I’m not going to lie. I hate the feeling of being trapped.
It’s undoubtedly why I’ve come to regard a lot of my social media experiences as confining these days. Even if it weren’t a matter of Tumblr and Facebook (most recently) going out of their way to make their platforms inhospitable to queer folks, that change really made me face facts: as an author, my social media presence can make or break my career.
The days of any author who is not a Big Name Author being able to simply toil in their own space, sending material to agents and editors and simply letting their work speak for itself are utterly gone. If you aren’t “building your brand” through “social media engagement” then you’re literally opting out of success, handing over your potential readers to those who are doing those things.
Man, I remember a time when the best advice given to an author or game designer was Do Not Engage. #OldManThoughts
Having entirely obliterated my Tumblr recently, I don’t like trusting my writing, my posting, to content to a company who may at a whim shift their goalposts and requirements of those who post there. I think I’ll be shifting a lot of that content to my own pages, on my own site. I have no choice but to bow to the reality of social media, however, so I’ll still be posting links to it all – but at the very least, my main content is going to be held here, where it’s mine to control.
I know I’ll be reducing the number of eyes on my posts, but it is what it is, I suppose.
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