“I Saw Your Post on Instagram”

 

Photo Credit: Atlantic Ambience via Pexels

If a writer wanted to know just what it takes to spread the word about their work and/or their books, there is one common piece of advice that would be given: “Put yourself everywhere.”

 

Yes, it’s exhausting.

 

Yes, it takes a lot of time.

 

And, yes, sometimes it feels like shouting into the void.

 

But it works. Seriously.

 

I know, there are A LOT of people who will see that advice and respond with, “Not everywhere; just in the right places.” In other words, put yourself where your audience is. But what if your audience is spread out on different social media sites? What if your audience is too young for Facebook but on the TikTok bandwagon? Then get on the TikTok bandwagon too – but don’t neglect other social media sites!

 

That’s my opinion, anyway. As a freelance writer, author, and book reviewer, I try to be on as many social media websites as possible. The same goes for the work I do for Twisted Dreams Press.

 

And as much as it makes me cringe to use X, I use X (when I remember to!). But I only use X for Twisted Dreams Press.

 

So imagine my delight when I got an email from a prospecting author who started his inquiry with “I saw your post on Instagram.” If ever there was a form of validation that all those promotional efforts I do on social media sites is not a waste, this is it.

 

Sure, I don’t get these kinds of messages very often, but it is nice to receive them. It lets me know that I did NOT waste my time posting THAT particular thing on THAT particular site. (And, of course, this also means that my targeted audience is indeed on that particular site.)

 

I may not be doing much promotion on my personal Instagram, but for the promotional posts on Instagram that happen to catch someone’s notice, those are the golden moments that tell me that, hey, maybe I did something right!

 

But it’s not just receiving a message that I pay attention to when it comes to gauging whether or not I am on the right path promoting on a site. I also pay attention to likes, reactions, and comments. I notice if a post goes viral (oh, I had FUN thanking over 100 people for sharing one post in particular after it got lots of reposts on Bluesky), as well as the posts that don’t do very well at all.

 

I used to wonder why businesses pay attention to such things and why it even mattered at all. Now I know that looking at how posts do on certain social media sites and if they go viral is just as important to the writer as it is for a business. We writers are trying to promote our work/ We’re trying to get the word out about something that was published. We also want to show that we are taking this writing thing seriously, because, guess what? Editors, agents and publishers notice these things. They are on social media too. It’s important for us to position ourselves as serious writers worth their time and attention.

 

Some people may feel that we should only focus our energy on the platforms that work, whether it’s Substack, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube. As for me, I’ll keep spreading myself out on various social media sites. I don't use all of them every single day (I'm usually on Bluesky and Facebook every day), but I'm there. Sometimes, I'll make an appearance on the other ones too. 

 

I don’t use all of my social media sites for my writing, but at least I’m still there. And I’m willing to share a post so that my voice among the hundreds of others on the site is not a silent one.