by Erica Vetsch, @EricaVetsch

When it comes to social media, authors have an unprecedented platform from which to share their views and lives with readers. But how much of an author’s life should they share on social media, and which of their views should they talk about on the various outlets available?

Here is one example: If you’re like me, you have the social media world of the most recent US Presidential election season burned onto your retinas. Lots of personal views were shared on social media, rancor, mud-slinging, and much more. Many people, authors included, posted polarizing, vitriolic, and hurtful things in the name of political partisanship. I grew quite adept as scrolling past posts that contained certain political words and images.

Did a single person change their political views as a result of a post on social media? People were ‘un-friended’ and ‘un-followed’ and certainly flamed as a result, but was anyone converted, or were any friendships deepened or edified by such posts? Did anyone who was not a political pundit sell any more books as a result?

Inquiring minds wanted to know what readers thought, so using social media, I ran an unofficial poll, asking how my friends and readers felt about authors posting political views online. As you might expect, the results ran the gamut. One author chimed in that her first amendment rights to free speech were very important to her, and she would post whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. Other author-friends said they were more circumspect in what they posted when it came to political or polarizing notions. The vast majority of the readers who responded said they didn’t like authors posting political views. (The exception being if the author wrote non-fiction with a political basis.) They didn’t appreciate novelists posting about politics and social issues because that wasn’t the reason they followed those authors online.

No author wants to alienate readers and followers, so, how does an author determine what to post? How much is too much? Should authors only post ‘Book Stuff’ and keep the rest to themselves? Should you risk offending up to half your audience in the name of free speech? Should you allow others to tell you what you can and can’t post on your own social media sites? What about free speech?

Answers will vary, but I would challenge you to consider the following tips when getting ready to pull the trigger on a post:

• • Examine your goal with the post – Authors spend years building their platform and crafting their brand and image. Consider whether what you want to post is in line with the brand you have worked so hard to create. Will the post you’re considering putting out there for the world to read contribute to your brand?
  • Consider your audience – Are your readers following you to hear your personal views on world events or politics or religion? Or do they follow you to hear about your fiction, or get a little peek into your everyday world? Is this post for you, or for them?
  • You don’t just represent yourself – If you have a publisher, what you say online reflects upon them. If you have an agent, your posts reflect upon them. Your social media presence also reflects upon the groups and organizations you are affiliated with, your employer if you have a job other than writing, and your family. If you plan to post something incendiary, consider the ramifications. Publishers have dropped authors, employers have fired workers, and families have blown up over social media posts. Followers have fled authors who ‘turn them off’ with the rhetoric of their posts.

• You can’t unsay it – Remember that once you post something online, it’s out there forever. You can delete it later, but once it’s been read or seen, you no longer have control of it. It can be copied, disseminated, spread, and commented upon, even after the original post is deleted.  The writing world is a small one, when it’s all said and done. Agents and editors and readers have good memories, and often, a social media search is one of the first things and agent or editor will do when considering whether to sign an author. If they land on your Facebook page or Instagram account and see nothing by rancor, it might sway them to steer clear of a client who comes off as incendiary.

The freedom to post what you want on your social media is a beautiful gift, and I encourage you to exercise it, but with the caution that just because you can say something doesn’t mean you should. Consider the brand you’ve worked so hard to create, the audience you are trying to reach, the others it might affect, and the permanence and spread your words can have.

 My Heart Belongs in Fort Bliss, TX

Fashion artist Priscilla Hutchens has a grudge against the army that has ruined her family and taken the people she holds most dear. When her twin niece and nephew are left orphaned at Fort Bliss, Texas, she swoops down on Fort Bliss to gain custody of them immediately.

There is just one thing standing in the way—Post surgeon Major Elliot Ryder, who is also the twins uncle, also claims the children and thinks he knows what is best for them.

Priscilla and Elliot will cross swords, but each will have to lay down arms if they are to find a lasting peace on which to form the family both are longing for. Who will win the battle? Or will a truce be called for the sake of love and family?

ERICA VETSCH can’t get enough of history, whether it’s reading, writing, or visiting historical sites. She’s currently writing another historical romance and plotting which history museum to conquer next! You can find her online at www.ericavetsch.com and on her Facebook Page where she spends WAY TOO MUCH TIME! www.facebook.com/EricaVetschAuthor/