I enjoyed this essay and yes the platform is very helpful for writers. As an aspiring writer I have navigated the whole social media world with trepidation, excitement and anxiety. I have found engaging online with followers easy, fun and exhausting. I have struggled with the need to keep content going and keep myself relevant. I have a small group of readers and followers who possibly find me and my work interesting and worth supporting. But its so hard. It is so exhausting having to share snippets of my life to the world. Why does anyone care how I like my coffee or what I am reading ? Writing for my readers seems easier to deal with than platform building which I have discovered I am not hopeless at! But I hate the time I spend on it and hate having to follow others and keep engaging. I have taken a break from Instagram and I am on 3 weeks now. I pop in once in a while to wish a friend, follow up with my children's friends from college and other young people but more than that I am happy to be off. One book that helped me with the process is -Social Sanity in the Insta World - its from TGC and it works through different personality types and the way they engage with social media. I suppose if you have an addictive personality in general to anything - good stuff like healthy eating, working out, ice cream or chocolate - it manifests itself in other areas as well and perhaps social media is one of them? I dont know if I will ever delete my account but for now I have removed it from all devices and it has made me happier:) so I can engage with you here LOL. Thank you for writing essays which make all of us think!! grateful for you!
As of late, I’ve been reading through “The Brain and The Spirit: Unlocking the Transformative Potential of the Story of Christ” by Gina St. David…all about the neuroscience of spirituality. For anyone who might be interested in that kind of content it’s a marvelous and insightful read.
Thanks for being so specific about the work it takes to build a “platform” and for being frank about the usefulness of that platform to a writer 🥲 sending this to all the working writers I know.
I’m so thankful for this post. I feel like so many writers are sort of picking sides and decrying those who disagree or stick with “evil Instagram.” I’ve never tried to build a platform on IG—that just wasn’t my intent when I started it. Since writing a manuscript that I’m about to start shopping, I’ve wondered if this will hurt me because I sure don’t have great numbers. But so far I’ve found what you’ve said here to be true. I really appreciate your thoughtful post.
I know this isn't in your preferred genres at *all*, but--I think you might like Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson. I haven't finished it, but there's some lovely meta commentary on art, and the heroine is very relatable for women from religious contexts where a high level of socially demanded performance was the metric of their worth.
So much agree on Instagram. All social media in general, honestly. Even the rules don't seem to be working, so we might as well have fun.
Mary Roblyn's piece BROKE me. So so good.
And nope, even if though did occasionally listen to something besides TTPD this weekend, it was pretty much the only thing we talked about. All the thoughts need to go somewhere, so I'm slowly working on an essay about it that may or may not quote The Understory. ;D
Goodness, this was great Lore. I wasn't even trying to "build a platform" on Instagram but simply used it as a billboard for the weekly newsletter. Honest to goodness, there were people there who followed and liked those pictures for yearrrssss and never subscribed to the only thing I was there to share. lol Like totally clueless, I just don't get it. hahaha Appreciative of your perspective and wisdom a whole lot, even if I've concluded being on there isn't worth it to me.
Okay, I have an update on a book recommendation. I just started reading Above the Salt by Katherine Vaz. Granted, I am only on page 11, but my breath has been taken more times than that by the exquisite lyrical prose. It feels like the best thing since The Covenant of Water for me.
“Followers are not readers and if you are a writer, you want readers. Followers don’t buy books, readers do!” This is it exactly! I hope that as more and more writers let publishers know that they understand this distinction we will begin to see good writing rise to the top again.
Footnote 4! yes and amen! No one clicks to read anything :( wonder if the percentage of people reading have come down these days!
