Is social media worth it?

If you have read my posts on Mastodon and Twitter, you can recall me talking about not getting engagement on posts and having followers who never interact with your content. Given that, is there any point to having a social media presence as an author?

I’m confident Mastodon and Twitter have brought some sales to my books, but not enough to make a decent living. I never had a social media post lead to $1000 in sales. I also never had a post lead to a surge in views on my blog or Wix groups. So why bother? This might be surprising to some of you, but it’s not that worth it. However, as an author who can only afford a $0 marketing budget, I don’t have other options.

I’ve seen many sites say social media is crucial for publishing. I’ve also seen some authors say they’ve made decent money without having a social media presence. One thing that gets left out of these conversations is that many people discover books in bookstores (digital or physical). For example, I bought a lot of ebooks on Amazon. I only found out about them because they were featured on recommended/sponsored lists on other book pages. Another example, most people discover YouTube videos while on YouTube. How often do people discover YouTube videos outside of YouTube? Not many, I’d guess.

The only reliable way you get pushed to people is through paid ads. However, I’ve heard about authors spending over $1000 or more on book ads and barely getting anything back in sales. Let’s also not forget that conversion rates on all social media sites are not very high. Most people who watch YouTube tend to only care about the video, not any affiliate link or product listing attached to it. People who follow me on social media typically don’t end up buying any of my books.

With low engagement and non-existent conversion rates, it’s safe to say social media, at least for me, is not worth it. If I had no social media, there would be no real difference. Viral books on BookTok make more money, but not every book goes viral on there. Money is the only real way to market your book, but for authors like me who can only afford $0 marketing, you’re stuck. Unless you get lucky and the algorithm randomly promotes your book, making a decent living is a pipe dream.

So, why be on social media if there’s no real worth to it? Simply, it is the only marketing I can afford. I keep efforts to a minimum, on that front, so my time isn’t wasted too much.