BUT I DON'T HAVE A HUGE FOLLOWING

Millions of followers on social media won't necessarily translate into millions of books sold.

Someone said to me recently that they're *not* writing a book because they have such a small following on social media.

"Nobody knows who I am. Why would they buy a book from me?"

This whole concept of building a huge following before writing a book can give an author whiplash. On the one hand, if you want to be traditionally published, the Big Publishers do look to see if you have a sizable audience. An author's following can determine who gets a book deal and how big an advance they're paid.

When I signed with Harper Collins I had maybe 500 followers total across all my social media platforms. I was the poster-girl for "who the hell is that?!"

But my books were published to a worldwide audience anyway and they were a modest success. I haven't sold millions of copies but I'm quite happy with the thousands of sales I did get. For those who don't know, the romance genre is massive and it's competitive and it's saturated with books. My publisher was savvy and marketed my books as "perfect for fans of Sylvia Day." She's HUGE in the romance world, so I was humbled to be compared to her.

There's no secret formula to figuring out which books will become bestsellers and which ones will barely register with readers. A lot of it has to do with being the right author with the right book hitting the market at the right time. And just so you know, social media is only one part of why a book takes off or lands flat.

Honestly, before worrying yourself into a panic over all of that, just write your book. All of what I mentioned above won't matter if you don't even have a book to either self-publish or submit to publishers.

Focus on the story you have to tell. Tell it in the way only you can.

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