Not That Kind of Influencer

I’m Not Selling Weight Loss Tea

Photo of Writer

Authors Note: This is an excerpt from my novel-in-progress. If you want to read a finished version, please email an agent, publisher, or anyone who will pay me to write it.

I’m not using social media to sell a magical weight loss tea that tastes like gooseberry. Yes, after a quick google search gooseberry is a real berry.

I don’t want the attention. Really. I’m not tall enough to be a model and I’m not fashionable enough to look important. All I want is for people to read my writing. That’s it.

Publishers (according to all the agents who appear on podcasts that share industry secrets) expect writers to maintain an active social media presence to prove readers will buy their book.

So I started sharing excerpts of my writing on Twitter. I know men see a women on social media and think she wants attention (usually the sexual kind) but that’s not me.

I had 600 Twitter followers last year. Sure, that’s sounds like a lot, but when you’ve grown up with social media it’s mostly people you went to high school with, and bots. Probably from Russia.

Now I have around 12K followers. But whose counting?