AUGUST 2025
In every system, without the right pair of stilts, one soon reaches limits that cannot be crossed. Call it the law of the shelves, or rather, what is known as the glass ceiling. One can wear oneself out attempting to overcome it, or else choose to think laterally and attempt to make headway crabwise, walking sideways.
YouTube Studio and Pinterest, here I come.
I had begun building an armada of short videos, or shorts, to draw the passing trade's attention to my modest little book. Why limit myself to Instagram, Facebook and TikTok? YouTube Studio and Pinterest thus inherited some seventy of my videos, each built upon a different set of hooks, every social network having its own codes, at times utterly irreconcilable with success.
Thus, whereas Instagram calls for a modicum of intellectual effort, TikTok, on the other hand... How shall I put it? I don't wish to sound as though I'm cutting off the branch I'm sitting on, but I had to dial down the sophistication of the message a notch, and invest in one of those wretched ring lights, for to stand the slightest chance of breaking through on BookTok, one must bare one's soul and, failing any better references, one's face. The rawer and more "unpolished" it looks, the better it goes down. One ought to have known. This perhaps explains why I do not feel at ease there. But BookTok lives on TikTok, and I have no choice, if I wish to make the book known, but to "BookTok" myself.
So, off we go, then, to YouTube Studio, where I learned the art of measured pacing, the rhythm of publishing. YouTube Studio swiftly became a relative success, simply by posting in an almost mechanical fashion every Monday and Thursday. It is remarkable how well consistency pays off! Rather like at the gym.
A more middling success on Pinterest. People like and click. I installed a sort of tracker measuring outbound clicks from Pinterest to my website. Gaining followers there, however, would give even King Arthur a run for his money. I am still searching for the Holy Grail. Nothing seems to work.
As incredible, not to say ridiculous, as this may seem, I have spent more time creating content than writing my book. And this frenzy comes at a cost, in hard cash. To break through, one must from time to time boost — that is, sponsor — one's videos; it is expensive, does not last, and ultimately has rather little impact unless one is prepared to spend eye-watering sums.
This whole exercise in self-promotion still failing to produce truly satisfactory results, I opted for another solution: offering the book free of charge for fifteen days. My reasoning was that this would allow me to demonstrate, to some prospective publishing house, how many copies had gone out, should self-publishing ever come to weary me.
I am nonetheless proud to share with you that I have shifted, in a little over four months, combining outright sales and free access, more than 100 copies.