I have just about finished writing my book. I am a novice writer. I have suffered various mental health problems over the years which has lead me to withdraw somewhat from society, any online social activities, not on Facebook, Twitter, no blogs etc. In my job I work with my hands not my head and I mainly work on my own. I have lived on my own for 25 years.The subject matter of my book is very much in the news these days, abused by Catholic priests among other things.
I contacted a self publishing company about helping me self publish. They say that I must go on Facebook, Twitter and get a blog.
With my background how do I suddenly go about building a platform? I know if I publish my book my life will be revealed and I think I can handle that, what I find it hard to contemplate is revealing myself on facebook, twitter etc with all the horrible comments that some people have to live with.
Hi Jeremy,
I think you're incredibly wise not to use Facebook or Twitter. Facebook is known to accentuate and even help cause mental health problems. There had been research done on this. Unfortunately, the people promoting social media do not usually take this into account.
Just a suggestion... Is there someone you could trust and employ to run a Facebook Page and Twitter account on your behalf? Perhaps use a pen name for both of these and for your book?
Facebook Pages are different to personal Facebook accounts (as are Facebook Groups). If you know what you are doing, you have more control over who posts what on your page.
For example, you could create a personal account, friend no one, hide yourself from public view so only friends of friends can find you, then create yourself a Facebook Page to promote your book. Think of it like a free easy to make and use website. You can completely control who posts on your page, and the only news feed you'll see (unless you follow other pages), is your own.
Lynda.com has a good video tutorial course called "Facebook for Business" on this. There are similar ones for blogs, Twitter and methods of self publishing. You do have to pay to get full access of the lynda.com site, but it's incredibly useful for learning anything from the Adobe Suite, to Social Media, operating systems to more general business advice. It is American, so some of the business side or applications they talk about aren't available or applicable to the UK.
You know yourself better than anyone in regards to this issue. I'd say go with your gut, but if you want to explore social media, there's information out there to help you decide what is right for you and what is not, without the need to plunge right in.
Facebook is both a help and a curse I have found in the year we have been on it in my husbands name (to view family photos and catch up with their news) as not only has the ex wife of one of my brother in laws managed to contact us with enquiries which we didn't need but also we've had shocking family news of the recent imprisonment (on remand) of one family member after abusing others in the same family so I would suggest you think long and hard as to whether or not you want to put yourself through the trauma - had you considered approaching another company re self publishing via e books - surely they all can't be so reliant on social media?
Thanks for your reply Lorraine. I will go and read the small print of the contract, I have not signed up to anything yet.
I have a website already but that is related to my occupation. I do very little publicity as most of my work comes from word of mouth as I am very experienced at my work. I suppose I will have to bite the bullet and try these new sites.
It is a little like the chicken and egg situation. How do I talk about my book until I have a book to talk about?