In which I learn how to Internet with Social Media

I came to a very important conclusion the other day. I want to self-publish. Maybe I'm lazy, or tired of waiting, or maybe my education in the Communication field has just made me that much more aware of the limits and difficulties of traditional publishing. Whatever the case, there are a few things I have to be aware of.

1) If you're going to self-publish, you can't self-edit. 

2) If you're going to self-publish, you need to be contract smart.

3) If you're going to self-publish, you're going to self-market.

Hiring an editor takes money and a complete manuscript that you're relatively happy with. Okay, I can deal with that. My manuscript isn't close to being ready, ergo I have lots of time to raise the pennies (oh for the day when some young Canadian asks me what a penny is...) needed for hiring an editor. 

Contracts are another matter, and it always helps to have someone in the industry you can turn to who can break down the complicated rhetoric that can appear in various contracts.

But Social Media, oh, Social Media. My Kingdom for a witty tweet! To Facebook or not to Facebook? If Tumblr be the food of success, then subscribe on! And so on and so forth.

There is no denying it, without a strong social media presence, a self-published author is probably hooped. Sites like Youtube give professionals and amateurs alike the opportunity to speak directly to the audience. Twitter forces you to capture and contain your audience in 140 characters. Tumblr does... tumbling I assume. I'm not actually sure. Seems to me it's like a combination of all social media put together, plus a place where you can show comical pictures that you have drawn, such as a fancy giraffe trying to deal with the difficulties that arise with using an elevator. 

Then there is Instagram. You too can show off your latest meal with a sepia air about it! Does your friend duck face? Duck face them in walden! On the other hand, you can also get pictures of cats that like to stretch way too much.

Or maybe even that crazy beer/cider combo you had when you were out with your friends the other night!

Wow! I feel like I interact with myself on a whole new personal level to me! I must love hanging with my friends and taking pictures of my cat!  (Okay, yes, I do like taking pictures of the cat, but that's irrelevant.)

When it comes to Twitter, you can follow all the updates of your favorite people, and on the off-chance that they reply to you, suddenly you feel super special. Like the drink pictured above. Then you link your Twitter to your Facebook and hell, that just eliminates the whole Facebook step right there. And Apparently I can link my Tumblr (God dammit, 'Tumbler'. Why the hell did you leave out the 'e'? What was the point of that? Do you tumble less when it is spelled properly? Does the 'e' somehow slow down the rest of the tumbling? Tell me!)

The point is, when you become hooked into social media as a way to create an online presence for yourself, you can't half-ass it. So the Blogger posts will also get posted on Tumbler (I won't bow to your spelling mistakes.) But, Tumbler will get comical drawings, a more personal examination of my life. Because, you know, that is fascinating to everyone around me. 

So you want to self-publish and still make a bakwillion dollars? Social Media it up. Tweet your Facebook status updates on Tumblr, then blog about the results and do a video response on Youtube. Then take a picture of your dinner and post it on Instagram. There will always be people wanting to see what you're eating for dinner.

Always.