Writing is baring the soul, painting with words. Write freely, and discover yourself on the page.
I have that quote from a conference pinned on my wall. I don’t even remember who said it.
But this week, the writing has been hard. My anxiety has pushed back. My attention has been distracted. And my interruptions have been many.
Still, like all writers, I sit and type.
I mentioned a few weeks ago I had deleted the Twitter / X app off my phone. I haven’t logged in or checked it much since. It’s kind of sad to be honest. I opened my twitter account in 08, and at one time had well over 7K followers. However, like so many other social media spaces things change.
My reasoning for leaving Twitter has nothing to do with Musk. To be honest, it has to do with my philosophy of social media. My philosophy of social media is to be authentic, connect with others, share my story, and have fun. I have a personal policy that I don’t discuss or comment on politics, culture wars, social justice, and / or controversial discussions. I’m of the belief that social media is not the place for those topics to be chatted about. Many probably disagree with that line of thinking, that’s fine. I’m okay with that. But for me I’m in a much happier mood when I steer clear of it online.
Lately Twitter has been less fun. None of the authors I once connected with seem to be there. None of the community that I once goofed off with are around. And the only thing showing up in my feed are topics I could care less about. Even the hashtag search seems to be irrelevant anymore.
The fact of the matter is Twitter is dying and it’s not because of Musk. It’s the same reason authors who use to get 40k advances from big publishers as a mid-list author in the 80’s and early 90’s now only gets about a 5k to 10k advances from those same publishers. The world changes and so does competition.
Back in the day you had Facebook, Twitter, and if you were lucky a slow dying My Space (because of all the tech gurus Tom seems to have been the only smart one.) Today, you have Facebook, twitter, Instagram, TikTok, BlueSky, Mastodon, Threads, YouTube, and about 10k others.
The problem is the internet is no longer independent. In the early days we as authors had our own website, our own blogs, all interconnected to RS feeds, with multiple forums. Today, we must choose which sandbox to play in and hope our audience shows up and our stories make it past the algorithm.
But that begs the question- If not twitter: Where?
Author marketing is changing. And if I’m being truthful it’s going to get tighter and harder to reach readers. As TikTok gets banned for national security purposes (and it most likely will happen in the next year) and Twitter drains itself of any usefulness whatsoever, different groups will gravitate to different places. Heck, it’s happening now.
For me the question I need to answer is: Where will my readers be? Or better, as a Middle-Grade author: Where will those that have influence power over my readers be?
My online strategy for the time being is simple.
One: For Marketing I’m planning on using Instagram and Facebook online. I’m marketing to parents, and primarily to mothers and this is where they are at.
Two: For connecting with other writers- I’ll be on Threads and in Facebook groups. I enjoy Threads, but the initial hype seems to be waning. There are a few things I don’t like about it but I’m having fun there. (And yes- I know all about their terms and conditions. I just don’t really care and don’t post anything there that would affect me in that way). I would personally love it if the RealmSphere for realm makers became more active with both readers and writers!
Three: I will be utilizing my website and blogging more. This year alone I have had 7k hits on my website and 1K on my online store. So, traffic comes when I blog. Therefore I plan to keep the content up.
The thing is- Just like some book’s stores collapsed, along with the Mass Market Paperback market, so there will be changes in social media for authors. My advice to authors is if you want to reach readers, stop thinking about what you enjoy or the places you enjoy being, and start asking where your readers are. Because you might need to shift your mindset and step into a new realm.
Writing at times is like navigating a jungle full of keyboard warriors. You guessed it! We’re talking about Trolls. You know the ones. They’re like the colorful parrots squawking in the trees singing trying to gain attention.
Here is some facts about trolls. First they come in different shapes, and with different tactics. Sometimes they try to seem like they’re being nice and helpful, but in reality they’re belittling and condescending. Their words sting often. Other times they don’t even try to hide who they are. They want you to get upset, and that’s their goal. To knock you off your game.
Here are four quick points I want to make about trolls.
Remember, “Can’t please everyone” isn’t just some dusty saying in grandma’s cross-stitch. It’s the secret recipe to being the Indiana Jones of your field!
So write for that small niche audience and ignore the rest.
There are a lot of areas in my life where my skills are somewhat subpar- Like Cooking, weeding the yard, hunting, and even organizing the house. Let’s face it: nobody wakes up and aspires to be bad at something. But we’ve all been there. But here is a secret. If you’re going to do something you’re not skilled at the best, you might as well aim for zero… or at least something better than bad. Because, after all, the second-best thing to zero is, you guessed it, something better than bad!
If you’ve ever burned toast so thoroughly that it resembled a charcoal sketch or danced like no one was watching (because they all left the room), then congratulations, you’re on the right track to not sucking!
You don’t have to be great; you just have to be better than bad. Celebrate those small victories! Because if we’re honest, it’s during those times when growth and improvement happen.
On March 10th, 2013, I registered the domain jjjohnsonWrites.com and started blogging/writing. What was my plan? There was no plan! Like most discovery writers I usually make it up as I go along. And to be fair, I was pretty upfront about it: the site is called jjjohnsonwrites– So what exactly am I writing? I’m writing about just whatever pops into my mind and what I feel like writing about for that day.
This, to be sure, is how my site continues today, nearly ten years later.
I’ve remained on WordPress this entire time. And with the exception of the last half of 2021, thru all of 2022, when I struggled with anxiety and some minor depression and needed a break from everything and everyone- I’ve been here blogging.
Many say blogging is dead. I beg to differ. There are a lot of lies about social media spaces, and prettier attractions always come along. Yet, my site has always been consistent, and when I show up here, to spew out random thoughts, so do readers.
Most posts are undoubtedly about writing, reading, being Geeky, and of course the kids. Some post are even on the finer joys of life: like Coffee. Why? Well, these are the things that interest me.
Writing here has become, sort of my life’s work. I Don’t get paid for it; it’s not monetized, nor is this the work most people read. Heck, this year I’ve already published well over 15,000 words of content on this site.
When I started writing here, I had only one child, a five-month-old son, and I had published only one short story: Compulsion. My life was in a very different place, professionally, politically, and spiritually than it is now.
I never planned for this place to be a personal blog or anything. But the reality is that is what it has become, and it probably will always be, just whatever I feel Like writing about because I want to or until my brain runs out of things to say. Which I’m hoping is unlikely anytime soon.
So, here is to another ten years.
Oh, and for kicks- Here is the very first post I put up. 47 Drafts: https://jjjohnsonwrites.com/47-drafts/
Subscribe to the Blog for Daily Non-Sense Mon thru Friday
