8 hacks for navigating social media as an independent artist.

(without losing your time, mind, and romantic partners)

Hey. This is going to be a weird one.

So I’ve got a ComicCon table hurtling towards my fragile little body. It’s hurtling through time, or time is hurtling towards it. Either way, I’ll be an independent artist/author/comedian/poet at ComicCon Manchester on July 30th/31st. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was 19, since I first saw DestinyBlue and other creators sitting and meeting fans. Now I’m 29, it feels like the right time to finally do it.

I’ll be selling signed copies of WBTH, as well as eBooks through various QR codes secreted upon my person and across the convention centre. I’ll be selling some original art too, and if it’s popular, I’ll be taking prints next time.

So marketing my work has left the internet and is now thoroughly in the realm of the real. Why? Because Amazon was annoying me, and after integrating Facebook with Instagram, that has annoyed me too.

But I always wanted to be a teacher, so I guess the least I can do is teach you some things so you can avoid making the same mistakes I did. The knowledge begins as soon as you scroll past this drawing of Matt Smith’s Doctor Who.

I know people get mad when you call ‘the doctor’ ‘doctor who’ but that was literally the name he gave to himself in various stories through the 70s and 80s, so any complaints are silly.

THE IMPORTANT LESSONS.

1.

Do not comment, like, or even click on ANYTHING political on instagram. All it takes is for one lunatic to start mouthing off, and anyone who ever interacted with the account they commented on gets the big heavy ban boot. I know because I asked a vastly more famous author about her experience, and she told me that not only is she losing followers after asking a scam page to leave her alone, but that she is LOSING SALES too.

(sales are important. They stop authors from starving)

1.5 When in doubt about what to post, use a cat meme.

2.

Do not trust instagram and facebook, as a combined entity. I have just connected the two together, meaning I can allegedly post on both simultaneously, tag products, meet new customers, and bring my perpetually dissatisfied ex wife back from wherever it is in Spain she ran off to. Facebook promises to make the whole process easy, but their new Meta suite is a system of windows within windows which often show you the same information in slightly different ways. I have to admit their ability to automate test-runs for posts and ads is very good, but getting there is needlessly difficult. If you want to go through the meta suite to schedule posts, find some helpful videos on Youtube first, or you will lose your mind to deleted passwords and locked accounts (as I type this, I am locked out of my instagram on mobile, for no reason, and facebook has stopped me typing because I am too fast and it thinks I am a robot).

3.

Get a good webcam. My recent interview with Sejul Nerve made this one abundantly clear, as did my meetings with comedians on Discord. I need to be higher definition.

4.

Drama. Use it. Do not generate it, but when it naturally occurs, ride it till it is merely a drama-shaped stain on the earth. The humans that are most on social media love drama. Selfies, vlogs about how difficult your life is, poems about kissing people behind the big Tesco, sex jokes. All these work fantastically on instagram (most ‘comedy’ on instagram and tiktok is teenagers talking about their sex lives, which I find more harrowing than funny). So if something happens to you, be it a sale or personal tragedy, use it. People buy WBTH because they find me funny, not because of any ad I have run.

5.

Be real. I know this one doesn’t make you rich because I’ve tried it, but I value real followers and real authors over fakes. I have 555 followers on twitter, other authors have 15,000, but we both get the same engagement. Why? Because my 555 are real people.

Don’t engage in follow for follow or writerslifts. It’s not worth the time and you will very often just meet other authors, not readers, who have zero interest in your work.

6.

Be prepared to lose ad money if you’re online-only and write weird stories.

Facebook ads don’t work for someone like me. My primary audience is ComicCon nerds, which is why I am going to ComicCon. This takes me to part 7.

7.

Know your audience. What do they like, what don’t they like? How old are they? Where do they live? Do they prefer eBooks or Paperback? Would they even respond to instagram ads?

8.

Subscribe to this newsletter. Because every time I make an investment of time or money that does not work out, I will let you know.