Social Media for creators: exploring, explaining and justifying

Why a creator's social media presence matters, with special mention of Gabino Inglesias and Angel Fux

This is a lengthy and detailed glimpse into the reasons why social media plays such an active part in a creator’s life today: reading time is 15 minutes (3400 words).

A warm welcome to my latest subscriber Holly and reader Leon.

Table of contents

• Love hate relationship with social media

• The enduring presence of insecurities

• Internal and external mental battles

• Hindsight into my professional life

• Inspiration from unlikely or unrelated niches

  • Gabino Inglesias (horror writer)

  • Angel Fux (landscape photographer and composite artist)

• My social media journey

  • Multiple niches

  • The peculiar need to justify and explain while feeling defensive (or protective) (includes real life example)

• Final remarks (safety, harassment and links)

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Love hate relationship with social media

Many of us have a love-hate relationship with social media. I’ve come to terms, over the years, in making peace with these apps as a somewhat necessary evil impacting my entrepreneurial spirit. The fact remains that social media is where the people are, and the people who engage with my content sometimes become important connections and occasionally even convert into customers.

If you’re a writer, artist, musician, knitter, sewer, farmer, photographer, cook or chef, pottery maker, interior decorator, architect, fashion or jewelry designer, or any other type of artistically-inclined maker of stuff - physical or virtual - then you know what I mean.

This newsletter is in part dedicated to those of you who identify with one of the above labels (or a related one not mentioned).

It is also dedicated to you if you desire to be a creator (budding photographer, desire to start a blog or virtual journal) but your forward propulsion is inhibited by fear or uncertainty.

The enduring presence of insecurities

Did you know even creators whose names have become recognizable in a specific niche (or across multiple niches) continue to battle insecurity?

Creators of every success level struggle with this; from the humble but enthusiastic beginner with nary a penny to their name to the hard-core successful survivor earning sustaining income from their passion.

Many of these people are on the internet sharing their journeys, vacillating between ‘keep going no matter what’ and ‘stop this madness and give up’.

If you are a self-described creator or desire to be one, you may be familiar with hearing voices - from others or inside your own head - which influence you at every turn in one direction or another.

Consider this: you are the only person who thinks inside your head. Free will allows you to choose which thoughts you accept as true. Choose wisely.

If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.

Henry Ford

Internal and external mental battles

A former friend once called my creative efforts a ‘meager’ income source. At the time, he was not wrong - I was eyeball deep in youth sports parenting, unfocused and eternally distracted - but hearing his accusation declaration didn't exactly spark my confidence. To this day, I find myself tripping over this word occasionally when it creeps into my conscientiousness every so often.

I have free will and can choose to dismiss this thought, but I struggle to do so.

The same friend who pointed out the meager income of my creative efforts acknowledged how integral and central writing is to my personality and character. He is (was) one of few who understood this primal need I have to express myself with the written word. (The mixed messages are, in part, the reason he is now a former friend, no longer a current one.)

I wake up at the proverbial crossroad almost every morning. Do I keep writing or do I give up? If I give it up, what should I do instead?

Writing is the most elemental thing that causes me joy (even when I’m up to my eyeballs in editing - a less desirable activity - or compiling rejections from submissions). To give up writing, to stop sharing on public platforms would be akin to losing a limb. I can’t imagine a life without writing or sharing my words.

But.

Income is important. Sustainable income is important. I know how to earn income; I did it for years in a creativity-killing corporate environment. I have zero desire to go back there (but will if we end up on the brink of starvation).

My issue isn’t so much that I can’t find a way to bring in a sustaining income from writing, it’s rather that I haven’t figured out yet how to make this happen on my own terms. Writing has always been a side-hustle for me. Along with that comes a healthy dose of guilt: can I - should I - continue to focus so much of my passion on a self-described side hustle while I let the rest of the family do the financial heavy work?

