We’ve spent the last few blog posts telling you all the things you should be doing to build your online presence and to increase the “buzz” around you and your book, and now we’re going to tell you to stop!
It’s easy to become overwhelmed with blogging and social media and email, in building your online presence. The problem with building a community is that they demand to be spoken to! If you don’t, they leave. Tending to your community certainly takes a lot of time and effort, but try to avoid becoming overwhelmed. Overwhelmed people tend to shut down and avoid those tasks that are making them feel uncomfortable and unhappy.
Instead, be picky and be realistic. Ask yourself how much you can reasonably commit to doing, given your other tasks. Also, choose the activities that you consider to be fun; you are more likely to do fun things. Hate Facebook, but love the interaction on Twitter? Just do Twitter. Love images more than words? Do Pinterest. Would you rather share your expertise with others? Consider LinkedIn discussion groups and Quora, and perhaps even (gasp) forget about blogging. Just do what you like and can comfortably commit to doing, and do it!
For more thoughts on increasing your online presence, take a look at these previous posts on our blog:
- Social Media Tips for Independent Publishers: https://1106design.com/2013/10/social-media-tips-for-independent-authors/
- Reach Readers Without Leaving Your Couch: https://1106design.com/2014/09/reach-readers-without-leaving-couch/
- How to Market Your Self-published Book: https://1106design.com/2014/07/market-self-published-book/
- Why Authors Need Websites: https://1106design.com/2014/03/03/why-authors-need-websites/
- Crowdfunding Your Book: https://1106design.com/2014/04/crowdfunding-your-book/
