RE: NOTES FROM AN AMATEUR WRITER #43 - Seeking a Community of Writers
I'm an author (I say that hopefully). I have one completed book that's been sitting on the backburner for a few years. I had always had the intent to publish, but I've been working on my other career by getting my bachelor and master's degrees the last 7 years. I took a stab at finding an agent right after I finished the book, but had no luck because I knew nothing about the concept of 'platform'.
I passionately hated social media and the thought of self-promotion horrified me. But at some point I realized I would have to suck it up and put myself out there. So two months ago I finally took the leap, got my personal website and blog going and jumped onto every social media and writing platform I could find, attempting to plaster my name and face and words all over the interwebs until I get enough followers that I feel it's worth making the leap to publishing.
I still haven't decided between crowdfunding, self-publishing or traditional publishing (each has its pros and cons), but I figure the first step is to build a big enough potential audience that when I step off the publishing cliff I won't sink into the vast ocean of lonely obscurity with most other would-be authors on the planet.
I know that it takes uncounted hours of blood, sweat, tears and rejection to make this thing work. That's one I've learned over the years by looking at other writers who were successful. Aside from a lucky few overnight rags-to-riches stories, the successful writers are not the ones with the most talent, but the ones who kept slogging it out day and night for years until they built the critical mass of an audience that finally starts to expand on its own.
I've always been a sort of go-it-alone type, taking my only advice and inspiration from books, but I've been slowly beginning to realize the importance of community. We're all in this fight together, trying to realize our writerly dreams and get noticed by a beneficent demon-god somewhere that might have pity on us and bestow a bit of actual luck.
In case anyone is interested, my author website is at http://www.shawndove.com/.
It's nice to see so many other writers here on the steemit journey!
I have hated social media also. Wasn't really into FaceBook, although i tried. Twitter I have hardly touched, nor any other platforms. But Steemit for some reason has fitted in well with my style. So it is here I have started to try to find a network or community of sorts, as all authors, and aspiring authors need to have a community to support them. This just can;t be done alone. That's the reality i am having to face.
You offer real possibilities for the new author to release a book these days. I know of self-publishing, but hadn't considered crowdfunding. Again marketing and brand/name awareness play apart in how successful such endeavours are.
I can relate to the go it alone way of doing things. Best of luck with your writing pursuits. Thanks for leaving a link to your website. I'll be sure to have a look.
I feel the same about Steemit. It just feels right here (and getting some actual rewards sweetens the deal). I played around on Medium a bit and managed a grand total of 3 followers. I think most of my articles were read 0 times. It's not a bad place, but it takes a lot more work, or some luck, to get noticed there. They don't have a welcoming committee like Steemit.
I have an author page on facebook, but I haven't really figured out how to get anyone to visit it. I think that facebook groups are a nice idea. I joined a couple of writer's groups there. But so far I haven't found the time to really look around and see what they are like.
As for twitter, well... I don't feel any sense of community on twitter, and once you are following a few thousand people (as everyone on twitter is) it's almost pointless to look at your feed because 20 new posts pop up every second. But it's pretty useful for advertising blog posts and books (for those that have actually published), and potentially making business contacts. In the long run, I wouldn't recommend neglecting twitter.
I've tried Pinterest but couldn't figure that one out. I'm also on Google+ and Linkedin but haven't really put any time into those.
Instagram is a good place for authors. I was very hesitant to even try it at first, but there are lot of book lovers and other authors on there.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with these different social media platforms. Valuable information.
I have held onto my FB account purely for the groups - of which writing groups are the main focus. I get what you are saying about Twitter. I have always felt swamped, but interesting that you say not to neglect it. I will revise my strategy there (not that I had one prior to this).
Medium is one that I never really used, although I have been there to read other peoples writings. Each platform has it's own learning curve and difficulty at breaching the getting started era.
Good to know about Instagram also. I always figured it would hold little interest for book lovers, but if the facts say different then so be it.
Once again, thank you. You've given me ideas and concepts to think about.
Happy to share.
Re: Instagram. 'Bookstagrams' are a thing. Book lovers post pictures of their favorite books in different settings and artistic backgrounds. Many of them have thousands of followers. I don't have a published book to try it out yet, but I can imagine that making contact and offering to send a free copy of your book could be a good sales booster if they happen to like it.
Bookstagrams - well that is good to know. I need to get catch up with the 21st century!