Curating Online Book Spaces

The online book community can be a great place, but it can also feel daunting sometimes, with unwritten rules you might feel like you ought to follow, regular (and often baffling) platform changes, a huge amount of noise going on all the time (so many people and conversations to follow and keep track of), and the constant temptation to judge yourself against others. Whether you’re a reader, writer, reviewer or combination thereof, it can be easy to get lost amongst everything that’s going on and feel uncomfortable, unhappy, or even burned out. There are few, if any, hard and fast rules or easy answers for how to make the most of the community, but one thing I’ve learned from running Track of Words for nearly a decade is the importance of curating your spaces.

In this case ‘online spaces’ means anywhere you interact online, from social media accounts to your own blog or website. My perspective is naturally based on being both a reader and a blogger/reviewer, and putting most of my online energy into this website and my Twitter account. You will likely have different goals and objectives based on who you are, how you want to interact with the book community and which online spaces you inhabit, but hopefully you’ll find some of my experiences and ideas useful too. There’s a related conversation to be had too around online etiquette, and the expectations for reviewers and authors in particular, but for the time being I’m going to just focus on curation for this article.

Curation, or…What Do You Want?

When I talk about curation in this context what I mean is thinking about what you want to get out of your online spaces and actively working to achieve that, rather than being reactive and getting frustrated by the downsides and pitfalls of online life. For example, I see a lot of people talking about Twitter being a ‘hell site’, arguing with trolls, agonising over followers and engagement numbers, and generally getting wound up while they’re online. Those are all entirely understandable responses, especially given that there are a lot of people out there who go out of their way to cause trouble. But if you’re not enjoying being online, and you’re not getting out of the time you’re spending in your online spaces, then really what’s the point?

If you do want to use social media and/or run a website in the book community, I would really recommend (if you haven’t already) investing some time in deciding what you want from your online spaces. Are you working to build a career? Doing it just for fun? Do you want to write reviews to meet new people? Get free books? Make sure you know what you want to achieve. For example, I run this site – and its associated social media profiles – because I enjoy talking about books, supporting authors and generally immersing myself in the community. I’m not worried about making money, or making sure I have the highest possible follower count. I want to be able to enjoy what I’m doing, and surround myself with all the things I like the most about the book community.

Your approach will inevitably be different to mine, and will depend on what you want to achieve – especially if you’re an author and you want to use social media to build a following and encourage people to read your books. The key thing though is to be really clear in your own mind about exactly that: what do you want? Once you’re clear on that, you can start thinking about how to make it so.

Your Space, Your Rules

It’s really important to remember that your online spaces are yours. You don’t need to be beholden to other people’s expectations or other people’s rules, so you can set your own rules and choose how you interact with others online. Use the tools available to you (more on this in a bit) to curate your spaces to suit your own interests and your own needs, and to shape your interactions online. Crucially, don’t feel bad about not conforming to what other people are doing, and be ruthless if you need to be. You don’t owe anyone your time or space, and nobody is entitled to be able to interact with you. Act quickly and decisively to maintain your spaces as you want them to be.

Consider how you use social media in the light of how you interact in the real world, and apply the same thinking. For example, I don’t enjoy arguing with people, and I wouldn’t choose to spend time around someone who’s argumentative, rude, aggressive, or generally unpleasant. I don’t want that sort of person in my life, so I don’t interact with them, and I walk away if need be. I apply the same approach online; on Twitter, for example, I block mercilessly and only follow accounts I actually want to engage with. I want my Twitter space to be positive, fun, and interesting, so I curate it accordingly.

I’m also not the most sociable person in the real world, and I need plenty of space, peace and quiet – which applies online too. I have periods where I’m really quite active online, and others where I just don’t feel in the mood to be very present, but that’s ok. I’m sure I could grow my online presence if I interacted more, posted more frequently, figured out how to get the most out of Instagram and how to use Tiktok, ran giveaways, and all that jazz…but I don’t really want to. I’m happy with how much time I spend online as it is, and I’ve accepted that there’s a limit to where that’s going to get me, which I’m ok with.

In Practice

Mostly using Twitter as an example, let’s look at some principles which I think are important to keep in mind when online, and some of the tools available to you which can help you to curate your account.

