The last two months should have been an exciting time for me as an indie author, getting ready to release my new spicy and hilarious romantic comedy novel, Calling Clarissa. It wasn’t.
Instead, I had to deal with being banished to Facebook jail for ten days, with only thirteen days before my big release. I felt like crying. Luckily, I have amazing readers and followers who rallied, sharing my upcoming release everywhere they could. And for that, I am beyond grateful.
Like most indie authors with a non-existent author budget, I rely heavily on social media to promote for free and connect with new and current readers. Unfortunately, Facebook is where most of my followers are located.
In the last two months, I have been repeatedly sent to Facebook jail for reasons unknown, and had two hacking attempts. I have used this massively popular platform since 2008 and never had any problems until the last eight weeks. Now, after many lock-ups, I’m starting to think that I need to focus on my website subscribers and visitors and not just rely on the many social media platforms I frequent.
The issue is that some social media platforms no longer feel safe. They are rife with scammers trying to fool you into giving away your login and personal details using the platform logos, jargon, and similar email names. I know many people who have given up and stopped using social media altogether.
As an author, I use online social media groups to share my works, but now they are filled with unrelated posts/videos and porn. Like many, I made the effort to report the nasty content to the groups and platform, but unfortunately, most of the time, nothing was done.
For now, and like many indie authors, I will have to put up these social media minefields until I can solely rely on my website or until the social media platforms actually start protecting decent people like us.
Thank you for your fantastic support and help!
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