Hi Lucy,
I’ve written for you twice before, most recently last June with the “bangers to Berlin” piece, and I’ve got another I think might land just right.
For a decade, indie authors have been given the same instructions. Build a platform. Post daily. Be authentic. Show up, and the readers will follow. The trouble is… the ground has shifted, and the trade is carrying on as though it hasn’t.
I’ve got 800 words on why, and on what to do instead. The numbers are bleak, and I’m a numbers geek, so Socialinsider is my bedtime reading: Facebook engagement now averages 0.15% and X has slipped below it to 0.12%. Facebook’s redesigned feed runs roughly half on posts from accounts you never chose to follow. Sprout Social’s latest survey has half of Gen Z (the BookTok generation) admitting they’ve muted or unfollowed a brand or creator purely for putting out AI slop. And the regulators are slamming the door on the next cohort altogether: Australia’s under-16 ban went live in December and cleared out 4.7 million accounts within weeks, Denmark has agreed an under-15 version due to become law this year, and the UK is doing its usual thing of consulting about whether to consult.
The platforms authors were told to build careers on are thinning out, and the readers coming up behind may not be reachable there at all.
There’s a constructive half to this gloom-mongering. My piece argues for what actually shifts pre-orders now: newsletters, booksellers who genuinely read, podcasts, Substack, a pre-order incentive that’s had more than five minutes’ thought. The tactics everyone filed under “worthy but dull” are the ones doing the heavy lifting. Clear through-line, concrete tactics, my sardonic streak intact.
I write comment for The Bookseller, with pieces also due shortly in Writing.ie and QX Magazine. My new novel is out with Spring Street Books on 18 June, which gives the piece a peg if you want one, though the argument holds without it.
It’s drafted and ready, so I can send it straight over whenever suits.
Best,
Mo Fanning