there, and I'm going to do things differently this year. Good luck with all you do!
ReplyDeleteI haven't been writing much either and am trying to get back into regular writing. And I'm not very good with social media except for my blog. Good luck with the rebranding.
ReplyDeleteTry to focus on where you want to arrive in your ending, and sometimes that helps crystalize the stages in your book. Without a final destination, it is hard to steer your prose.
ReplyDeleteHa! I also only follow WH40K painters (and other crafters/painters) anymore. Social media is such a mess. I was never great at it, and now it's just a quagmire that I don't have the energy to wade through anymore. Maybe I'm just old, or cranky. Probably both.
ReplyDeleteThat's cool you are going with your real name. It is cool to see that on a book.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the IWSG!