I’ve been speaking with my inner circle lately about my 2023 writing goals. Everybody came to the same conclusion. I needed to do a better job of building my audience. In addition to that I’ve been doing a lot of personal development and listening to writing podcasts. I kept hearing the same thing so I decided to do something.

I audited my social media pages.

Anybody who actually purchased my book(s) or I built up a relationship with I added them to my email list (with their consent of course)

I’m super appreciative of the relationships I’ve built through social media but connecting with people off line is important too. Most of my connections were built through face to face interactions. Nowadays more emphasis is based on building your platform through social media.

Social media amplifies what already exists. Rarely does it catapult your book sales. Once I realized this I started moving accordingly. I’m constantly tinkering to see what works and what doesn’t. I also realized that I don’t have to be on every single social media platform. Anybody that tells you it’s not hard keeping up with multiple pages is lying. It’s like chasing two rabbits. One will always get away. I recently deleted my Wattpad page ( I never knew was I was doing nor did I ever gain any traction). I also checked my Goodreads page for the first time in years. (I had three 1 star reviews with no explanation from faceless avatars. lol.) I try not to take that site too seriously. I’ve also noticed my Instagram page has been overrun with bots. They’re in my stories and they comment from time to time. If there is anything that I would like to be cleaned up it would be that.

I totally understand why people abandon their social media pages. Sometimes people feel like they aren’t getting ROI. I’ve seen people with over 10K followers just walk away because they’re posting content and not getting the results they want. It’s a tough thing to navigate. Be mindful of the people who you connect with. Nurture those connections because they become invaluable later.

My personal goal is to feed my base. My email subscriber numbers aren’t where I want them to be, but I have one. And having one is a lot better than having nothing. Do you have a newsletter?

Don’t forget to text BOOKS to (917) 905–8801 to join my email list.

Thank you for reading,

Marc