It leads to more questions:

• How do I convince the world that my content - my creativity - has monetary value?

• How do I bring in sustaining income from my content creation, my writing?

• How do I push past the inhibition? What is causing the inhibition?

Perhaps the first step is to stop giving it all away for free.

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.

Confucius

Hindsight into my professional life

I supported myself since the day I left home for University. I returned home for a time when my then-job (flight attendant after graduation) didn’t pay me enough to pay the rent. It was fine, manageable, to stay with my parents temporarily. By the time I hit my mid-20s though I deeply desired to obtain my own place. The job bored me after a while; serving meals and drinks for hours isn't exactly a creativity-inducing passion. Most of our flights were turn-arounds (only periodic layovers). Charter airline flying wasn’t the same thing as flying for a national carrier, and during the 1990s, national airline jobs in Canada were difficult to land. I realized soon enough if I desired to have an independent life, and live in my own apartment, I needed to find another job. I did, in a corporate environment, which I thought was my ticket to expand my talents and skills.

I was wrong.

Once I familiarized myself with my job description, I began to look for other opportunities within the company. I applied for a few things and although I appreciated the chances to try something different, I soon discovered they had other plans for me. The jobs, which I once thought held so much promise, didn’t spark any creativity to speak of, or, if they did, they were squashed by self-serving superiors who preferred their subordinates to stay in their lane. They were not interested in creative injections into their work environment.

I remember a marketing manager in St. Louis and an account manager in La Guardia who pulled the rug out from under me after supportive documents arrived to reimburse me for seminars I obtained permission from my local Toronto manager to attend. The classes were not in vain, the lessons were well-received, but later, I was out several hundred dollars after I had been promised I would be reimbursed.

Side note: There were a few supervisors who recognized and even acknowledged my desire to explore creative endeavors within my job description, especially in the local Marketing department; but they did not have a managerial role and were therefore limited in terms of helping me pursue new opportunities.

This was around the time of the new millennium, when internet - particularly the handheld devices - had not yet become a household necessity. Creating side-hustles from home wasn’t quite as easy then as it is today.

Shortly after 9/11, the company restructured and downsized and let a bunch of people go, including me. I accepted the meager package they offered me and went back to University to earn a Technical Writing certificate.

It would be another decade before I began to write in earnest; we bought a house and had two babies in three years. I began writing a personal blog, first on Blogger and later on WordPress. It was on the latter platform where I acquired an engaging tribe of like-minded people - moms and dads who loved to write - many of whom I still maintain contact with today.

And this is where the social media began to play an active role in my world.

Inspiration from unlikely or unrelated niches

Some of the most significant inspirations have come from people who create something completely different from what I create. There are countless creators I could mention, but in the interest of brevity, I will focus on only two:

Gabino Inglesias is a horror writer and Angel Fux is a landscape photographer.

Both of these people mention their struggles on social media while simultaneously providing details into their own journeys or sharing tips or encouragement.

I stumbled across Gabino Inglesias via Twitter and Angel Fux on Instagram.

I have asked for and received permission to write about them and use their quotes.

Let’s begin with the horror writer.

Gabino Inglesias

Writer/reader/speaker/music lover/book reviewer/freelancer/photographer/PhD/New York Times horror columnist (and published author).

I discovered that Mr. Inglesias’s written voice in his 280-character tweets somehow appealed to me. Yes, almost every tweet he pushed across the internet was related to his horror books, a genre I don’t typically read (but sometimes watch on TV). The appeal wasn’t so much the genre, but rather, the journey of writing which he is so intimately involved in. He comes across as humble, respectful and empowering which translates into inspiration, at least for me.

While he is currently enjoying quite a bit of success from his published books and actively writes on a (some) new one(s), he continues to support and encourage all of us lesser known writers - no matter our subject matter or niche - to just keep going.