I enjoyed this essay and yes the platform is very helpful for writers. As an aspiring writer I have navigated the whole social media world with trepidation, excitement and anxiety. I have found engaging online with followers easy, fun and exhausting. I have struggled with the need to keep content going and keep myself relevant. I have a small group of readers and followers who possibly find me and my work interesting and worth supporting. But its so hard. It is so exhausting having to share snippets of my life to the world. Why does anyone care how I like my coffee or what I am reading ? Writing for my readers seems easier to deal with than platform building which I have discovered I am not hopeless at! But I hate the time I spend on it and hate having to follow others and keep engaging. I have taken a break from Instagram and I am on 3 weeks now. I pop in once in a while to wish a friend, follow up with my children's friends from college and other young people but more than that I am happy to be off. One book that helped me with the process is -Social Sanity in the Insta World - its from TGC and it works through different personality types and the way they engage with social media. I suppose if you have an addictive personality in general to anything - good stuff like healthy eating, working out, ice cream or chocolate - it manifests itself in other areas as well and perhaps social media is one of them? I dont know if I will ever delete my account but for now I have removed it from all devices and it has made me happier:) so I can engage with you here LOL. Thank you for writing essays which make all of us think!! grateful for you!
As of late, I’ve been reading through “The Brain and The Spirit: Unlocking the Transformative Potential of the Story of Christ” by Gina St. David…all about the neuroscience of spirituality. For anyone who might be interested in that kind of content it’s a marvelous and insightful read.
Thanks for being so specific about the work it takes to build a “platform” and for being frank about the usefulness of that platform to a writer 🥲 sending this to all the working writers I know.
I’m so thankful for this post. I feel like so many writers are sort of picking sides and decrying those who disagree or stick with “evil Instagram.” I’ve never tried to build a platform on IG—that just wasn’t my intent when I started it. Since writing a manuscript that I’m about to start shopping, I’ve wondered if this will hurt me because I sure don’t have great numbers. But so far I’ve found what you’ve said here to be true. I really appreciate your thoughtful post.
That fourth footnote is gold, my friend.
reading recommendations:
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
I know this isn't in your preferred genres at *all*, but--I think you might like Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson. I haven't finished it, but there's some lovely meta commentary on art, and the heroine is very relatable for women from religious contexts where a high level of socially demanded performance was the metric of their worth.
So much agree on Instagram. All social media in general, honestly. Even the rules don't seem to be working, so we might as well have fun.
Mary Roblyn's piece BROKE me. So so good.
And nope, even if though did occasionally listen to something besides TTPD this weekend, it was pretty much the only thing we talked about. All the thoughts need to go somewhere, so I'm slowly working on an essay about it that may or may not quote The Understory. ;D
Goodness, this was great Lore. I wasn't even trying to "build a platform" on Instagram but simply used it as a billboard for the weekly newsletter. Honest to goodness, there were people there who followed and liked those pictures for yearrrssss and never subscribed to the only thing I was there to share. lol Like totally clueless, I just don't get it. hahaha Appreciative of your perspective and wisdom a whole lot, even if I've concluded being on there isn't worth it to me.
Okay, I have an update on a book recommendation. I just started reading Above the Salt by Katherine Vaz. Granted, I am only on page 11, but my breath has been taken more times than that by the exquisite lyrical prose. It feels like the best thing since The Covenant of Water for me.
Yesssss. Seth Godin’s “smallest viable market”: you don’t need a zillion followers, you need a small amount of raving fans.
I just finished Trust by Hernan Diaz and am reading Covenant of Water right now. Both are excellent!
Have you read Demon Copperhead or Covenant of Water? I lead a book club and both of these books were loved by all, and that is extremely rare.
“Followers are not readers and if you are a writer, you want readers. Followers don’t buy books, readers do!” This is it exactly! I hope that as more and more writers let publishers know that they understand this distinction we will begin to see good writing rise to the top again.
This has been available for awhile, so perhaps you've already read it, but I just read this beautiful essay on the "church forests" of Ethiopia, and your link about rewinding a forest made me think you might enjoy it, too: https://emergencemagazine.org/feature/the-church-forests-of-ethiopia/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0_pkKvRQ2BC948Mq2OGi89ij3m_BQJcrmYly5ntyeYjtQeGLDl1K_Q_wI_aem_AQxm2QAnRtVnJ8d66ZNjN5TnBJPD0-D-L9Yn7MEB09ZmvXyQ5XqqZ2-lYQuzpYB7W4S8Uowow5Lg6xmcUTVcbyH3