You make this sound very tempting. I have had a timer set on my Instagram for quite a while and this winter I have made a conscious effort to be on my phone less and it is huge! Substack and Instagram are my only downloaded social media apps.
I love this post more than I can tell you. I deleted Facebook a few years ago, and occasionally have to go back on it for work, and every time I do I feel visceral loathing. I still have Instagram, but have now started deleting it Monday to Friday. I use LinkedIn professionally but don’t find that compelling - it’s been really useful in terms of opportunities and information though. I deleted X as soon as Musk took over and I haven’t added anything else.
I love this so so much. I've deleted my FB app and am about to delete my others too. When I get the urge to check my phone, I open a reading app instead and consume a few pages of joy. "Performing my life" resonated so much with me. Thanks, as always, for your transparency and inspiration!
That was the standard line a decade ago. I don't think it is any more. Sure, pubs would love to see a huge following--but it's nigh impossible to build a huge following. And everyone can acknowledge it's getting harder and harder as the apps change their algorithms.
I have never had my publisher force me on social media. They have always always been willing to accommodate what I am willing to do.
(And as an aside: the most important thing any writer can do to sell books is to write more books. That wisdom has always been true and remains true. New book releases boost old books--every single time. And new books are always a new chance for new readers to find you. So if faced between spending your time on social media to reach readers or writing a new book, the time is better spent on the book.)
I love reading this. I'm doing a social media detox this January (what better way to start the year?), and only plan to go back in February so that I can turn my Instagram accounts into static outposts (with a fixed 9 or 12 grid that I will update once or twice a year).
It's interesting because I'm not naturally a distractible person; for most of my life I never had a problem with quiet time or boredom or focus. But for a time, when I was using social media a lot (too much), it almost convinced me I'd lost that superpower. Now I know that if I can fully step away from it, after a few days I will revert to my natural state. What I cannot do, though, is use social media "in moderation". Something like what you describe might work, because it's extremely limited and very well-defined. But I cannot follow a half-hour every day type of regimen. It's too much and too little at the same time.
Ah, thank you SO MUCH for this! I only have FB and Insta accounts under my pen name (Kat Ross), but I’ll confess, I viscerally loathe posting anything pretty much anywhere at this point, LOL, and only do it out of guilt because I think I have to as an author. I’ve fantasized about making a clean break and just doing a newsletter (for all the reasons you cited, mindmeld on those) but thought I somehow wasn’t allowed to. But if you’ve taken the plunge, Sooz, I’m going to join you! Now to quit the email addiction.... :)
If you were starting out as a writer all over again, would you use social media to help build a readership? I’m about to go on sub for the very first time and I’ve been trying to psych myself up to be on social media more. It doesn’t feel good, though, and I’d love to hear there is another option.
I would not. I would write more books and start a newsletter that’s very easy to find on my website. As I told someone elsewhere, I didn’t start to have any meaningful following until I had 4 books out. People will follow you once you have a backlist—and those people will buy books versus a casual social media connection that won’t lead to a sale.
I would make a social profile on a place I felt okay. And I’d post updates only or just a single “find me here” post and funnel people to my newsletter.
What sells books best is writing more books! Build that backlist! Have a catalogue they can dive into! Every new release is a new chance to reach new readers.
I should also add this is not what I did because 15 years ago, social media was NOTHING like it is today. I could get on Twitter, make meaningful connections with readers, and sell books. That is…a hilarious thing to even imagine in today’s world in which algorithms exist that drive the feed!
Wow, just *yesterday* I shared about how I quit social media in November and how life’s been. This post is so comforting—it feels like me 2 years into the future talking to me now. The happiness and peace of mind is the part that gets me the most. Wouldn’t trade it for the world.
I'm so happy for you, Sooz! I've been wanting to do that but it's the guilty thing as an artist not to post. I was doing well with not doom scrolling and only going on when I post and catch up on friends' posts/dms then I'm off. This is solely Instagram and sometimes canva, I don't use X since the name switch and never had tiktok. I even feel bad being behind on your newsletters and discord. But I too have seen a difference, I had more time to draw and spend time with family. The comparison also decreased, but the guilt is what im working on. That's what's reeling me back every now and then. Thanks for sharing your experience, I hope to get there one day!! 💚
I, too, only read "The Atlantic". I do watch PBS News on Friday night, but that's it! My next goal is to cancel Twitter and stop scrolling Instagram in my "bored" moments. Thanks for the encouragement!
Ah. The dream. I fear I'm still too new of an author to do this. Plus my relatives will harass me for child pics if I quit Facebook. (Though yeah, I could go back to texting ...) There's also my local mom's Facebook group, and Buy Nothing is how I declutter responsibly, and Marketplace is how I shop secondhand ... Maybe I'll start by more reducing social media than deleting entirely ...
gaaaah this is so extremely timely for me! i've been doom scrolling WAY more lately, while also bemoaning my lack of time for writing and other fun hobbies. i had a period of time last year when i was cutting back on social media and i saw a major boost in my word count and general productivity. so... my brain already knows that everything you said in this newsletter is true lol. i need to just do it!
the only thing currently holding me back in a big way is that i'm finally starting to promote my book and prep for publication later in the year, so it definitely feels scary to cut back on social media when it is a marketing tool that i'm trying to use. but there has to be a way!
I love this for you, Sooz. Really weighing where I want to put my attention this year, especially with ~gestures at the horrors~. You've given me lots to think about. Where am I finding real community, and where am I just scrolling mindlessly and getting unhelpfully outraged?
You make this sound very tempting. I have had a timer set on my Instagram for quite a while and this winter I have made a conscious effort to be on my phone less and it is huge! Substack and Instagram are my only downloaded social media apps.
