Can Books Survive Social Media Addiction?

 

 

The other day I felt like a teen-ager, getting swallowed up into the great black hole that is social media. This had not happened to me before. Up until now, I used the Internet to serve my needs — to help my authors promote their books and for me to market my business. But I made the mistake of taking a look at the hyped-up, grab-your-mindshare and soul of Instagram reels -- and was mesmerized for hours.

I almost couldn’t get out, just glued to my iphone and swiping endlessly of cute animals doing silly things, perfect-bodied women flaunting their assets to music, comedic videos, make-you-think nuggets of wisdom, nostalgic imagery, and death-defying acrobatics involving race cars, crazy plane maneuvers, police chases, and unbelievable stunts. No wonder why no one reads books anymore.

Think about it.

Which is more interesting: reading this blog or watching a video of a talking dog doing something funny? If you have 20 spare minutes, do you read 15 pages of a novel or do you scroll through videos of the hottest bodies and cutest dogs that you can ever imagine?

Half of these staged events look touched up, faked, and heavily edited,  but no matter how much I told myself what I am seeing is not always natural or real, I sat with my fullest attention devoted to whatever I clicked on.

The world looks amazing when all that you see are things that make you laugh, feel good, or stimulate your libido. Pretty people in beautiful settings. No wars, crime, disease, crying kids, car repairs, bad weather, aging, hate, work, taxes, bullying, or obligations here. Just fun, fun, fun.  Who doesn’t want to escape to that?

Who has the strength to look away from pain-free imagery that costs zilch to view, requires nothing of us, and seems perfectly innocent. It is like watching cartoon characters fall off a cliff in one scene but then they come back unscratched in the next. These videos display a constant barrage of amazing, riveting, gravity-defying, feats and stunning images. It is all untaxed eye candy.

But we know these reels don’t depict the world as it is. These are the extreme exceptions, those rare instances that make us feel good. They are more fantasy than reality. Life is meant to be lived, not to passively experience it by viewing unreal videos.

There is a time and place for something that makes us feel good, but like any addiction, too much of something is not healthy or productive. We need to live balanced lives. But like I said, social media makes it very inviting to get sucked into.

Books have to compete with each other but they also compete with every other form of entertainment and information. Content is king and right now social media is running away by leaps and bounds. My experience down this rabbit hole of Instagram surfing has left me changed.

First, I now have an addiction that needs to be contained. Second, I realize that authors will need to go to more extremes to compete with this. It is crystal clear to me that for books to survive, the 40 and under crowd will need to be marketed to differently.

Does this mean authors have to hire a 20-year-old woman with an ass made out of curved steel to promote their book online with the name of the book tattooed to her six-pack —or to recruit a hunky stuntman daredevil to leap off of a skyscraper with your book cover image stamped on his  parachute — or to display a dog in a dress while a dubbed-in human voice provides praise for your book?

Maybe.

Hello. I am Brian Feinblum, and I am an addict. Please help me.

 

Need PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with 3.6 million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.6 million pageviews. With 4,800+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.