He exemplifies the term writing community in its essence. #writingcommunity

Allow me to illustrate with some direct quotes from Gabino Inglesias:

Stay on the journey

Many people have a book in them, but it takes a special kind of freak to leave the Land of Laziness, cross the Plains of Procrastination and Insecurity Mountain, find the Blade of No One Made You Do This, and use it to cut your chest open and yank that book out. (via Twitter/X)

Battle insecurities

Keep writing. When no one cares, persist. When things appear to be crumbling, keep at it. When it’s difficult, push through. When you feel alone, listen to the stories in your blood. Just write. The world needs you to tell your truth through your words. (via Twitter/X)

Find your readers

Write that thing. I wanna read it. Others also want to read it, no matter what your insecurities tell you. Write it. (via Twitter/X)

Another thing Mr. Inglesias did was publish some of his one-star reviews on his book. Ha! This reminds me a little bit of the nail in the wall Stephen King used to fasten every rejection he ever received.

These are some of the 1-star reviews Gabino Inglesias received on one of his books:

• most graphically violent book I have ever read.

• I don’t need this much darkness and depravity in my reading.

• Well-written but with unimaginable violence and brutality.

If you’re reading this Mr. Inglesias, thank you for your sense of humour, your inspiration and your deep and resonating insights into the writing journey.

Angel Fux

Landscape Photographer, Composite Artist & Writer | Building my one-person business and sharing everything along the way

I discovered Angel on Instagram when she published some artistic photos of mountains. She lives in Switzerland but travels the world to follow her passion, which is to take photos of mountains which she then edits into art.

After a while, I signed up for her newsletter. She, like me, publishes her letters (as she calls them) only once a week, which is enough for those of us who subscribe to multiple newsletters (and also read blogs and other content). I read most of what she publishes, but the newsletter on March 30 titled Letting Your Perfectionism Get In The Way (Why you should separate your content from your art) made a particularly potent impression.

The following segment is taken from that newsletter and talks about why she shares her content on social media, and expands on her battle with exploring beyond the boundaries of her niche.

This resonates for me; I too explore multiple niches in writing and with other creative pursuits.

Letting your perfectionism get in the way

by Angel Fux (partial segment from her newsletter)

Your content is not your art.

It can be. But if you’re anything like me, you may not be out shooting every week and editing new images every day.

This is why content started to matter to me.

Not to get into the infinite void of social media, but because I wanted to share other things too. I enjoy writing, I enjoy filming, I enjoy discussing topics like fitness, business, and spirituality. For many years I felt like my platforms should only include my photography and nothing else, or people would lose interest.

But posting only once a month didn’t feel like I was using properly what I wanted to create. So I changed that.

I lost people on the way, I still am, but it’s okay.

This is not what matters.

What matters is knowing you are doing the right thing for you and attracting other humans who may benefit from what you are doing. (Angel Fux)

Angel addressed many of my own concerns in this newsletter, particularly the multi-interests and desire to dabble in them all. Mostly, she emphasizes that following your truth, your passion, will eventually lead to the desired connections. For her, it resulted in a sustaining income, which of course is also a desired result.

My social media journey

Here’s what I’ve discovered over the years during my own travels through the social media apps, such as picture-heavy Instagram and Pinterest, word-heavy Twitter/X and my well-attended and engaged blog, or video-heavy TikTok an YouTube:

I get bored with the same old content from people who only post about their very specific niche, and never explore beyond that realm.

The trick, I think, is to become a recognizable brand, something that clearly demonstrates what this person’s main passion is about, but to divert occasionally into other fields of interest in order to preserve ongoing interest.

When I read Gabino’s tweets, I am continuously reminded he is a horror author. But that’s not his only interest. He takes beautiful, candid, black-and-white photographs, shares the odd glimpse into his life or activities, and showcases art and music he appreciates. He also takes his short tweets and expands them in his substack newsletter.

