Apologies for the late post, but yesterday was a busy day for me, and I wanted to give this discussion a serious moment and the time to really articulate some of the realities for authors. Going off my last discussion about creator burnout in the digital age, it is time to bring in the ones who are really doing the hard work here – the authors.

The job of an author has shifted in recent decades with the expansion of the online space, the integration of online and in-person events, and, obviously, the popularity of social media platforms. Not to say it is all bad, as the wide-reaching presence of social media and online spaces has allowed for self-published authors to find a place in the communities, too, but even traditionally published authors are seeing themselves at the mercy of social media.

These days, bookish social media is a hub for readers, authors, booksellers, publishers, and everyone in between. This makes it easier to find people who may like a book and create direct communications with them, but that is just the tip of the iceberg for a lot of authors on various social media platforms. As with any product, authors must advertise and promote their works in order to push sales, something many authors may not like for a variety of reasons. There is also the matter of keeping your name relevant, and that generally involves regularly posting to show people you are doing events, working on your next book, seeing your book in the wild, reposting reviews, etc. But this comes at a time when publishers are starting to join in on the giveaways, arcs, and utilisation of bookish content creators and readers for good press and promo for all their books. How are authors meant to keep up? Is this starting to sound like a full-time job to anyone else?

We are all familiar with how social media can feel like a drag at times, but for authors, it has become expected of them, even for traditionally published authors. Self-published authors are well aware of the lengths that they need to go to get their work out there, and are generally prepared to learn on their feet as the opportunity arises, from trendy posts and event inclusions to giveaways and reposting the reviews from readers on their recent book. For traditional authors, that same drive may not be an expected part of the contract with a publisher, and navigating the ups and downs of a moving beast like Instagram, for example, while still maintaining a writing schedule and other commitments can be a real challenge.

I’m sure I don’t need to go into detail about the negative sides of social media too much, but one thing that has been bugging me for years is the phenomenon of readers tagging authors in negative reviews. This is abhorrent behaviour, and not only is it something that is incredibly distasteful and rude, but it has a huge impact on authors, especially the self-published and introverted ones who are just trying to do their job. The idea that someone would write a long-winded review of an author’s work is one thing, because we all have subjective tastes as readers and feel differently about books. But to tag them in the review so they get a notification on the post, and for lack of a better term, showcasing to the author directly just how much you didn’t like their book, is such a low blow. Not to mention the part I said earlier about social media giving you the ability to get direct communication with someone. Could you imagine what some authors’ DMs are like?

If anyone is getting burnt out from social media, I can absolutely see it being authors, as a lot of them probably never expected to have to be on social media so much in the first place. With the immense demand social media brings, I feel that it is time we took a serious look at the state of it all. What do we really want our online communities to be like? A place where reader and author alike can have a conversation about a book by a completely different author, sharing their thoughts and feelings in a respectful and open-minded way? Or as a place where readers feel they can bully authors for not writing a book the reader enjoyed?

This isn’t to say only readers are the problem here, because that is not the case, but for a lot of us on bookish social media, I feel we are seeing a lack of thoughtful reviews and pondering regarding books, authors, and the literary community. Media literacy is an extremely important skill we need to be exercising and building on daily, especially when we use social media so frequently, but so are things like introspection and metacognition. In a world where we are seeing so much and reading so much, where does our thinking come into play? I’m getting a little too into a topic for another day, so let me wrap this up by restating the important part of this discussion: authors are human beings who are trying to do what they love for a living, and social media is one of those things that gets put on them whether they want it or not. Let’s look after our authors, and if I see another negative review with the author tagged, you’d better bet I am going to seriously reconsider some people’s fundamental knowledge and behaviour.