How I Spent My Social Media Hiatus
Back when I started considering publishing, in the dark ages of 2016, one of the immediate pieces of advice I got was to start marketing now. Never mind that I had nothing to sell yet. Start creating a presence they said. Open a Facebook account. Build a newsletter. So I did. And for a while it was great. I made friends on Twitter. I got invited to parties and takeovers on Facebook. Eventually I opened Instagram and Tiktok accounts. I jumped into the hustle with both feet.
But eight years later, I question how much social media sells books. Sure, it’s one more chance for people to find you, but I’m not sure the cost is worth it. Twitter was terrible for my mental health almost from the beginning. Facebook is aging and these days my feed is more recommendations for random lifestyle pages I might like (spoiler: I don’t). Instagram…I don’t know. The implication always seems to be if you don’t get engagement on your Instagram, it’s because you’re doing it wrong.
I left Twitter a few years ago, long before the great Musk Meltdown of 2023. I went mini viral on Tiktok for a hot minute last year. But I also had my FB privileges revoked for no obvious reason on the very same day Destination Bedding came out, which seriously hampered my ability to tell people about the release. And Instagram prioritizes reels over photos now, but it blacklists content you make for Tiktok and migrate to Instagram. Make video content! No! Not like that. You’re doing it wrong!
So at the end of last year I decided it was time for a hiatus. No more Instagram or Facebook for the month of January. I’m just not sure what value it’s bringing to my life these days. When the month is over? We’ll see.
Except, it’s already been a week and holy moly. Was I really spending that much time doom scrolling? Just popping in to the app one more time to see if there were any new notifications since the last time I checked? It didn’t feel like a lot, but I guess it was, because with the time I didn’t spend in the Metaverse this weekend, I assembled an exercise bike and recorded two podcast episodes.
Yup, you read that right. I started a podcast. The common wisdom about social media marketing these days (as opposed to back in 2016 when the advice was to be everywhere all the time) is find the channels you enjoy and make great content there. I’ve been noodling around how to make content for my other great love — Korean TV dramas — for a while, and my (possibly) temporary departure from Facebook and Instagram finally gave me the a chance to start planning content and open some channels.
So 8 days into 2024, I’m pleased to announce the launch of Kdramas for Writers! It’s available in both a Substack newsletter and a Spotify podcast. Each episode will take a look at a Kdrama I’m currently watching, and talk about how we can use the storytelling techniques in them to write better novels.
A niche market? Yeah, I know. But it combines the two things I spend a lot of time thinking about, and I can’t be the only one.
Wanna check it out? Got a Kdrama you love that you want to talk about? Subscribe through Substack or Spotify or leave a comment here to start a conversation!