How many of you are old enough to remember the original General Mills 1959 commercial that launched their still-used slogan, “Silly rabbit! Trix are for kids”? Well, I feel like a silly, very old rabbit now, confined to my office, trying to navigate the various social media platforms in order to promote my new book of poetry, Fragmented Roots.
After opening up an Instagram account, it took me months to get into it, and I usually take landscape photos with my digital camera, not my phone. Instagram doesn’t work on my computer, so I am forced to use my iPhone (horrible keyboard) or my iPad, which I use primarily to play word games against the computer. I don’t really feel like walking around the house, looking for something clever to photograph and share, so I have very few posts there. When I do try to post a photo, and I am prompted to add a comment, my keyboard and microphone are not even accessible; they are hidden by a dark gray screen. WTH? Many people who follow me on Instagram are lonely men I don’t know, though, and I am pretty certain that they are not following me because of my witty banter or landscape photos.
For some mysterious reason, Goodreads does not allow me to access my account on my desktop, so I had to revert to my iPad. It took me two weeks to successfully upload a photo to my Goodreads profile, and that website still doesn’t list my new book, even though it was released on April 23, 2020. I still can’t figure out how one gentleman updates his reading list on an hourly basis. I am a fast reader, but there aren’t too many novels one can read in an hour. Of course, I am exaggerating, but every day, there are many updates from him, and I wonder if he is reading all those books now, or if he has diminished mental capacity and is slowly remembering the titles he read in his youth.
I never dreamed that I would have over 3,000 Twitter followers, but most of them are writers who follow me because I follow them. I think that most of those authors who follow me are doing so in the hope that I will buy their books. As one member of Twitter suggested, “Why are we following writers? We should be following readers!”
For months, perhaps over a year, I posted single stanzas, mere fragments from each poem I wanted to share on Twitter because that site doesn’t allow that many characters. My posts paled in comparison to my friend Lisa’s. I wanted to know how she was able to post entire poems on Twitter, so she introduced me to Medium.com.
Well, that website wouldn’t publish anything of mine until I paid the $5 monthly fee. All of a sudden, I am published on Medium! Very few people follow me there, but I was thrilled that I could share entire poems on Twitter. At first, I used Medium’s intro: “I just published …. on Medium.” Still, my posts weren’t getting noticed because I couldn’t figure out how to attach a photo to the poems (despite checking out various online guidelines and blogs. I just couldn’t find the damn + sign). After about two weeks, and with the help of my friend Chris, I figured out how to add a picture to attract attention on Twitter. Fine. I still hadn’t added hashtags to the publications on Medium, though, so no one really noticed my poems on Twitter. Eventually, I would repost poems, complete with photos and hashtags. Then, I figured I had to get noticed! Vast numbers of my 3,133 Twitter followers would certainly like my poems! As of April 27, 2020, each poem I have shared has gotten between 0 to 4 likes. I appreciate the fact that some kind strangers (with tens of thousands of Twitter followers) have occasionally retweeted a few of my poems and the link to my book, Fragmented Roots, but I wonder if even one of their followers cares enough to visit my website or buy my book.
Facebook is the social media platform that I thought I had mastered years ago, but I spent hundreds of dollars boosting posts about my first book, A Consecration of the Wind, on my author page, and I’m not sure one stranger ever bought that book. Now my challenge is finding a way to host a Live Event on Facebook without looking like a complete idiot. Since I cannot host any book parties in New Jersey or Virginia, I have relied on email, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote Fragmented Roots. The least I can do for all of my family members and friends who have bought my book is to host a Live Event at which I hope to read and discuss poems with those who love me or like me or have cabin fever and nothing else to do that night. Here’s hoping that this old rabbit can figure out how to turn tricks…I mean figure out the ins and outs…I mean navigate these tricky platforms!
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