It is undeniable that social media has caused an explosion in human communication. Social media has localized communities that are geographically thousands of miles away. When it comes to authors, social media has made it much easier for them to directly connect with their readers like never before. However, despite the obvious benefits that social media holds for authors, some of them are still reluctant to join the fray. It is surprising that some authors are yet to be convinced to join their fans in social media.

The invention of social media brought about a paradigm shift in the way authors get published. Traditionally published authors used to have the upper hand when it came to interacting with their readers. Social media leveled the playing field and gave all authors the ability to talk to readers directly and know what is on their minds. The idea of learning how to use social media intimidates some authors. Sometimes authors simply don’t want to spend time learning how social media can help them. This is despite the fact that social media can help authors in virtually all genres. There are three main excuses that authors use to avoid getting into social media.

One of the most common excuses is that an author’s audience is not on social media. However strange this excuse seems, it is quite common. Right off the bat, it doesn’t even seem like an excuse at all. It is true that some audiences might be more into social media than others. However, nobody can refute that all audiences can be reached via social media. Some authors might take time before finding their audience on social media and the process might have a learning curve. There are many hard facts about the importance of social media to authors. For example, it is impossible for a book to do well nationally without the help of social media. It doesn’t matter if an author is published by a big publishing house or if he sells the books out of his garage.

Another common excuse is that social media is a waste of time. Authors say that it is easy to waste time doing nothing on social media sites. Another reason why they think social media is a waste of time is because there is a lot of trashy content on social media and skimming through the trash to find good content is not worth the time. However, what these authors fail to realize is that social media is a neutral platform. What social media delivers is what is truly on peoples’ minds. Though there is a lot of ‘noise’ on social media, there many making valuable connections on the sites.

The third reason authors give is that they don’t have the time. However, it doesn’t make sense for authors to dismiss an important tool for their businesses because of lack of time. They simply have to find time because it is important.