Kara's Book Cravings: Killer Content

I am not a TikTok girl. I don't like making videos, and I don't understand the whole influencer thing -- yeah, yeah. I know. I'm showing my age. And that's what this book is mostly about: teen influencers living under one roof, competing for sponsors, views, followers, etc. So, I wasn't sure I was going to like this book when I bought it, but it was only $5.00, and I figured I'd give it a shot.  

I'm glad I did. 

KILLER CONTENT by Kiley Roache is a YA thriller / murder mystery. As I said above, a group of TikTok influencers live together in a house and are doing sponsored ads and collaborations, etc. While I don't fully understand that life, I found myself oddly invested in it. 

But then one of the housemates ends up dead, and everyone inside the house becomes a suspect. Each person had clear motive to kill, and so it really was a crazy ride trying to figure out who did it. 

And then the twist is revealed, and my jaw dropped! Now, I've seen this twist used before (I don't want to spoil anything, hence the vagueness), but never done as well as this was. What also shocked me was that the reveal of "whodunit" was done near the middle of the book, rather than closer to the end. I thought that would effect the overall pacing and my enjoyment of the book, but it really didn't. If anything, it kept me engaged even more because I needed to know what was going to happen next. I really do love books that make me feel that way :-)

It's safe to say that I really liked this book. I don't know if this author has written anything else, but I plan to find out!

What was the last book you read that really surprised you?

Thursday Thoughts: Social Time Suck

 

As authors, we're often told by our fellow authors, industry professionals, marketers, promoters, bloggers, readers and a host of other people that we have to be on social media. That we need to have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Goodreads, and whatever new site pops up every so often. We need to post multiple times a day. We need to stay on top of all the new trends while being "real" and honest and commenting on large world events -- or even smaller conflicts within our community. 

Well, I'm here to ask WHY? Why do I need to do all of that stuff? I'm an author. My job is to write, isn't it? Shouldn't my focus be on writing books for people to read? Yeah, but... how will people know about your books if you're not on social media? 

Let me be clear that I'm not against social media. Just the opposite. I actually enjoy it when I'm using it organically and for fun. But when I'm actively trying to engage with readers or create content with the goal of garnering engagement, I find myself hating it. I come to loathe logging into my accounts. And spending so much time creating content, posting content, and then monitoring engagement takes valuable time away from the three things that are way more important: 

1. My family

2. My health

3. My writing

So, again, I find myself asking WHY? Why do I need to do all of this extra stuff? And the answer is: I don't! Do you know how freeing that is?? I don't have to spend hours every week scheduling engagement posts across all my social media platforms. I don't have to create content for my readers. And you want to know why? Because my books are my content. 

I write and publish books to entertain readers and engage with them on a deeper level. Does this mean I'm going to quit social media all together? Of course not. But instead of focusing on all the various platforms, I'm going to focus more of my time and effort on this blog, my newsletter, and writing my books. I'll share my blog posts to my social media profiles, and I'll post when I have something fun to share, but I'm no longer posting daily / weekly memes or questions. And you will never see me dancing on TikTok!

Goodbye social media time suck!

Got thoughts about this topic? 

Share them in the comments below.