Follow With Care

Who you choose to follow and interact with is a crucial part of your online experience, and in my opinion it’s something that’s easy to get wrong. Fundamentally, I think a good rule of thumb is to only follow people you actually want to hear from. Don’t worry about following someone back just because they follow you, or because you know them in real life, and don’t feel bad about unfollowing someone if what they talk about online doesn’t work for you. There are people I know and really respect in real life, but who use their Twitter accounts to talk about things that I really don’t want to engage with…so I don’t follow them. I wouldn’t be offended if someone didn’t follow me, so I’m fine with the reverse of that.

Use Your Tools

Remember what I said earlier about not spending time around unpleasant people in real life? You can apply the same principle online, and there are tools to help with that. Firstly though, remember this important rule of the internet: don’t feed the trolls. If someone is being horrible, or saying something inflammatory, the single best thing is to starve them: don’t interact in any way if possible, but definitely don’t reply or quote tweet. If you do, you’re just feeding their egos and boosting their engagement. Instead, mute or block them and get on with enjoying a more positive online space.

The Mute and Block tools are absolute essentials for curating a Twitter account, and to a lesser (but still useful) extent the ‘Turn off retweets’ feature. These really are just the online equivalents of choosing not to listen to/engage with people in real life, and they make a huge difference when applied liberally. I know some people aren’t keen on blocking, and that’s totally fine – it’s a personal preference, after all. I have absolutely no compunction about blocking though, and I use it liberally. Instantly blocking any account that promotes a tweet into my timeline has almost become a game now, I’ve done it so often, but I’m so glad I decided to also block pretty much anyone I see being a dick to other people, or generally being obnoxious. My timeline is largely a positive, friendly space, and that’s exactly how I like it.

Looking beyond Twitter for a moment, if you run a website and you allow readers to comment on your posts, remember that there’s nothing wrong with deleting horrible comments. I only do it very rarely, but once in a while I see a comment from someone who clearly hated a book I’ve reviewed, and rather than just ignoring it and moving on, feels the need to shout something hateful for…I don’t know, catharsis, maybe? Those comments go straight into the bin.

Lastly on the tools front, if you’re worried that you’re spending too much time online, or that it’s eating into your productivity (maybe you’re an author, and you find yourself procrastinating by way of social media), then there are also tools available which allow you to limit the amount of time you can be online. I don’t personally use any tools like this so I don’t have first-hand experience of them, but I can absolutely see their utility. I know of at least one author who uses Freedom, and seems very happy with it, so give it a try if you think it might help.

Don’t Sweat the Numbers

It’s easy to get caught up in worrying about stats: site visitors, likes, retweets, interactions, and so on. I’ve definitely been guilty of spending too much mental energy worrying about stats, and letting it affect my mood when things aren’t going as well as I hoped. That’s pretty toxic though, and really doesn’t do you any good – however you use your online spaces. But this is where it’s important to go back to that point about understanding your goals, and reminding yourself what your priorities are.

Even if you’re using your online spaces to build and grow a career, focusing too much on numbers is never likely to be a healthy option. The simple fact is, these things are out of your control – however much you interact online, however many times you post, you can’t force people to engage with you. What you can do is concentrate on what you do best – writing books, writing reviews, whatever else it might be – and try to enjoy yourself. I always feel better if I can put my energy into something productive rather than focusing on things that I can’t control.

***

It should, obviously, go without saying, but all of this works both ways. Treat online spaces like real-world spaces, don’t be a dick, be kind (to others but also to yourself), be polite, and remember that everyone’s a human being. And if someone doesn’t want to follow or engage with you, or uses their own spaces in ways that don’t work for you, then that’s ok too. It’s their choice.

If there’s one thing you take away from this article, it’s to invest that time to really think about what you want out of your online spaces, how much you’re prepared to put into them and what you’re realistically going to get out of them. It can be easy to let yourself get sucked into negativity online, and find it affecting your mental health, which is the absolute last thing you want. A bit of time spent thinking about how to curate your online spaces, protect yourself, and get the most out of them, is a good investment. And if in doubt, you can always remind yourself that you don’t need social media at all, if you don’t want it!

***

I hope this was interesting, and I’d love to hear your thoughts if you have suggestions and recommendations for how you curate your own online spaces. Do let me know, either in the comments below or over on Twitter.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to support Track of Words, you can leave a tip on my Ko-Fi page.