Hi friends,
In March last year, at the beginning of the pandemic, just as lockdowns were about to announced in both countries, I was trying to leave India with my British husband and son before my UK visa expired and I got indefinitely separated from them.
We managed to find a place to live one day after the lockdown in the UK was announced.
We hadn’t been able to get our stuff out of storage in time and so we spent the next three months sleeping on floors, with no kitchen appliances, no television, no duvets or pillows, and no more than six suitcases of our belongings.
It was around this time that my Twitter account was hacked.
I was without Internet when it happened, and by the time I got back online, the email address had already been changed and I couldn’t get back in.
Dozens of emails to Twitter resulted in no response.
This was particularly infuriating because I had a verified account with 7,000+ followers.
It would have been easy to verify my identity and give me back control of my account. But Twitter support didn’t respond, and still never has.
I’ve experienced similar things with Facebook.
When I changed my name, they refused to let me make the change on my FB page (14k followers) and refused to let me appeal their decision. Eventually I was able to get it sorted because a highly-respected international newspaper mentioned my name change and based on that, FB overturned their decision.
Not to mention that on Facebook, you can’t even reach the people who’ve chosen to follow your page unless you pay for that access.
Instagram and Twitter are becoming highly dependent on algorithms as well, and it is already clear to everyone on those platforms that only a minuscule number of their followers even see their updates.
If you’ve built your book promotion strategy, your platform, and your audience exclusively on the back of social media, can you see how much of a house of cards it is?
When most authors talk about building a platform, what they really mean is that they want to increase their social media followings.
That’s fine if all you care about is vanity metrics, but social media follows don’t correspond in any reliable way to book sales.
Agents and publishers know this. I’m co-writing a memoir with someone who has 30,000 followers on Instagram. I have 300 followers on Twitter (I started a new account).
And yet, an agent told me that in terms of sales potential, agents and editors will consider my platform more valuable.
Why?
Because I put my focus on two things.
1. I built up this newsletter to thousands of subscribers who read a lot of what I write (almost daily!), and
2. I have impressive media credentials and relationships, which means that at least in terms of book promotion, I’ll be able to tap into bigger audiences easily even if my own social media numbers are small.
That said, I am now thinking of ramping up my social media efforts as well, but I use social media as a way for people to get to know me, for brand building, and for fun. And to bring them deeper into my world.
Having an email list is crucial, in my opinion, if you’re serious about audience building as an author.
It’s the perfect way to reach your readers directly, without an intermediate entity.
I’m not anti social media by any means. But I built this business and went indie with some of my books specifically so that I wouldn’t have to be thrown around by the whims of corporate entities.
It’s why I built my business around these daily emails.
It’s why, even though people who check out my social media profiles won’t see large numbers, agents and publishers are frequently impressed by my platform.
You can build vanity metrics that will impress everyone around you, but that don’t translate into sales and don’t make money.
Or you could build actual metrics that no one will ever see or congratulate you on, but that will help you build a sustainable book income, a six-figure business (if you so choose), and a loyal readership to your work.
Ideally, you want both.
I prioritized the second option first, and now I’m beginning to build up the outward-facing numbers.
When my foundation is solid, then a Twitter hack or an idiotic decision made by a random person at Facebook doesn’t impact my business or prevent me from reaching my audience.
Now, when I build up my social media numbers, they will add to my business and help me grow exponentially without my being dependent on them.
I highly recommend you do the same.
Cheers,
Natasha