The 5-minute habit that helped me to not give a...

Care. That's the end to the sentence, care.

Photo by Bruna Araujo on Unsplash

A few years ago, I got obsessed with TikTok.

Booktok was really taking off, and I started an account and posted everything I was learning about book marketing on there. I loved it. Was making a couple of TikToks a day at one point, and really enjoyed my time on the platform.

A few of my videos went viral and got millions of views, I got lots of followers, I taught free workshops for other authors on how to use the platform, did a couple of 1:1s, did some work on there with small businesses, collaborated with brands, and then…I can’t remember what happened.

I think I got busy with other work stuff.
I took on another gig that meant I didn’t have enough time, or maybe it was finishing my novel, anyway, the upshot is that I stopped posting over on there for a while. And even now, don’t post on there as nearly as much as I did.

And it was only when I was chatting to someone just the other week, who had noticed this, and asked me, ‘Did you stop posting on TikTok because you started to feel awkward?’ that I realised something.

To which, I laughed. Belly laughed because it’s mad.

And then I laughed more at laughing.

This was because of two things, the first one is that hell no, I did not stop posting on TikTok because I felt awkward.
That didn’t even come into it.
And the second thing is, upon realising I felt zero cringe, and that if someone had asked me that question five years ago, I would’ve been so cringe and awkward, I wouldn’t even have a TikTok account, was hilarious.

So what changed?

I went from only doing fancy, aesthetic type posts on Instagram, with open books and Lake District scenery, to chatting away to the camera and not even bothering to watch it back before hitting post.

And I swear it’s because of this simple 5 minute habit.

It’s so easy, and if you want to get comfortable in front of the camera, and if you have a book to promote then I suggest you do, give this go.

Because we all know, a successful writing career isn’t just about the words in the book. It’s not enough anymore. You need to be visible. Grow a brand. And with all the AI out there, this is more important than ever.

So here’s what you’re going to do…

Every day, could be in the morning, evening, whenever you have time.

Start recording voice memos to yourself.

Not to post, or to share, just to talk to yourself. Out loud.

Start off doing it privately. Yes, you will feel silly. Yes, you will have no idea what to say. But start there and then, take it outside.

Next step is to record your voice memos in public.
Walking down the street, through the supermarket, anywhere you can. You don’t have to be loud, you just have to get into the idea of recording a monolouge.

Think of it this way, if you were on a video call with someone, you wouldn’t have the same awkward feelings, you just need to get used to talking to yourself out loud.

Then try to take it to video….!

And here’s the thing, after you’ve done the whole voice memo thing, this step is NO BIG DEAL.

You’ve done the voice memos, which means you’ve got used to listening to your own voice, got used to talking with no one interrupting, and got used to taking the fear out of pressing the record button.

Here’s some prompts to get you started if you can’t think of what to say to get going.

• “Here’s what I’m working on right now…”

• “The question I keep getting from readers…”

• “One thing I wish someone told me when I started writing…”

• “Here’s what I’m stuck on (and why I think it matters)…”

I made this Instagram just earlier, it was fiddly and took an age, but it was so much fun!
It’s been up for just over a half hour and here are the insights:

That’s the largest percentage of non followers I’ve had in a while, and you can see how it’s performing to my typical reel, so showing your face is a winner. I’m getting comments as I type this to you and over on TikTok, it’s got me five new followers already. Give it a try.

Want some other ideas on how you can ease into the land of reels and TikTok without having to do a minute long video?

Here you go, these are super easy content ideas, all trending for May. They will take you 10 minutes or so and remember, you can repost these everywhere.