If you haven’t seen me much on Facebook lately, this is why. I recently got slapped with a “you can’t use this feature” for no apparent reason. It was for “liking” someone’s post on the site after being online for about 5 minutes.
Apparently, I still can’t use the feature on FB after 24 hours as of this writing (there are no warnings on my acct, but it says I was “liking” too many posts as to be spam), so I’m making some decisions about where I do my promotion (I’m an author and I only sell books if I let people know I actually have some to sell). Facebook is a great way to connect with people with general updates. Maybe a quick remark about something that happened, an image of a bird or something funny I’ve seen, or just a quick reminder that I have a book cover up for the Cover of the Month on AllAuthor.
After being on FB for 13+ years, it’s hard to walk away from a promotional outlet after being used to it. I came to the conclusion last night that I might have to leave and find a new way to reach folks if I can’t use the site’s features (and I have no idea why). I tried to look at this from a spiritual perspective and wonder what it is that the Universe is protecting me from.
I admit, I’m very anti-fascist and highly democratic socialist (I want people to be able to live comfortably with all the services our taxes are supposed to provide). Perhaps FB finally sold itself to the regime to be its subtle mouthpiece – I’m not surprised by this as it’s been heading that way – and the Universe is making sure I don’t get caught in their dragnet of detractors. A lot of my colleagues in Romancelandia are like me in this way, and if we could leave the site, we would in a heartbeat. The trick is getting readers to find other social media outlets (they like their FB) to visit. Will they find me on Patreon or my blog (which is apparently coming back if you use substack). FB was easy and everyone was all in one place, centralized – like Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Tumblr-that-was (before they dipped into prudishness and made everyone leave – they reversed that decision when they lost 80% of their patronage).
But hopefully, Tumblr and Mastodon and Patreon and Bluesky will now turn out to be places where I can reach readers who like my books. The books are kick-ass adventure with hot sex, or dauntless romance. The mainstream media (often run by Patriarchal men) would like to call it porn of one kind or another so people will turn their noses up at it, but it’s not. It’s literally family values and connection and honoring all the participants in the relationship as full people. Yes, that means women get multiple orgasms, and they’re described, but that’s the world I want to live in. I want to live in a place where men can love men, women can love women, women can love men, and the non-binary can find a happily-ever-after. If that sounds like something you enjoy reading or you know someone who might like my style of writing, please share my blog here. I’d like to interact and connect with readers who feel the same.