No Matter What They Say, Social Media Doesn't Work For Selling Books

If you're a follower of this blog, you know that I'm big on going off on tangents. I don't have ADD, but I grow tired of things easily, especially when they don't work. For a while, I was into entering writing competitions, which involved a lot of research to separate the real from the unreal; the ones that offered tangible prizes and not just a sticker to paste on my website. "Ooh, only ninety-nine dollars to maybe win a sticker?!?" I wasn't entering with the hope of winning or even placing, but to get my book out there where somebody might see it. And I only entered the legit contests with manageable entry fees. (Free one were even better.)

Well, that phase is now over. I've pretty much exhausted the supply. So, I've moved on; and what I moved onto was social media. Let me say upfront that I dislike social media; to me, it's like a high school clique that I'm excluded from. And other than Facebook and maybe X, social media is a young person's game. While I've guarded my age religiously due to people's natural aversion to older authors, I can't really disregard my mindset ~ that most of social media is silly; a confection. 

But I had to at least give it a try. I learned that I like Instagram and hate TikTok. So, Instagram's been my go-to site. Every day I create a new post or reel and I copy those over to Facebook and X (since I might as well). I've posted a couple of reels on TikTok, but no one has even viewed them. (The high school clique again.)

Google claims that social media allows an author to "connect with her community". That must mean my community is a bunch of spammers and scam artists. EVERYBODY wants to sell me their services ~ services I have no use for ~ and even those people who purport to be fellow authors turn out to be nothing of the sort. Their profiles may say they are, but their DM's always go like this: 

THEM: "Hi! It's nice connecting with a fellow author!" 

ME: "Hi, nice to meet you. 💓"

THEM: "How many books have you written?"

ME: "Eleven, I think. It's hard to remember." (fake humble response) 

THEM: "That's awesome! Are they on Amazon?"

ME: "Yes." (Now I'm suspicious.)

THEM: "I would love to help you with..."

ME: (deleting conversation)

I've connected with neither an actual author nor an actual reader on social media. How exactly would one do that?  It's certainly not from a lack of trying. I do comment on "real" authors' posts if I have something positive or encouraging to say, but there's been no reciprocation. So much for "community". Not that real authors want to buy my book anyway; they want people to buy their books; same as me. No, the elusive capture on social media is the reader, and that's impossible.

I'm doing a giveaway tomorrow, so I started pushing that sometime around Wednesday, with attractive posts and short reels. How many takers you think those will get me? I'll go with ~ none. So, why do I keep doing social media? I don't know; probably because I don't have anything else to take its place at the moment. But once I find that thing, I'll move on.

Just don't believe the hype, authors. Social media won't sell your books. If you've got something more productive to spend your time on, do that instead. Honestly, ninety-nine per cent of the marketing advice online is absolute bullshit.