It seems that authors must have a social media presence in
today’s world to have any hope of success.
Even big name folks like JK Rowling and Stephen King have Twitter
accounts. And while I update this blog
and put stuff out on Facebook every so often, I don’t have much beyond
that. Sure, I have a Twitter page, but it
only gets updated on the rare occasion I even think about it(I tend to view
Twitter as a cesspool of trollery, so I am not often on; besides, since I tend
to be more bland online, I don’t draw much traffic).
Am I missing the boat?
I wrote a couple of months ago about an author friend who intentionally courts
controversy. I have very strong opinions
in private, but my brand isn’t strong enough to try to piss off half the
potential audience(it’s also not the kind of books In write, either). Is that a mistake? Twitter can draw a crowd, but the crowd it draws
seems to be angry all the time and just itching for a reason to cancel
people. Twitter mobs have brought down
lots of folks for the crime of humor being misunderstood in written form. Therefore I usually don’t do the Twitter
thing.
What other social media outlets are there that folks should
look into? Is social media even really
necessary? I’ve always said it usually
takes some sort of viral event to get an author prominence, even with an
abundance of talent, but the only viral events I’ve seen in social media tend
to turn out negatively for the subject unless they rescue kids from a burning
orphanage. And while yes, even folks
like Rowling or King are online, they don’t really need it since they
were already wildly successful prior.
Worse yet, both have managed to anger potential audiences with recent
tweets.
What are your thoughts?
Which parts of social media are best for the exposure, and do they hurt more than they help?
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