My family and I went on a road trip to Arizona over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. It was lovely, but as always with two tiny humans and a puppy, still pretty draining.

I took my computer with me, but I wrote zero words. As per usual, I had big dreams of using my evenings after the kids went to bed to churn out the words that are screaming at me to come out. Or even use the six hours in the car to write and pass the time. I’m hilarious, I know. I did unplug entirely from social media which I always love to do. I try to practice social media minimalism and have for quite a few years now. It’s the best thing for my focus and mental health.

However, it’s soon going to be Go Time on the marketing campaign for THE AFTER HOURS and I feel it looming on the horizon like a dark cloud. Social media is a necessary evil in my life as an author. Hence me carving out this little corner of the good ol’ blogosphere to collect my thoughts.

This morning, over my morning cup of coffee, I came back to Instagram begrudgingly. I came across a profile I had seen a few times before. I recognized the name of the book the author was working on. I realized I’d seen other profiles like it. A category for these profiles started forming in my brain, and it’s like it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The instance that made me realize this was a pattern.

Maybe I’m late to the train. Maybe this is obvious to everyone else. But I am dumbfounded and defeated.

I clicked around to find that this writer, with thousands of followers, is still just… writing her book. She does not have any previous books published. She does not have an agent. She does not have a publishing deal. She is not looking to self-publish, but says she will start querying soon.

I’ve been seeing this all over. Endless, endless reels following the latest trends describing the mood or the vibe of a story. Reels of writers getting emotional, claiming to have made six figures from pre-orders (this I believe, is untrue and frankly, a very dirty trick). Writers posting teasers from a story that has been so over-hyped on social media that you might think it’s the next Harry Potter- only to find the teaser has grammatical errors galore in the first paragraph and has never been through any sort of editing round or even past the eyes of a beta reader.

A story that is still just a text document.

Don’t get me wrong- I am not bashing the writers. NOT AT ALL. I wish them all the best in their publishing journeys, whatever form that may take. I hope their stories find their homes. I commend their marketing creativity. But it makes me wonder, should I have been doing this all along? Hyping up my story while it was still just an idea in my head. While I was still painstakingly churning out words, wishing and wondering whether it would ever get picked up. While I was still unsure whether I had it in me to write such a complex, tightly woven plot.

Here I am, reluctantly scrolling, and I recognize the name of a book that is just a text document living on someone’s computer. That’s genius, almost nefarious, marketing, if you ask me.

But it also makes me sad that it has come to this. That being “good at social media” is a requirement to get your writing out there. As long as you know how to follow the latest trends, you’re going to get eyes on your book, regardless if the book is any good.

Thank you for listening to my defeated, post-vacay Monday morning musings. Hopefully I’ve convinced you to follow along as THE AFTER HOURS and I claw our way through this lawless jungle that is social media marketing. Because I truly, truly, am so excited to show the world what I have in store. I have the book’s cover reveal coming soon, and it gives me butterflies just thinking about it!

Love,

Aspen