There was once only one rule for social media is: Be interesting.

Social media is engineered to do one thing – keep users engaged and viewing ads. That is why they favour creators who are interesting. The more provably interesting you are (measured in interactions), the more they will promote you.

Unless you are using algorithm-free platforms like Mastodon, in which case the rule is to be interesting at the time your followers are online.

Either way, rule one: Be interesting.

The new rule for social media is: Be authentic.

Social media users are learning to filter out AI slop, junk, fake personas, rage bate and the like. It is no longer enough to simply be interesting. Now you must also be authentic.

Tagged: Social Media on Open Mentions

Despite how much we wish it weren’t true, sometimes quantity beats quality. If that is the case for you, then you might want to pick a social media platform with a lot of users. At the start of the year, these were the most populous social media platforms.

Find more statistics at Statista

Readers don’t have a new book need; they have a trustworthy author’s need. There’s no shortage of books a reader could buy – more than they could read in ten lifetimes. What is in short supply are authors they can trust to deliver a good read every time.

Getting readers onto the hype train that is the love of your writing is the hardest part of being an author. To overcome that barrier, consider compiling an anthology of short stories and one or two sample first chapters. Give away some of those short stories anyway you can. For example, I’d suggest putting some of your short stories on your website so anyone can read them. If you put a little explainer at the end of each story, telling readers where they can get more like this, you will have solved the onboarding problem.

Nothing sells a book to a reader like selling another book to the reader and them loving it. Fiction authors can platform build just by finishing more books.