Ever since I self-published my first novel, Tribe of One, nearly two years ago, I’ve been nagged by thoughts of social media. One of the main joys of self-publishing is the satisfaction of finally having something tangible to show for all my hard work. My major challenge is promoting my work.
I’m well aware of how social media has revolutionized self-promotion and communication and yet…I’m still reluctant to do anything more than email and blog.
I have several revulsions toward setting up anymore social media platforms. The number one reason is the amount of precious time it would take to “do it right.” Since I am a full-time high school science teacher, I barely have time to work on my current manuscript, read from my rotating stack of books and magazines and take a myriad of dance and fitness classes. When school is in session, I honestly don’t have room in my tightly packed schedule to fit in yet another thing that would seemingly take daily effort.
A few friends suggested that if I “did it right,” I could generate enough income so I could quit my day job, which would free up more time. Right. More realistically, I’d sooner be laid off then I’d approach social media as a means of not going insane with a whole 24 hours on my hands. Besides, setting up another social media platform would distract me from drowning in depression caused by unemployment.
Another consideration was brought to my attention when I bumped into a former college friend of mine. We exchanged business cards. Whereas my business card exuded artistic flair, promoting myself as a fiction writer (since high school teachers rarely have business cards advertising ourselves as teachers!), her business card listed: cell number, office number, fax number, facebook, linkedin and twitter. She was immersed firmly into many social networks, but the visual that sprang forth was my friend trapped in a huge spider web, waiting to be sucked dry by the black widow of social media.
There is such a thing as being possessed by one’s possessions even if those possessions exist in cyberspace. Social media is the latest evolved technological mutant, promising to make life better, accomplishing things faster, giving you more. Ever stop to wonder what those improved, fast, abundant things are? Or to evaluate if the quality of your life is truly better?
When I graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill, I started my teaching career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania. Among the vast, beautiful, life-changing experiences that I encountered, I marveled at how much time I suddenly had without many time-saving devices.
I had time to write long letters back home, read more books than I ever had in a 2 1/2 year time period, cook meals from scratch (since prepackaged starters were not readily available and usually expensive for a PCV), and journal. The hectic pace of my typical American lifestyle came to a screeching halt when I moved to Tanzania. Doing simple tasks such as withdrawing money from the bank or buying a stamp from the post office involved being in a barely perceptible moving line. Yet I never wasted time since I knew to bring a book or stack of post cards to write out as I waited.
The irony of using time-saving devices, just like using social media, is that I don’t save more time. I just raise the bar on more shit to do within 24 hours. With the few social media platforms I maintain, I don’t communicate or stay in touch better with people–unless it’s the people I tend to see on a regular basis anyway. I figure the “other people” who I don’t email/call/text/see regularly are just fine with the monthly/yearly/need-to-know timely updates.
Now that I’m living in the happening city of Austin, I’m even LESS inclined to add another strap of social media to myself. I love it when I didn’t know about so-and-so’s party or such-and-such’s event until after the fact since that means I didn’t have to whip out my phone, look at my social calendar and debate whether I can fit it into my schedule.
I remember as a precocious adolescent, I’d read about a reclusive writer, living in a cabin in the woods without a telephone. At the time, I thought that guy must have been some grumpy old man who was probably socially retarded. Now that I’m older and wiser, I understand his choice. In order to get anything creative accompolished, one has to isolate one’s self in a productive space to create.
In this hi-tech world, writers no longer have to live in the boonies. The boonies can be anywhere by creating a communication void. Imagine, creating a cyberspace of nothingness within the social media fabric.
I maintain my cyber void by using face-to-face communication. Just like being out in the sunshine for at least 15 minutes a day is healthy, so is being around actual live human beings, especially when you can surround yourself with positive, productive, creative people who are happy to be alive.
Of course at any time I could relinquish my social media reclusion and bind myself to many social media platforms in order to promote my work, but that would surely be the day I start selling pieces of my soul for money.