Guest Aria Glazki: Virtually Social
Actual screenshot of Mel's phone on the social media app page. (Samsung Galaxy S5)
Social media... This is probably one of the most author-plaguing topics in the publishing world today. Either you're amazing at engaging your audience and succeed like a pro, gaining a crapton of followers, or you struggle with it, and never feel you're getting "out there" the way you should be.
Of course, you can do what I've done. I'm on a crapton of different social media platforms, (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, G+ and Pinterest) and figure even if you don't post on the ALL every day, between them all, you're likely to post something that's very much THE REAL YOU on a daily basis. Plus, you never know which platform you'll find your audience and how they prefer to get to know you.
That's MY two cents worth (or less)...
But I love Aria Glazki's take on the topic because it's too true. Where the hell does the time to do the actual WRITING come into play among all the socializing?
Thanks for dropping by, Aria, and I hope everyone will come by tomorrow to check out the Psychocat Reads Review of your book MENDING HEARTSTRINGS!
-Dragon Writer Mel
Nowadays, with Twitter, Facebook, personal blogs, and even guest posts, authors are expected to produce an endless stream of witty, useful, and personal content (not counting that whole writing books thing). But believe it or not, not all authors are inherently fascinating people.
The terror of the blank page has multiplied, tormenting introverted authors across social media platforms.
The thing is, while we love genuinely connecting with readers, pretending we have a never-ending supply of something worth saying can, for many of us, be draining, and intimidating. Some authors, of course, actually are outgoing and have intriguing personalities. They set the bar impossibly high.
So the rest of us, well, fake it. Or try desperately to do so, even though what we actually want is to return to a time when books spoke for themselves, and authors could legitimately retreat into relative obscurity, even as their work rose to unparalleled popularity. (Hey, a girl can dream, right?)
This pressure to be interesting is perpetuated by much of the advice circulating the internet. And to that end, “fake it ‘til you make it” is a pretty good motto. Projecting confidence encourages others to assume you actually know what you’re talking about. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite help you figure out what to say, which can leave you writing about the impossibility of being interesting 100% of the time.
What we should remember is that, like with former high school friends we now only see on Facebook, we all compare our inner worst to others’ outer best. While writers can’t disappear entirely into our writing, we also don’t have to play the “keeping up” game. Yes, creating and maintaining a virtual presence is part of the job, but that presence needs to be a reflection of yourself, not of who you think you are supposed to be.
After all, even if you’re not an endlessly fascinating chatterbox, what readers ultimately want is to connect with the real you (or at least the real social media version).
Title: MENDING HEARTSTRINGS
Author: Aria Glazki
Released: December 2nd 2014 by Swoon Romance
Kane’s a country singer who’s tangled with too many deceitful women. He’s learned his lesson: girls are for flirting and fun; emotions are for his music. But after spending a night with an earnest woman unlike any he’s known, he can’t force her out of his mind. So he goes in search of the woman he knows only as “Elle.”
On her last night in Nashville, the staunchly pragmatic Sabella found herself in a situation more suited to a romance novel than reality. Swept away, she ignored her rigidly self-imposed rules, succumbing to the fantasy just this once. But she knows real-world relationships have nothing in common with their fictionalized portrayals. When Kane unexpectedly shows up at her Portland apartment, she must choose between the practical truths she has learned and the desire for a passionate love she has struggled to suppress.
Despite the distance, Kane’s tour schedule, and their meddling friends, both are drawn to the chance for a romance neither quite believes is possible.
