Julie Artz works with both award-winning and newer authors across the publishing spectrum from Big Five to small and university presses to indie and hybrid. She is an Author Accelerator-certified Founding Book Coach, a sought-after speaker and writing instructor, and a regular contributor to Jane Friedman and Writers Helping Writers, and a regular instructor for AuthorsPublish, IWWG, ProWritingAid and more. Her work as a Pitch Wars and Teen Pit mentor, a former SCBWI Regional Advisor (WWA), and her memberships in The EFA, the WFWA, AWP, and the Authors Guild keep her industry knowledge sharp. A consummate social and environmental justice minded story geek, Julie lives in an enchanted forest outside of Redmond, Washington, with her husband, two strong-willed teenagers (when they’re not off at university!), and two naughty furry familiars. She’s built a thriving book coaching business based on her values, her editing chops, and her knowledge of story. Check out her weekly newsletter, Wyrd Words Weekly, and subscribe today.
[Wyrd Words Weekly] Is social media getting you down? ME TOO!!!
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Hello Reader, Ever since I read Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism this past spring, I've been grappling with my feelings about social media. Remember the good old days of Twitter, when we were a cozy little writing community running pitch contests, giving each other support and feedback, and tagging everything with #amwriting and #writingcommunity? At the same time, I was logging into Facebook daily to see photos of my friends and family instead of endless ads and toxic political memes. Sigh. Many publishing professionals tell us that social media is a requirement to be a successful author, that agents and editors look at platform when considering signing someone, and that we have to be available 24/7 in order to find success. It's exhausting and can sometimes eat up time and energy that would be better spent working on our stories or, you know, doing just about anything else! [Lucky for us, Jane Friedman posted a nice rebuttal of some myths surrounding author platform here: https://janefriedman.com/author-platform-is-not-a-requirement-to-sell-your-novel-or-childrens-book/] 4 Things I Love More Than Social Media (that still get the word out!)Just about anything feels better to me than screaming into the troll-void that is X or fighting the Meta algorithms. But the truth is, if we're trying to make a living as authors, we're all running independent businesses and some sort of online presence is helpful. So here are a few things I enjoy more than X that you can consider if you're struggling with social media too: The first isn't really new to me, but is definitely something I enjoy and am more actively seeking out this year: podcasting. If you missed my spot on #amwriting this summer, give it a listen because I get really vulnerable about how offhand comments from loved ones can shatter our writing confidence and how to get it back: Raising Your Voice, Claiming Your Story. But of course I love to talk craft as well, which is why I was thrilled to jump on The Write It Scared Podcast, hosted by my friend and Author Accelerator certified fiction book coach Stacy Frazer. It’s a new writing podcast designed to motivate you to come to the page, work through blocks, and elevate your fiction writing. Stacy and I covered so much ground in our discussion about the query process: Everything from knowing when to pitch, how to craft the specific sections of the query letter, and how to handle rejections. I can’t wait for you to listen to our conversation. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred platform.
The next is Substack. I may be dating myself here, but I was really into the whole Mommy Blogger scene (I'd love to know if anyone remembers Terminal Verbosity because that was me!), so I loved seeing something that feels like the blog carousels of old, but with some added features from social media to make it more interactive. Whether you want to learn more about the business of writing or about the creative side of things, Substack has you covered (and I write about both at julieartz.substack.com). And finally, YouTube. Since I love teaching so much, YouTube is probably the closest thing to teaching live due to the video format. My most popular videos seem to be the ones about troubleshooting MS Word and Scrivener, which wasn't what I was expecting, but feels like a nice call back to my days as a tech writer! Here's my latest for Scrivener users: The fourth thing I love more than social media is, of course, this newsletter. Back when my subscribers were mostly my writing buddies and family members (hi sis!), I never would have anticipated that Wyrd Words Weekly would take off and grow like this. I love hearing from you all and hope you love hearing from me as well. It's been especially fun to finally meet some long-time subscribers virtually over Zoom this month as we work together to finish our stories before the year-end in 12 Weeks to Your Next Draft. If you've been feeling some social media anxiety like I have, I hope you've got some new options to explore beyond the X/Meta quagmire. If nothing else, I hope you've got a little bit of reassurance that there's not just one way to build an author platform. The important thing is to find a way you can connect with readers without feeling like it's sucking all your writing time (or your life force in general), right? Now let's get back to those drafts! |
Julie Artz | author, editor, book coach, dragon
Julie Artz works with both award-winning and newer authors across the publishing spectrum from Big Five to small and university presses to indie and hybrid. She is an Author Accelerator-certified Founding Book Coach, a sought-after speaker and writing instructor, and a regular contributor to Jane Friedman and Writers Helping Writers, and a regular instructor for AuthorsPublish, IWWG, ProWritingAid and more. Her work as a Pitch Wars and Teen Pit mentor, a former SCBWI Regional Advisor (WWA), and her memberships in The EFA, the WFWA, AWP, and the Authors Guild keep her industry knowledge sharp. A consummate social and environmental justice minded story geek, Julie lives in an enchanted forest outside of Redmond, Washington, with her husband, two strong-willed teenagers (when they’re not off at university!), and two naughty furry familiars. She’s built a thriving book coaching business based on her values, her editing chops, and her knowledge of story. Check out her weekly newsletter, Wyrd Words Weekly, and subscribe today.
Hello Reader, I've been neglecting the "What I'm Reading" portion of my newsletter in all the busy-ness of the past few months, so today is a double-header. If you're looking for something to distract you from the news once you get your ballot in, this is the newsletter for you! Even though I'm mostly writing adult fiction these days, my love of middle grade endures. And part of the reason for that is the hope and heart that is so much a part of my favorite middle grade stories. This week,...
Hello Reader, I'm just about on the other side of a month of busy-ness and I'm not going to lie: I'm tired. But I also experienced some deep magic that has rekindled my writing spark. If you've been around here long, you know I'm almost as big a music buff as I am a book nerd. And this past weekend was something I would call once in a lifetime if not for the fact that I got to experience it last summer as well: Joni Mitchell and the Joni Jam. Bear with me, even if you don't love Joni the way...
Hello Reader, This morning, I woke up before six when sirens raced past on the main road at the top of our neighborhood. I admit I grumbled a bit. But then I remembered that part of the reason my husband and I moved away from our little retreat in the woods was so that we could be in town, closer to neighbors, activities, potential new friends. And that helped me reframe, even if I was awake before the sun. Writing can be such a solitary activity, so writing in the woods, far away from...