Balance
How do you balance your personal life and your author image?
It can be tricky with social media. It is easy to tweet or post complaining about the traffic, about your neighbors, the weather, etc. It is also incredibly easy to share too much information about your personal life.
Many people follow authors because they first and foremost love what you create, but also because you are a real, living, breathing human who is going through life just as they are. Sometimes people want those insights into your everyday life. Some only care about when your next book is going out. Finding that balance is the hard part.
If you find yourself to be very reserved, give your followers a teeny bit of insight into your life. You can keep it professional by sharing something you do in regard to your writing process, or maybe it's a photo from the walk you take every day. If you find yourself sharing every thought that comes into your head, take a step back and ask yourself if it is professional or not.
If you are at a loss for which of these you tend to fall into, take a long, hard look at all of your accounts. Compare that to the account of a highly regarded author that you love. Notice the differences, make notes, and make changes.
Scrutinize each piece of content you want to share. Have a friend or peer check it for you if you think it might be too revealing, or too cold. Striking the balance between appearing human and professional is challenging, but as long as you take the time to review each thing you share, you will add so much more to your combined online presence.
