In my recent series on launching your book, I spent a lot of time talking about all the social media platforms you need to establish yourself on prior to publication, so that you can create a following among potential readers.

Or, rather, NOT all. There is actually a ton of social media I left out. I’m sure someone will berate me for not mentioning Instagram, a place my kids seem to hang out between endless Snapchat sessions, or Pinterest, or Whatever-the-hell-latest-social-media-phenomenon has popped up overnight and made another 15-year old into a billionaire.

But as we all know, hanging out on social media can be a huge time suck (also, drawing pretty little social media buttons for your blog). Since time is my most valuable resource as a writer, I’ve decided I have to cap social media somewhere or I’ll never write another thing in my life. This is why I’ve drawn the line under Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Or perhaps I’m just like my own father, reluctant to use new technology. He drew the line under “books” and above “computer.” I already feel like a social dinosaur hanging out on Facebook while the (primarily younger) world has moved on.

I’m not entirely sure how my social media landscape will look in the long run. Even Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads take up a lot of my time. It may make sense to give up on it altogether and revert to my own Webpage as the main hub, as it should be, especially once I’ve established a good list of subscribers. Who I will contact about upcoming books via – gasp! – email. Remember email? The invention from the last millennium. I actually remember the time BEFORE email. When I try to tell my kids about that time, I might as well be talking about Ice Age 2, woolly mammoths, the whole lot. It’s equally outlandish.

I recently came across this quote from bestselling author and fellow expat memoirist Victoria Twead, taken from an interview where she was asked what social media platforms she recommends to budding writers:

I would say, don’t try to take on too much. Pick either Twitter or Facebook and build up your following. Engage in conversation. I think people are sick and tired of authors pushing their books. I rarely mention mine, I just chat and have fun. It seems if people like you, they’ll search your books out anyway. Simple as that.

(For the full interview, click here.)

What a relief. Chat and have fun? I can definitely do that.

Now, if I can only find a way to limit my chatting and having fun to about 30 minutes a day, I might actually be able to crack that pesky book #2.

By the way, while I’m still busy spinning my wheels building a following on social media, please (oh pretty-please!) follow me here:

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads