We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Micky Maxwell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Micky, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
As a book influencer and an ARC reviewer, it’s safe to assume that I read a lot. Typically, I read over a hundred books every year and am blessed to have a full-time job that also funds my love of books, at least partially. Being submerged in this community has opened my eyes to the fact that a lot of people don’t have the same luxuries and rely on public libraries, giveaway wins, or secondhand books in order to read what they love. In the online book community, many people host ‘fairy projects’ or ‘RAOK projects’, (Random Acts of Kindness) which is basically when you purchase a book as a gift off of someone’s amazon wish list for them as a surprise. Although I love taking part in these projects, I found a new passion project which stemmed from this concept.
Many local libraries will have a donation section where you can donate books that they can sell, and they use that money to put back into the community for resources such as laptops, printers, etc., or back into the library itself. As a travel nurse, I find myself amongst many different communities, and I have wanted to find a way to give back with something I’m passionate about like reading. I have hosted a few different projects that use my social media platform to help both public libraries and independent authors. Independent authors have to compete with bigger names and established presses to have their work recognized. Many of them use social media platforms and networking with other book influencers to do so. It’s harder for these authors to end up in big name stores or even the public library.
By combining these two passions, I have hosted several book fairy projects that benefit public libraries and independent authors. Essentially how it works is independent authors can comment on one of these book fairy projects about a book that they’ve self-published that is available for purchase on Amazon. I then add it to an Amazon wish list and choose several at random to “fairy” by purchasing their book as a gift. Unlike other fairy projects where the book goes to person being “faired”, it gets sent to me, and I donate it to a local library. Other people in the book community may also choose to ‘fairy’ them and have the book sent for donation purposes. This helps the indie authors in a few ways. Obviously, it’s a small purchase in the grand scheme of things, but it is still a purchase and a way to say, “we support our indie authors.” Secondly, it’s promoting recognition of them as an author. Like I said, many “indie authors” have a hard time getting into bigger name bookstores or even libraries. By being a book on a shelf for locals to browse through and possibly purchase, hopefully their work will be seen by a community and find a new home. Obviously, the donation helps fund local libraries and the services they provide to the community. My hope is that these books would also be affordable to people in the community who are shopping for secondhand books. It would likely give them options of authors and genres perhaps that are harder to find. Reading in some ways is seen as a luxury, but as something near and dear to my heart, I can’t imagine not having the access or funds to read. Reading is something that I hope many can find ways to enjoy.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
My name is Micky, and I’m a travel nurse, but I love reading. I am an ARC reviewer and book influencer. ARC stands for Advanced Reader Copy. It’s the copy of a book sent out to influencers before release day for them to read in exchange for an honest review. ARC reviewers review on platforms such a GoodReads, Bookbubs, Amazon, and a variety of other retailer sites. They can also use their social media platforms to recommend or review that book however they wish. I work with a handful of PR companies to some of my favorite authors, and I work with many authors directly. I love being the first person to get their hands on a copy of a book! I initially joined to help fuel my rapid consumption of books. It was a great way to get free books, and be exposed to new authors and up and coming authors. I have made many friends since starting my Booktok (TikTok) and Bookstagram (Instagram) accounts, and I have never met a more supportive community! I absolutely adore networking with other influencers who read and authors who may be novice or well established.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I hope to one day complete my very own book. I have several ideas, and have even started a book recently. I hope that all the resources, networking, and following I’ve obtained over the last several months will allow me to be successful on this journey. I’ve made some great author friends who have already given me great advice, and several more who have offered to allow me to reach out to them when I’m further along in my journey for advice.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I started both my TikTok and Instagram in December of 2021. I’ve learned a lot about platforms and building a presence. Both platforms push your content heavily in the first few posts, so think hard about what you want your first posts to be. Be genuine and be you. This is one most people struggle with, including myself. Being active on social media tends to require a lot of confidence to put your face in front of a camera. Most followers want someone they can trust, someone they consider an expert in a niche, someone they can relate to, and someone who is genuine. If I could go back, I would make my first couple of posts on TikTok videos including me in them, but instead I was shy on camera, so I choose to do mainly aesthetic reels for books the first month or so after joining before I built the confidence to be on camera. Being consistent in posting is probably the second most important thing. If you have the time to post once a day or multiple times a day, you can build a following rather quickly. However, consistency is THE key, which means to pick a reasonable number of times you can feasibly post each week and stick to it. Pick a niche and stick to it. Dark romance, contemporary romance, and fantasy romance is my niche. I want the majority of my content to revolve around books because readers are my target audience. I occasionally post my traveling adventures or about my dogs, but even then, I try to somehow include something book related. Many followers are following you for the content you put out because they have an interest in it. If you don’t have a niche, then it confuses your audience and hinders your following. Be engaging and involved in your community. I frequently ask questions on my Instagram posts or my TikTok videos to encourage engagement from my followers. Engagement helps the algorithms of these platforms push your content out, because it sees the audience is actively interested in that post. Again, you are gaining loyal followers who want someone they can trust and rely on, so part of building an audience is engagement with your audience. I carve out a time every day to reply to comments. I also use this time to engage in posts of other influencers who I follow within the same niche. Networking becomes so important to building an audience. When you make friends and connections with other influencers, they are likely to engage in your content when it crosses their feed which then helps your algorithm. Hashtags are important, so use them! It’s how these platforms know who your target audience is and how they push your content to the right viewers. There are so many other great tips out there as well, and you’ll pick up on a lot of them the more involved in your niche you are. Some of it is definitely trial and error, especially in the beginning stages!
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