Social Media for KidLit Authors: The Good, the Bad, and the Hopeful

THE BAD

Okay, let’s get the bad news out of the way first. If you want to be a successfully published author, you have to have a bazillion followers on all of your social media platforms. And as if that isn’t enough, you now also have to have a ton of engagement…meaning you have to get lots of comments and post lots of replies.

I’m glad that for some of you, this isn’t bad news. You love social media and thrive on it. But for a huge number of KidLit authors I know, this news is daunting. Depressing. Bad.

THE GOOD

So now let’s take a deep breath and drink in the good news. If you don’t like social media, you can still have an AWESOME KidLit career!!!!!! Seriously!!!!! Here’s how:

*Team up with a friend who is a social media expert but may not have the skills you have as a writer. Co-author and offer your writing skills as your part of the team. I have co-authored numerous books with writing friends and it’s so much fun!

*Land work-for-hire contracts. Yep. You have to do ZERO social media tasks for a work-for-hire contract. Why? Because they pay you to write the book and take it from there. In my career of writing 100+ books, I’ve written numerous work-for-hire books. I LOVE IT! Some have given me some pretty nice checks. Some have even won big awards. Some have been bestsellers and look awesome on my resume. For some I was flown to the publishing house for meetings with the project editors and other authors on the team. Stuff of dreams! And I didn’t have to spend one minute of social media time in the deal.

*Write for educational publishers. Many educational publishers already have a built-in target audience. Teachers. And they often have their very own platform and don’t require all the social media stats other publishers are looking for. Some even offer royalties. I’ve written for some educational publishers where I’ve earned over $100,000 and still counting! CLICK HERE to tap into Ev Christensen’s amazing resource for the Educational Market.

*Ghostwrite. Yep. This is kind of a mix between work-for-hire and co-author. You name isn’t even on the book usually, but you’re writing for a big name with a big platform and that means big sales numbers that once again look very very nice on your resume. And can often bring in a nice income as well!

*Write for magazines. I love to write for children’s magazines. I have another deadline this month! I get to sign frequent contracts, see my stories frequently in print, and read lots of my stories to my grandkids. Without any social media required.

THE HOPEFUL

Okay, but what about the books you want to write for the KidLit trade market and need those social media stats?

There’s hope! I felt hopeless. I simply was not able to conquer this social media thing and I want to write picture books for the KidLit market. So this past May I signed up for the most awesome year-long social media class I know of. Every month we learn a new social media platform and have our own personal social media coach..for very reasonable price and for an entire year! I feel hopeful now as I haven’t in these past few years when social media was added to our author’s plate.

So if you would like to learn marketing strategies at a nice pace, with an author who is a social media guru to hold your hand and help inspire you each step of the way, CLICK HERE on this affiliate link to find out the amazing details and pay a monthly fee.  CLICK HERE on this affiliate link to sign up and pay all at once for the whole year.