Angel Fux does similar in that the bulk of her platforms show her photography, but she also uses video to talk to her viewers about her challenges as a creator, and how she solves problems. She writes letters about her journey, tips on how she overcame certain obstacles, and similar content. And, she dabbles in spirituality and fitness, as she mentioned.

Multiple niches

Those of you who know me in real life, or who have followed my content for years (!) know I am a writer at heart. But there is another creative force within me which surfaces regularly, particularly when I am writers-blocked or trying to write while away from my room with a door (at my mom's house):

I like to craft with my hands.

I create jewelry and other accessories from new and donated materials and upcycle them for sale. I used to have a virtual store but I closed it due to budgetary constraints. Stay tuned, I'm exploring other options to sell my beautiful jewelry. Check out my Instagram by clicking the button below.

I also like creating art; most recently, graphic art. I have designed, for example, all the newsletter headers/covers myself using yet another app (Canva - free version). Likewise, I created my own self-published book covers the same way. I discovered I enjoy the designing artistic representations of my ensuing, inevitable word flow which I present all over the internet.

But how does one convert all this into a sustaining income stream?

That’s the ultimate question I keep coming up against.

As I continue to pursue the answer, I write my thoughts down and share them with my readers (you).

The peculiar need to justify and explain while feeling defensive (or protective)

My original intent was to justify my social media presence to myself and my readers as well as to the people in my orbit with this newsletter.

There’s a reason for that:

I got defensive a handful of times in recent years (quietly, not argumentatively) when I sat with a group of people who denigrated social media and attacked it from various angles. Meanwhile, these same people were passive consumers of the same apps they were criticizing, sometimes vehemently denying they were on those apps. (They were, I can see further than they realize.)

As I listened to their opinions, I felt an increasing desire to defend the creators. The criticizers who consumed social media passively and secretly were sometimes harsh in their views about content on social apps. This only made me feel even more protective over the creators. Yes, I know there is a lot of stupidity on the web in general, but have these people looked past the idiocies and appreciated just how much effort goes into designing quality content?

I ended up not say anything and sat there feeling invisible and besieged.

This newsletter is in part my way of making my voice heard.

Fun fact: I know of a professor who was commissioned to teach something not part of his regular subject matter. As a person who does not use any social media, he had to teach college-aged kids about social media. This is mind-boggling to me - how can a person who doesn’t use the apps teach students who practically grew up with a phone in their hands teach them about these apps? Moreover, does his accreditation and credentials in an unrelated field make his knowledge about social media - which he likely acquired simply by consuming other people’s content - not creating it himself - more superior to those who actively create content for public consumption?

To his credit, he found the perfect solution: he had his students pick one app and present aspects about that platform to the rest of the class. They we're to include a variety of topics such as safety, legality, reach, algorithm behaviour, AI and more.

That’s one way of learning something new, isn’t it; from end-users (who not only consume but also create content). These students researched behind-the-scenes, looked deeper into the generating company and related matters and presented their findings in front of a classroom to encourage open discussion.

Final remarks

There is of course the acknowledged risk of privacy invasion, stalking, harassing and other nefarious activity present in all internet activity, especially in social media apps, all of which I am keenly aware of. I read the terms and privacy updates and keep myself informed. I understand how companies we rely on for insurance, finances and related activities could and likely do dig into our online presence and pass judgement in whatever format that will lead them to extract more money out of us. I get it.

But this newsletter isn’t about them. Bowing out completely from all social media or internet activity is becoming increasingly difficult. Yet we creators, entrepreneurs, small-business owners, we rely on social media to let people know where we are and how to get a hold of our creations.

Rather than focusing on those who do not use social media, I wanted to focus on those who do good with their social media presence. I wanted to focus on the creators, the small businesses, the entrepreneurs who desire to pursue their passions with the help of social media apps.

I have introduced two creators who inspire others online here in my newsletter - Gabino and Angel - but there are many others. I’m sure you can compile your own list.

May they inspired you as much as they have inspired me.

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