Social Media and Writers

Every writer I know who still has a breath left in her acknowledges how vital, rewarding and consuming social media can be. Most still strive for balance. I asked some friends how they navigate social media and find time to write. This is what they told me (and I appreciate their candor):

"The hardest thing about social media is staying off it. When I'm writing, I try not to go on unless I need research help (which I often do) and need to find someone to talk to about whatever it is I'm looking for. I so love the buzz and hum of the place, that I've had to tell myself I can only go on twice a day, and only for 15 minutes each time!"—Caroline Leavitt
"When I am at my most serious and focused place as a writer, I don't even check my email. Facebook is great for making connections, selling books, marketing my writing workshops, but none of these tools has anything to do with the writing process, except to interfere with it. To me, the verb "tweet" has only one meaning. It's what a bird does."—Joyce Maynard
"It's hard for me to respond to this when I just got word from my Dutch publisher that they bought a novel by a fellow author because I had been Tweeting about it so enthusiastically. Social media works & so do writers helping each other! The only negative is the AMOUNT of social media; I can't be on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Goodreads, Google+, Pinterest, etc all at once, and I think the sheer volume adds to a Tower of Babel effect. Writers, choose your outlets wisely."—Jenna Blum
"I'm not always likeable so if social media has a bullhorn effect, am I bullhorning my unlikeabliity sometimes? Yes. I am. 2. Time time time. It's time-consuming with 4 kids, social media is, just trying to figure out the logistics of a given day, much less the world wide web. 3. Feedback is wonderful. Too much will make your head explode. I'm all for exploding heads in literature, but just not my own."—Julianna Baggott
"I was a blogger and tweeter before I ever had a book published, so for me, social media has always, first and foremost, been about connecting with friends. One of the greatest gifts of my book tour for STAY was being able to finally meet so many of my blog and Twitter friends in person after years of only knowing them online. I love having that connection, especially when writing is so solitary. But, some parts of writing need to be solitary, and it is hard to find that balance. It's like trying to study for a big college exam when you know there's a party going on in the room across the hall. It's an exercise in discipline, especially on the difficult writing days, to step away from social media and put that time into working through the writing problems."—Allie Larkin
"I've always linked obsession with success--which is great if I'm doing something I love. Writing fiction and gardening fall into the "I love" category, while social media does not. Sometimes I find myself spending six hours blogging and Facebooking, and then I just have to force myself not to even turn on the computer until noon the next day. (I write fiction on my laptop.) It's all about balance."—Jennifer Haupt
"I've found one of the knottiest problems of social media to be how to negotiate my writer's professional need for exposure with my husband's professional need and preference to remain private. With a child, you can identify him or her as "4 yo" and whatever you say may soon be lost in the kid's anonymous ancient history. But with a husband, there might be only one (at least at a time!), and whatever you say about him is part of his life. My challenge is how to present my experiences online without compromising the privacy of the guy who was there with me. It's a reminder that this rather large aspect of a contemporary writer's life can be utterly strange to a lot of our peers."—Henriette Power

Ilie Ruby is the author of The Salt God's Daughter, due out from Counterpoint in September of 2012. Her first novel, The Language of Trees was published in 2010 from William Morrow/Harper Collins.

Tags: authors, media, social, writing

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Comment by Marcia Fine on March 4, 2012 at 12:39pm: Facebook is the worst time suck. If you're working on a novel which requires a tushie in the chair, limit your minutes spent perusing pictures of what people ate for lunch!

Comment by Doreen Pendgracs on March 3, 2012 at 3:37pm: We've had a terrific discussion on social media on my writer's blog over the past week. Would love for you to drop in and take a look, share some thoughts at http://doreenpendgracs.com/. Feel free to include the link to this piece!

My own view of SM in a nutshell is that it is a necessary evil for today's author. You absolutely must have a strong online presence in order for a publisher, agent or your readers to find and support your work. But, WOW! Does it ever cut into your writing time! Self-discipline and balance are key.

Comment by Alexa Ara on March 2, 2012 at 3:51pm: I am really enjoying the social media but it sure does take a lot of time. I am learning that promoting yourself as a writer takes just as much time as writing but unless all I want from my writing is to enjoy only myself I see the time spent promoting to be necessary.

Comment by Bonnie McCune on March 2, 2012 at 7:35am: I feel like I'm running a race and at the tail of the pack when it comes to social media. It also seems as if I've come into the middle of a conversation and can't figure out what's going on. A man who owns a media and ad firm advises you spend 15 minutes a day on social media, so you can get used to it. Bonnie McCune, author, "A Saint Comes Stumbling In"

Comment by Tina Barbour on March 1, 2012 at 8:46pm: I started blogging last November, and I'm surprised by how much time it can take. But I love it so much. I love the connections I make and the fact that I can provide encouragement to others who are experiencing the same things I've experienced. Blogging includes reading other people's blogs and commenting too. Despite the chunk of time it takes, I feel like blogging is part of my writing life--a necessary part.

I'm on FB, too, but I try to limit that. And I can't take on any other social media right now. I joined Goodreads, but I rarely visit. There's just only so much time. I work as a newspaper reporter, so I don't have an unlimited amount of time to do my own writing. And I've got to make that a priority right now.

Comment by Lisa Thomson on March 1, 2012 at 6:52pm: I'm finding social media quite fun. But I feel like a goldfish in the sea on twitter so I wonder how much impact I'm having there. My blog is (unexpectedly) just as valuable to me as my book as a resource to help women going through divorce so I take great pleasure in that writing. It's great to hear everyone's perspective on this topic. Thanks Ilie:)

Comment by Tess Kann on March 1, 2012 at 6:36pm: I've had invitations to join several social media. I'm on Facebook but hardly visit there unless I get a notification telling me what I've missed. If I joined just a third of the suggestions / invitations, I'd go nuts trying to keep up with everybody. Can't image how everybody else does it and still concentrate on writing. Even e-mail, if I read it, takes away time from writing because I want to clean it up and then I've lost a day.

Comment by Tess Kann on February 29, 2012 at 5:08pm: Lately helpful people have been trying to get me exposed to LinkedIn and I'm having a hard time because even Facebook isn't my thing. Blogging and interacting with the community of writers I've hooked up with is terribly time-consuming. I don't need to lose more time. I'm trying to find MORE to write. On the other hand, will that mean I'll be left behind? Catch 22.

Comment by L. A. Howard on February 29, 2012 at 8:49am: Since I need a day-job, I work in an office all day. That makes it rather difficult to completely avoid social media (especially now that I have a Droid). It also makes it difficult to write, even during work down-time; I'm a secretary with her desk right next to the door, so you never know who's going to stop in for some help or just a chat. :) (Not that that's a bad thing!)

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