Is social media worth your time?

Twitter, instagram and facebook – you can spend HOURS roaming social media. As an author/writer, is it the best use of your time? Here’s my thoughts:

1. Social media is a brilliant source of publishing information. It costs you nothing to get on twitter and instagram, and you can follow as many publishers, agents, writers and literary events as you have time for!
2. Getting on to twitter via your laptop or phone takes about 10 minutes; you could choose an identity just for your writing if you already use it for personal or business use.
3. Start by following publishers and literary events as these can really inspire you. Focus on indie and local if you don’t want to get overwhelmed. If you have a great local indie bookshop, follow them too – they can be a great place for author events that you can go along and support.
4. Twitter feels to me to be the best social media for writers – you write for a start! I am always amazed how open many journalists, authors and agents are on twitter –they share a lot of information, for example, agents will say when they are open for submissions and some authors chat with their followers.
5. I think Facebook seems to have had its day for professional uses, although the big publishers do use it for some marketing and events. I think your time would be better spent browsing publishing websites which seem to be kept more up-to-date.
6. Instagram a visual stream – if you are writing about anything that lends itself to photographs such as food, fashion, parenting, film, craft etc then get on instagram and start sharing what is interesting to you. It will only take about 10 minutes to sign up. Follow some of the authors you know, but don’t just stick with the huge names; you are far more likely to build up likes and rapport with lesser-known authors – and who knows where it will take you all? My insta account for food writing is packedwithgoodthings – go and have a look to get some ideas, and don’t forget to say hello!
7. If you think you are going to waste hours on social media and that you should be writing instead, well, yes that is a risk! Why not set a timer on your phone and just stick to half an hour each day while you have a coffee break? Think of it as your research and marketing time.
8. If you have a book to sell then you can promote it via social media, though people don’t always love that. If there is news eg you are reading at an event, or there is a special sale price, then by all means mention that.
9. I have known brilliant authors with big publishing deals who refuse to do social media. It DOES affect sales. It also impacts on their relationship with their publicists who are working hard to get your book heard in a very competitive world. If you hate it, don’t understand it etc get advice and get someone to help you.
10. Lastly, if you think you might do a Trump and say something you might later regret, get someone to handle social media for you. There are some ace freelance marketing people out there who would be happy to budget an hour or two a week for you.