What Type of Online Presence Do You Need?
What’s the right way to have an online presence? Both before getting a book deal and after, this is a common question for writers. After all, we often hear that it is essential to get your name, your face, your everything out there in order to make potential readers aware of you. Only when they’re aware of you, after all, will they buy your books.
But what’s the right kind of online presence to have? What’s too much? What isn’t enough? And what if having an online presence—or using a particular platform—just doesn’t work for you? These are all common questions that authors may have to wrestle with as they figure out the tricky intersection between writing and marketing their work.
What's the right type of online presence for you?
What Platforms Are There?
The basic platforms an author may use to increase their online presence and their visibility to their readers are Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. All of these platforms have benefits, of course, and none have any particular drawbacks. Being on a specific form of social media is not going to harm your career. You may be wondering the opposite, though:
If I’m not on Twitter, will it hurt my chances of getting a book deal?
If I don’t post on Instagram, am I missing out on the chance to connect with potential readers?
Are These Valid Questions?
On the most basic level, if you don’t have an online presence, then you are missing out on a chance to connect with your readers. However, you also need to consider the cost/benefit analysis of being online. If having an extensive online presence makes you anxious—if the pressure to constantly post brings more negatives to your life than positives--then you can absolutely choose to stay off certain platforms.
You may not connect with some readers, but there are many other ways to market yourself. In the end, writing your books is the most important thing for you to do.
What’s a Good Middle Ground for My Online Presence?
Instead of posting every day—or at the most extreme level, feeling a need to monitor a constant stream of posts so you stay part of whatever conversation is going on at the moment—you can choose to schedule posts via different apps, such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck. This keeps your online presence alive while reducing the stress you may feel.
You can also choose to employ the services of a professional to see which marketing tools they would recommend. There are often webinars and events about how to market more effectively. Paid Facebook ads can boost how often a post is seen and how likely it is to be seen by a particular demographic.
You can also find the best times to go online in order to maintain your online presence. Perhaps you can choose a few favorite Instagram hashtags and scroll through those posts instead of going through an entire feed. On Twitter, there are specific times and days of the week where educators, authors, librarians, and readers engage in chats dedicated to certain topics. Hashtags are used here, too, with one example being #mglitchat.
You may also want to be strategic about posting so you make the most of it. For example, you can research the best time to post on Instagram.
Do I Need to Blog? Or have a Newsletter?
Ultimately, you don’t need to do anything. That’s the beauty of having a career where you have autonomy. However, some agents might want you to have a newsletter. Some publishers may ask you to interact with readers on Twitter. When you are starting out in your career, it could and will help to make connections with your readers. But if having an online presence is causing you stress or taking away from the time you have to write, then you are allowed to pull back. You can determine exactly what helps and what harms you, time management-wise.
Marketing is an essential part of writing. Putting yourself out there in the world is important. But ultimately, as with anything, balance is what is needed in the long run to sustain both your career and your mental health.
Whether you’re a published author or still on the submission trail, you need a marketing strategy that gives your writing the best chance to succeed. Let Good Story Marketing help you confidently stand out from the crowd with a personalized plan for building your author platform or supporting your existing published works.