Do authors need social media?

I was talking to an author friend the other day about the minefield that is publishing and he responded “I suppose things only feel right if you’re Richard Osman”, which is timely because he’s recently been in hot water with other authors for dismissing the need for social media promotion. On his podcast with Marina Hyde, Mr Osman offers his advice to budding authors and the people who publish them: to be successful, we simply need to travel around the country and visit bookshops, connect with booksellers, and focus on the writing. It’s all very simple, really.

Obviously, it’s one of those videos that you watch open-mouthed, disbelieving that an intelligent adult can be so painfully out of touch with the wider world, so unaware of how the industry works for his colleagues in the craft. Richard Osman’s path to publication is unlike the general masses: his getting an agent, a book deal, and the ability to very quickly write full time is something that reflects his status as a household name celebrity. I’m sure his publisher organises his jollies around the country, and I doubt he needs to worry about annual leave, travel fare, accessibility, or the disappointment that his book might not even be stocked in most UK bookshops. Long before he signed his contract, corporate decisions were made at the highest level to provide him the biggest chance of success. Yes, millions of people enjoy his stories, but the publishing machine was actively involved in ensuring those millions of people had access to him.

Before I became an author, I assumed everyone’s book made it into Waterstones, would be found on the New Release section of every indie bookstore. I thought every book had a turn in a window display, had their own table or a side shelf adorned with decorations, was gifted one of those little cards where booksellers wrote their reviews to recommend it to others. Now I’m published, I know that only a chosen few get such things – and that chosen few often look and sound like Richard Osman.  

Some people – often hopefuls outside the publishing bubble – claim that the overwhelming monetary support for the major celebrities allows publishers to “take risks” with unknown authors. They believe there’s a trickle-down effect that benefits the rest of us. This is patently false, based on the stats of acquisitions for marginalised writers and the yearly decline of Black successes following the 2020 pledges and promises. Publishing is still painfully risk averse: you can’t query a novel that’s over 120,000 words these days as most agents set anything above that into their auto-reject pile. You can’t publish series anymore, you must state “this is a standalone with series potential” to ensure publishers don’t run for the hills. If you’re a Black or Asian author writing fantasy, you may find publishers rejecting your submission because “we already published an ethnic story last year and it didn’t do well”. The Richard Osmans continue to be acquired, continue to be pushed as lead titles, continue to flourish, while everyone else hopes for the best.

Worryingly, there’s an added pressure on authors to have social media if they want to be published. What was once a conspiracy theory is now true. It’s not enough to have written a good book; publishers want new authors to have some inbuilt audience. This likely explains why so many self-published authors are getting major trad book deals: Olivie Blake, Nisha J. Tuli, Penn Cole, Imani Erriu, Jasmine Mas, Travis Baldree, and Matt Dinniman, to name a few, were signed to publishers having already racked up thousands of book sales from their own hard graft and social media marketing. It’s led to a bit of a panic from authors who, by default, are quite anti-social. Who really wants to spend time doing TikTok dances and miming Taylor Swift lyrics when there are books to write? It’s exhausting and undignified, but it’s the reality for most of us.

However, social media is an equaliser. It helps authors regain some control and find innovative ways to reach their audience for themselves. Publishing teams are small and overworked, so even if they want to dedicate more time to the books they acquire, they often can’t. Authors can collaborate and show that they’re also happy to assist, pick up on things that their teams might have missed. It’s important to be savvy here: you’re not trying to translate every view and share into a direct sale, not totally. That’s only setting yourself up for disappointment. You also shouldn’t push yourself to do things that make you cringe to edit. Do the dances if you want to, follow the trends because they’re fun for you. As it’s part of the territory now, you have to enjoy it. Instead of trying too hard for sales, you can build connections. Editors, influencers, journalists from major newspapers, indie booksellers, and other authors share the online space with you. You never know who is watching your socials, whose interest might be piqued by what you’ve posted. It could lead to an editor reaching out to your agent, an influencer asking for your ARC, an agent contacting you to offer representation. Anything can happen.

I published my first chapbook by Tangerine Press because Michael Curran, the director, found this very website and read one of the short stories I had posted here. I have friends who are traditionally published today because an agent stumbled across their blogs and reached out to them. Social media lead to my preorder campaign with Dryad Books, because they followed me on Instagram and consistently liked and shared posts I made about THE REAPER. Social media got me preorders; it put me on the radar of other authors, and now I can say that Nia Davenport, Britney Lewis, Kiersten White, and Louie Stowell, know who I am. These relationships are invaluable in an industry that feels so opaque, and for a profession that’s so lonely and isolating. We need connections to survive it, and to be successful.

A long time ago, when I was still querying, I had a difficult conversation with myself. “This might not happen for you,” I said. “Not everyone who wants to be an author becomes one.” I got a bit depressed and trawled the internet for some feel-good stories – you know the ones about Tabitha King fishing Carrie from the dustbin, or Beatrix Potter self-publishing Peter Rabbit. I found the website of an agent that had recently rejected me and read through her Q&A section, where she had interviewed a bunch of authors represented by the agency she worked at, to learn about their road to publication. The more I read, the more I despaired. Every single one of these authors (about ten in total), breezed through very simple stories of working at the BBC/The Telegraph/some radio station for a few years and meeting X agent along the way, or bumping into X agent at a charity gala/dinner party/industry event, who then asked them if they were interested in writing a book. To this day, I don’t know why that agent thought those interviews were helpful beyond confirming the vastness of the valley that separated the average author from the upper classes. Perhaps she too, was a bit out of touch.

GETHSEMANE will have been published come 2027. All three books that I signed in my deal would be written and edited. I’m looking to the future, to the other stories I want to tell. I’ve been teasing some of these books, the horrors and the dark fantasies, the epic fantasies and the post-apocalyptic romances, and I get a little buzz whenever an editor from a Big 5 likes the status or replies with a little enquiring emoji. It means something is happening, that these professionals have me on their radar, that they’re interested in my work and what I have to say. I’m truly grateful for social media. It’s helped me gain some confidence, given me some business experience, and contributed to THE REAPER’s budding success. I wish it wasn’t a necessity, but I’m glad there’s something out there for us plebs to use.

Hopefully, one day, things will feel right for the rest of us, too.