It’s been a busy week. I set aside a half hour last night to have a “think” about today’s newsletter. And then I prayed God would give me some ideas so I could write this quickly this morning.
At 4 a.m., I was awake, tapping those ideas into my phone. (Thank you, God.) So, with one cup of coffee behind me and not much sleep, I do have something to share with you today.
I should note that having to write this newsletter each week has been beneficial for me. (And I hope for you, too.) I work with authors during the week, plus, I handle the marketing for a local library system. I have marketing ideas, questions, and problems, swirling in my head most of the day. Sitting down to create something for others allows me to grab those swirling thoughts and make some sense of them. This morning at 4 a.m., those thoughts came together in simple and startling fact: If your readers are scrolling on Facebook, they’re not reading books.
We need to cultivate readers, not scrollers.
Facebook isn’t just a time-suck for authors. It’s a time-suck for your readers too.
Social media companies have borrowed knowledge (and tricks) from the gaming (gambling) industry, and they’ve intentionally created a product (e.g. Facebook) with an addictive power. If you’ve ever gone into a casino and seen people mindlessly sitting in front of a slot machine, you might recognize that blank stare on the person next you, scrolling through their Facebook feed. (I’m not here to judge, I’m simply stating facts provided from Big Tech employees who’ve blown the whistle on these things.)
Facebook–and so much of the digital entertainment we’re inundated with today–has become a place to lose hours of the day. Hours that people could be reading instead. (Or doing some other beneficial activity.)
The obsession isn’t healthy for us as a society.
I get it. I’ve been guilty of it myself.
Part of it is the desire to escape from the pressures (and craziness) of the world we’re living in today. But studies show that spending time on social media actually makes people more depressed, more anxious.
This isn’t true about books.
Reading has been a beneficial pastime for centuries, and our world today is suffering for the lack of it.
As an author, you can use your social media platform to do something wonderful. Instead of serving up the usual fare, create and share content that:
- Makes your followers want to read.
- Makes your followers want to read more.
- Makes your followers want to read YOU.
We grow what we sow. Sure, it’s great to share some silly, funny things with your followers. We all need the laughter. But don’t miss the opportunity to sow content that grows readers. Enrich the mixture of the content you’re sharing with posts that encourage reading, extol reading, explore reading.
Use your social platforms to feed readers, and readers will gather there.
If they’re following you, they’re probably already readers. Fan that flame! Grow a community around books, around the benefits of reading, around the stories you write, the stories you love. If you have parents or grandparents following you, they’re probably concerned about the lost art of being a reader too. Arm them with ammunition to share their love of reading, to pass it onto the next generations. Inspire them with the joys of the written word.
There are so many wonderful books already written. Introduce them to your followers, or remind them of why they loved them when they were growing up.
As I said, I handle marketing for a library. Part of my job is to encourage reading through their social media channels. In the next email, I’ll share some of the ways I’ve done that.
Before I close out today’s letter, here is a list of things you might do to help rekindle your followers’ love of fiction.
|