I posted my book news on four platforms to compare engagement

Like many book creators out there, I've been looking for a social media platform that would replace Twitter, or at least the early days of Twitter. My go-to social media platform is still Bluesky, where I have the most fun conversations. However, because I'm trying to make a living as a writer and illustrator (not just a fun hobby), I can't ignore some of the other platforms.

I recently posted about the arrival of a lovely box o' books from Simon & Schuster Children's, with contributor copies of the Judy Blume reissues with my illustrations on the cover. FYI, here is the level of engagement I received as of today (Wed. Aug. 5th) at 9:30 am ET after posting across platforms around the same time.

Quick summary, for those who don't want to read the whole post:

(Caveat: This is not meant to be a statistically significant study and is specific to my own situation. Please note, for example, that comment count may include my own replies, thanking people.)

Engagement level of my post, from most to least:

Facebook, personal - 153 Likes, 22 comments
Instagram - 91 Likes, 34 comments
Bluesky - 49 Likes, 7 reposts
Threads - 20 Likes, 1 comment (but that comment is hidden so might be spam?)

My thoughts:

As much as I dislike FB's interface, it's still a platform where I can reach friends and family who are not on other platforms.

On Instagram, I was also able to share my post to a Story, where it was seen by 84 people, some of whom may have clicked through to the post to read more. Judy Blume is also on IG and follows me on IG. I was also able to tag the editor (Jin Soo Chun), art director (Lauren Rille), and my publisher (SimonKids) on that platform.

Bluesky is the platform where I am the most active and engage the most, but I've found people there are much more likely to engage with content that is NOT about book promo. Again, though, this is just my own experience. Yours may differ.

Threads is somewhat frustrating. I've been told a lot of book people are on that platform, so as an experiment I've started to post more there (although granted, I've been often linking to my ATmosphere blogs 😉). When I posted a "feel free to promote your own kid book(s) as well as recommend kidlit books by others" I had way more engagement on Threads than when I posted the same on Bluesky. BUT... none of my other Threads posts that I did right after, even posts related to kidlit, have gotten nearly as much engagement. I had one brief surge of engagement because people wanted to post about their own books (though I did get some recommendations of others as well).

How this will affect where I post:

It's not really going to change much. In terms of social media platforms, Bluesky is still my favorite. With all the moderation tools and control over what I see, I feel the most comfortable there, have the most fun. However, because I do want to connect with those who are interested in me and my work AND because I want to continue making a living writing and illustrating books (e.g. it's not just a hobby I do on the side), I am going to continue to monitor the state of other platforms. And I'm looking forward, with fingers and toes crossed very very hard) to seeing what Bluesky's upcoming Community Spaces feature is like.

But honestly? I am pulling back somewhat from social media -- though I suspect I'll still be posting more often than most. 😉 Instead, I'm leaning toward social blogging on @leaflet.pub and @pckt.blog (I also encourage you to check out @offprint.app, another ATmosphere blogging platform). Complex reasons; I'll be posting more about this in a future Blatherings.

I also think that instead of pushing Bluesky and AT protocol at my kidlit colleagues (which has always been a challenge -- I keep hoping that Bluesky will have non-tech friendly user documentation easily available someday), I'm going to start telling them about a new way of blogging. Most book industry publishing people, I find, care more about being able to reach readers and educators and fellow book creators than they do about understanding the tech underpinnings, owning their own data etc etc. They want to stay in business, they want to find work, they want to pay the bills.

A plea to those hoping for widespread adoption of the ATmosphere:

Please don't make those who are still on other platforms feel like crap. I know of at least a few who have quietly quit Bluesky and gone elsewhere as a result.

Please have good, clear, simple non-techie documentation. I posted more about this here.

Thank you!

For those curious, here's where I posted my book news:

Here's what my post on Bluesky looks like right now (I linked to a Behind-The-Scenes: Judy Blume Process blog post):

On Instagram:

On Threads:

On my personal Facebook (I haven't yet posted on my Business Page because I want to reframe the post to avoid spamming those who follow both my Personal and Business feeds 😁):

For more about me and my work, see https://debbieohi.com/

For more ATmosphere bloggy goodness, see https://debbieohi.com/links/