In October 2014, I dove head first into the social media pool saying, “if this is what I have to do, might as well embrace it.”

I built Brain to Books, events, two websites, and established not only a following on seven platforms, but also developed a reputation among fellow authors. It’s been a year. My third book releases in four days. Two books and an anthology all released in my first year. Recently, I published my stats and sales for all to see and was at once discouraged with the results. Despite all the work I’ve done, my sales are on average with everyone else.

So was the work I killed myself for last year worth it?

I think a lot of two groups of people. For my writing style itself, I think of Poe, Verne, and Shakespeare. But for marketing and business, I review the work of Rowling, King, and Sanderson. Indie authors are encouraged to swarm social media. But when I look at Rowling I shake my head confused. I’ve seen Rowling’s Twitter following. Rowling rarely touches Twitter. She follows about 50  people… and that is it. She isn’t pushing her books on social media. She’s too busy writing.

In fact, all the big names rarely touch social media. I’ll say again. They’re writing.

Sure they have a department and staff that does the marketing for them, but is social media really the way to go for indie authors?

When in doubt, I turn to Google.

I’m not going to go through and write an article, accumulating stats, and pushing my thoughts… I have a book to write. Instead, I’m going to post the sources I found that confirmed my suspicions are correct.

3 Myths About Social Media for Authors and also… A Key Book Marketing Principle That Authors Must Learn (or Not Forget)

I’ll share my own thoughts on this then will get back to Lorlenalin’s Lies… I can’t help, but think we’re all going about this the wrong way. One stat I read said—and authors, pay attention—authors are into eBooks. Readers are into paperbacks. This is because authors buy so many books to learn their craft, that they can’t afford the space, the library, or the money.

I’ve built a following, yes. I’m simply not seeing the turn-around I’ve been promised. With Brain to Books, I’ve put many more hours into Social Media than your average author. The results? The same as yours. And in all that time, I’m not writing. So this is me, hanging up my hat, walking away, and saying, “I think it’s time to just write.”