Quitting professional social media as an author sounds like a surefire way to crash and burn. Or is it?
I started on social media since 2017. Apart from doing some personal shopping on Facebook Marketplace, my presence on Facebook and Instagram was solely professional. I only posted reading, writing, editing, and publishing content. However, the novelty of social media soon wore thin. But it wasn’t until 2022, while researching for my Graduate Diploma in Editing and Publishing (starting with this article by Thomas Umstattd Jr.), that I realised that being on social media as an author was unnecessary. Still, it took many more months of research to build my knowledge base and summon the courage to finally do it.
On 1 June 2023, I officially quit social media. I should mention that I only quit on Facebook and Instagram, where my professional author accounts were located. Actually, I had sort of half-quitted on Facebook already. Every post published on my author page was automatically sent there via my activity on Instagram. But I have since deleted the apps from my phone and no longer develop content for them. However, I am still on Goodreads, though it is not social media in the traditional sense.
In this article, I outline why I left social media as an author, and why it’s really not such a bad thing.
Time
As any social media user will acknowledge, the temptation to scroll and scroll is strong. For an author, it’s no different. A lot happens in the world of publishing—reviews, release day announcements, cover reveals, author interviews, convention photos, magazine and anthology submission calls, and the list goes on. While browsing social media, even for reasonable purposes, time slips away like it’s getting sucked into a black hole. Countless hours gone!
As a creator, I needed to keep my audience engaged. That meant posting content. Creating content takes time, and said content was not the content I wanted to create—my stories! While the quality of my posts increased over time, it was still a massive investment in time for very little return, satisfaction, or fulfilment.
Algorithms
When trying to engage with my followers, I was at the mercy of the Facebook and Instagram algorithms. The sad fact is that on Instagram, my posts were seen by less than 20% of my followers. That is unacceptable. My Facebook author page was even worse. Why would I endure algorithms that dictates who of my followers sees my news? If I had one reason for quitting professional social media as an author, this would be it.
Social Media is Unnecessary
In this day and age, an author’s presence on social media is largely unnecessary. Many supporters state that social media is an important part of the author platform. It is said that social media increases visibility and reach, engages readers, provides a platform for marketing and promotions, opens opportunities for networking and collaboration, is a good tool for market research, and acts as a conduit for funneling traffic to author websites and newsletters.
An author’s primary platform is their website. The upside of a website is that the author owns it and has full control over the potential traffic that reaches it. Rather than trying to find readers among the nearly three billion Facebook users and nearly two billion Instagram users around the world, an author has a greater chance at visibility by marketing to their target audience through more specialised platforms, such as Goodreads and BookBub. These readers can then be directed to the author’s website for further engagement.
Frustration
Over the years, I became increasingly frustrated with the banality and superficiality of social media. Now, I should state that the vast majority of accounts I followed offered original and interesting content. But sometimes I felt that the content was pointless. Even I fell prey to the pointless posting craze. After a while, the pointlessness of images and videos gnawed at my mind, and I was left with an empty hole that desperately craved something deeper than what social media could ever offer. Something, I discovered, which was usually offered through the newsletters I subscribed to, the podcasts I listened to, and the blogs I read. After this realisation, quitting professional social media as an author seemed even more enticing.
Where Is My Target Audience?
Target audience, actual audience, and the algorithm are enmeshed like the web of a spider that was forcibly injected with caffeine. It’s a mess. What I found was that the majority of the people who were seeing and engaging with my posts were not readers. They were friends. The more friends I followed, the fewer actual readers were seeing my posts. While I am wholeheartedly appreciative of the support of my friends and family, they are technically not my intended audience. Therefore, my posts were not as effective as I wanted them to be.
My target audience is easier to find on dedicated reading and book platforms.
The Attitudes on Social media
Are you tired of the aggression and confrontations on social media? Who needs it? The content itself is not necessarily aggressive, but the comments were insane. There are so many complainers and haters lurking on social media, making themselves feel good as their grubby little fingers type insults and other forms of unnecessary comments that show their apparent lack of social skills or etiquette. I was rolling my eyes so much I was getting dizzy. One or two ridiculous cases even crept into the comments on some of my posts, but I dealt with them quickly. I realised that as I published more books, there would be more people who would post dumb, rude, hateful, and unnecessary comments. I didn’t want to waste time handling them, nor did I want to provide a platform for them.
The Cost Effectiveness of Social Media
Oh, the money I have sunk in to social media! And for what? The cost–benefit analysis of my paid advertising against my engagement and book sales was disheartening.
For example, when I launched Space Trip, I was not in a position to market it properly due to my intense university schedule. So all I did was a linked Instagram and Facebook ad. I spent $120 over 30 days, targeted towards users with science fiction interests in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK. Here are the statistics:
- The ad reached 11,757 users.
- Only 31 users interacted with the ad (a link to purchase the book).
- Only 104 users looked at my profile.
- There were 23 likes, 5 comments, 3 saves, no shares, and 3 follows.
This money would have been better spent on a dedicated platform where my target market is more easily accessed.
Where to from Here?
I am leaving my social media accounts active, but I will no longer post on them. Instead, I will focus more on my website and my newsletter as the primary channel of communicating with my followers. My blog articles are improving, which I hope will be of benefit to a variety of visitors. I plan to offer insightful articles and practical, downloadable materials to help writers and editors.
This end of social media usage is a turning point in my marketing strategy. It’s new grounds for me, but one that is backed by research and the successes of other authors.
Finally, I have also recently migrated to a better newsletter service provider called ConvertKit, which I believe is better than my old provider, Mailchimp. Speaking about my newsletter, in the spirit of quitting professional social media and celebrating with me, please consider subscribing. Being on my newsletter means you get updates the way they are meant to be: direct from me, personalised, and right to your inbox where you won’t miss them.