Why are authors on so many social media platforms?

Want is a strong word. I’m sure a lot of writers wish they didn’t have to be on ANY platform, let alone multiple ones. So, why do we do it?

It’s a necessary evil of an author I’m afraid. Why? Because we never know where our next reader might be. Sure, Tumblr may not be a platform I understand, or one that is even meant for someone my age, but who knows if a reader might stumble across my books one day and wants to connect. If I don’t have a way to reach them on the platform they prefer, I might have missed out on that relationship that an author makes with a reader. Being on many platforms is akin to leaving a calling card on a store’s community bulletin board. You just never know whose eye you might catch.

Does that mean that we spend all day on social media uploading content to each site? Well, you could. Easily. It’s a lot to keep track of. And those with pen names have even more to maintain. Hence why I don’t use a pen name. I can barely keep track of me!

While I may be ‘on’ about a dozen platforms, I try to focus much of my attention on three sites (which can vary) and then occasionally post on the other platforms. This allows me to keep sane, but also maintain my social media footprint.

That said, maintaining three platforms isn’t easy. Facebook alone has several timelines to post content to. A personal page, a business page and a fan page. Some authors even have pages for each of their books. It’s a lot of content for one platform, but because a large portion of my readers are on the site, I put a good chunk of my time into it.

Instagram and my blog site are the other two I try to lean heavily on and I’ve now joined TikTok (help) and Clubhouse as new ways to try and reach readers. YIkes!

Are these platforms all time sucks? Absolutely. Do we have to do them anyway? Yeah. At least until we become wealthy enough to hire someone to do it for us. 😉