content I've been trying lately
and why
VOX’s book critic Constance Grady recommended If You’re Seeing This, It’s Meant for You as one of her top 6 summer reads on NPR’s program 1A, telling NPR, “Leigh Stein is such an interesting presence in the literary world….[her new book is] a gothic novel that uses the TikTok hype house as the gothic manor, which I think is a genius concept.”
In my family, I have a reputation for always being right and for being the absolute worst photographer. My husband’s concert photos are framed in our living room. My younger sister is a professional wedding photographer. My aunt is a great photographer. My dad is a great photographer. I may have 16,119 items in my camera roll but what I don’t have is “an eye.” Both my sister and my husband have spent time trying to teach me “framing.” I can’t see it! Two days ago at the beach, Brian asked me to take his picture and then said, “Why are you holding the phone down at that angle?”
I don’t know!
This is all to explain why I wasn’t “good” at Instagram for many years. It was the photo app—and because I’m so verbal, many photos I took were of words on signs. Of places I visited. Of food I ate. I lived through the era of the girlboss, when it seemed like every ambitious millennial was posing for the grid in Rent the Runway, with her Drybar hair, and her contouring makeup, except for the one week a year when she was in a swimsuit at an all-inclusive resort. Were they constantly being followed by professional photographers or was everyone but me a professional photographer?
Then in 2021, the literary agent
, who has always been an early adopter on social media, asked me if I wanted to join a one-week challenge to post Reels. Although I was just as reluctant as all of you to get on camera (and this was the summer of my wedding, so I had a good excuse to say “no thank you”), I had fun once I started making them. The year after that, I joined TikTok.I know that a lot of you live in fear of me telling you that you have to post video content, but I gotta tell you: finding out that I can tell stories through video, without being a good photographer, has been a joyful surprise.
For my diamond medallion members, this week I’m going to share several post formats that I’ve been trying lately (not all video), and how you can make them work for you.
Make content for your friends
If you’re uncomfortable making a video about yourself, what if you made a video as a gift to a friend for their launch?
I’m always trying to think of fresh angles for the most common author content (PM announcement, cover reveal, unboxing video1, launch day). On pub day, many writers ask their friends to share their book covers in their Stories or post on the grid. There’s nothing wrong with this! But it doesn’t tell a story. It’s not the kind of content that gets shared beyond your inner circle.