I love this post more than I can tell you. I deleted Facebook a few years ago, and occasionally have to go back on it for work, and every time I do I feel visceral loathing. I still have Instagram, but have now started deleting it Monday to Friday. I use LinkedIn professionally but don’t find that compelling - it’s been really useful in terms of opportunities and information though. I deleted X as soon as Musk took over and I haven’t added anything else.
I love this so so much. I've deleted my FB app and am about to delete my others too. When I get the urge to check my phone, I open a reading app instead and consume a few pages of joy. "Performing my life" resonated so much with me. Thanks, as always, for your transparency and inspiration!
But don't publishers want to see writers on social media? The standard line is it sells books
That was the standard line a decade ago. I don't think it is any more. Sure, pubs would love to see a huge following--but it's nigh impossible to build a huge following. And everyone can acknowledge it's getting harder and harder as the apps change their algorithms.
I have never had my publisher force me on social media. They have always always been willing to accommodate what I am willing to do.
(And as an aside: the most important thing any writer can do to sell books is to write more books. That wisdom has always been true and remains true. New book releases boost old books--every single time. And new books are always a new chance for new readers to find you. So if faced between spending your time on social media to reach readers or writing a new book, the time is better spent on the book.)
Thanks!
I love reading this. I'm doing a social media detox this January (what better way to start the year?), and only plan to go back in February so that I can turn my Instagram accounts into static outposts (with a fixed 9 or 12 grid that I will update once or twice a year).
It's interesting because I'm not naturally a distractible person; for most of my life I never had a problem with quiet time or boredom or focus. But for a time, when I was using social media a lot (too much), it almost convinced me I'd lost that superpower. Now I know that if I can fully step away from it, after a few days I will revert to my natural state. What I cannot do, though, is use social media "in moderation". Something like what you describe might work, because it's extremely limited and very well-defined. But I cannot follow a half-hour every day type of regimen. It's too much and too little at the same time.
Ah, thank you SO MUCH for this! I only have FB and Insta accounts under my pen name (Kat Ross), but I’ll confess, I viscerally loathe posting anything pretty much anywhere at this point, LOL, and only do it out of guilt because I think I have to as an author. I’ve fantasized about making a clean break and just doing a newsletter (for all the reasons you cited, mindmeld on those) but thought I somehow wasn’t allowed to. But if you’ve taken the plunge, Sooz, I’m going to join you! Now to quit the email addiction.... :)
If you were starting out as a writer all over again, would you use social media to help build a readership? I’m about to go on sub for the very first time and I’ve been trying to psych myself up to be on social media more. It doesn’t feel good, though, and I’d love to hear there is another option.
I would not. I would write more books and start a newsletter that’s very easy to find on my website. As I told someone elsewhere, I didn’t start to have any meaningful following until I had 4 books out. People will follow you once you have a backlist—and those people will buy books versus a casual social media connection that won’t lead to a sale.
I would make a social profile on a place I felt okay. And I’d post updates only or just a single “find me here” post and funnel people to my newsletter.
What sells books best is writing more books! Build that backlist! Have a catalogue they can dive into! Every new release is a new chance to reach new readers.
I should also add this is not what I did because 15 years ago, social media was NOTHING like it is today. I could get on Twitter, make meaningful connections with readers, and sell books. That is…a hilarious thing to even imagine in today’s world in which algorithms exist that drive the feed!
Wow, just *yesterday* I shared about how I quit social media in November and how life’s been. This post is so comforting—it feels like me 2 years into the future talking to me now. The happiness and peace of mind is the part that gets me the most. Wouldn’t trade it for the world.
I'm so happy for you, Sooz! I've been wanting to do that but it's the guilty thing as an artist not to post. I was doing well with not doom scrolling and only going on when I post and catch up on friends' posts/dms then I'm off. This is solely Instagram and sometimes canva, I don't use X since the name switch and never had tiktok. I even feel bad being behind on your newsletters and discord. But I too have seen a difference, I had more time to draw and spend time with family. The comparison also decreased, but the guilt is what im working on. That's what's reeling me back every now and then. Thanks for sharing your experience, I hope to get there one day!! 💚
Thanks for this. Just thanks.
I, too, only read "The Atlantic". I do watch PBS News on Friday night, but that's it! My next goal is to cancel Twitter and stop scrolling Instagram in my "bored" moments. Thanks for the encouragement!
Ah. The dream. I fear I'm still too new of an author to do this. Plus my relatives will harass me for child pics if I quit Facebook. (Though yeah, I could go back to texting ...) There's also my local mom's Facebook group, and Buy Nothing is how I declutter responsibly, and Marketplace is how I shop secondhand ... Maybe I'll start by more reducing social media than deleting entirely ...
gaaaah this is so extremely timely for me! i've been doom scrolling WAY more lately, while also bemoaning my lack of time for writing and other fun hobbies. i had a period of time last year when i was cutting back on social media and i saw a major boost in my word count and general productivity. so... my brain already knows that everything you said in this newsletter is true lol. i need to just do it!
the only thing currently holding me back in a big way is that i'm finally starting to promote my book and prep for publication later in the year, so it definitely feels scary to cut back on social media when it is a marketing tool that i'm trying to use. but there has to be a way!
I believe you and yet it's so hard to pull the trigger 😆
just remember they have designed it to make it hard. Your brain is being manipulated!!!
I love this for you, Sooz. Really weighing where I want to put my attention this year, especially with ~gestures at the horrors~. You've given me lots to think about. Where am I finding real community, and where am I just scrolling mindlessly and getting unhelpfully outraged?