I have always struggled with keeping up with my social media. No matter how hard I tried to get myself into a routine or the zone, I inevitably fell off the branding/ content bandwagon within a few weeks. Outside of that, I even went so far as to pull myself off social media entirely during the pandemic for numerous reasons, not limited to the reaction to the pandemic itself and the political climate; essentially, I couldn’t take the circus it had become.
Now that life has more or less gotten back to normal, and I have been able to give myself the mental space to jump back into my writing endeavors, I am starting over from scratch in my branding journey, and there is a new juggernaut on the scene that I don’t even know how to approach: TikTok.
Yes, I know TikTok has been around for a bit and got huge during that same global crisis where I decided to withdraw from the social media scene (though during and since, I have heard my husband laughing hysterically at an endless amount of videos that I fought getting sucked into). Still, it has become the place for writers and book influencers, leaving me even more lost than before in my spotty content creation regimen.
I never thought I would sound like one of my parents, especially at the still rather spry age of 38, but it turns out I let myself get caught in that oblivious vacuum, with my daughter saying to me, “Dad, it isn’t hard; I’ll show you,” about using TikTok and the video editing app CapCut to make more visually appealing content (she’s ten, go figure). It turns out she was right.
While I still haven’t figured out the best content ideas, my brain is starting to flow after spending several hours in the booktok rabbit hole, and I’ve finally built up a little content to share this week. The big test will be whether I can maintain the momentum and create something unique to get that viral moment.
At this time, I’m still awkward and uncomfortable in the videos. Still, as my confidence grows and I dig deeper into talking about my favorite books and eventually my own when it’s ready to share with the world, I know I’ll figure it out. Besides, I have my ten-year-old to guide me on what’s trending (she is my constant cheerleader on my writing journey and loves the idea of helping). So over the next few weeks, let’s see what happens. Who knows, maybe one of my book reviews or recs will get me in front of the masses.
Do you use TikTok for your writing; how’s it going?
Until next time, happy writing (and reading)!
Chris Kauzlarich 