Jumping on that Sweet Booktok Bandwagon

The verdict is in: knowing how to market yourself as an author is vital, even if you’re gunning for the traditional route. Good news for you, hypothetical marketing genie who also happens to also be a novelist! Bad news for little old me! But I’m trying my best.

Lately—actually let’s face it, this has been the case since forever—I’ve been finding that Instagram just isn’t doing the job, which is unfortunate since it’s a platform I actually enjoy. Who doesn’t like to toy around with pretty images and turning the saturation up to 100%? I AM THE GODDESS OF BRIGHT COLORS, my inner child screams into the void as I upload a well-cropped photo of a book I just finished reading. Yes, the void. Because it doesn’t matter how often I post and interact with other users, my content inevitably only gets shown to people I already know in real life. And while I know some truly lovely people, my target demographic isn’t exactly “some friend of a friend that I met at a party once in college”. It’s possible the issue is that my account started as a personal account and then slowly shifted into an author account… So, though I’m still posting on Instagram, but I’ve now shifted my marketing focus… to TikTok. I know, I know, I’m not a trendy sixteen year-old. Don’t remind me! *Rages desperately against time… Did I mention I turn 36 this month?* But it’s been encouraging to find that since joining the platform, the algorithm (that great mysterious god who controls us all) is still giving me a chance. Well, occasionally. Depending on the day.

The good news is, I don’t hate it. I have just enough millennial narcissism in me to not mind my own face on camera, for the most part. My inner child is a theater kid, and I teach and perform improv as a side gig, which has been an amazing tool for teaching me how to live (thrive?) in ExtrovertWorld. Do I feel a little crappy when the platform sends me random reports, showing how my latest post got 5 views and that the majority of people tuned out after 1.3 seconds… Yes, obviously. I’m only human—a human trying desperately to remember that a random sequence of zeros and ones does not define my self worth.

I do have some complaints. I’m not sure I’m the first person to point out that the algorithm favors the people who post about the same five trending romantasy books. (I’m not throwing shade at the genre—in fact, I like my fantasy with a small side of romance, even if prolonged s*x scenes aren’t my jam.) Conversely, there are things on TikTok I enjoy. While there certainly are creators out there who use fancy equipment and professional editing, it seems like for the most part it’s okay to just be yourself, even if yourself is vaguely technophobic. If you visit my page you’ll likely find a ton of awkward cuts in which I try to self-edit my own tangents, but I don’t feel like I’ve been unfairly penalized for that. Call me naive, but I’m under the impression that like in real life, I can just carry on being a dork, and those who vibe with that will click that follow button.

Will this foray into TikTok actually help me sell books when the time comes? I honestly have no idea, but it’s worth a try. Of course, I do worry how the algorithm will punish me should I have the audacity to disconnect for a few days, but we’ll wrestle that beast when the time comes. Once I manage to accrue a few thousand followers (dream big, folks), the next step will be to figure out which of those people would read and enjoy my book. (New here? It’s called THE CAFE OF INFINITE DOORS and its an empowering portal fantasy set half in mythological Scotland, half in San Francisco.) So wish me luck as I set off on my journey to be one of the cool kids, two decades too late. And if you feel inclined to join the ranks of my followers (All hundred of them! Hey, cut me some slack, I’ve only been on there a month!) do check out my profile, which conveniently has the same username I use on Instagram:

@zaramarielle

Stay Lovely, friends. Zara