288. Opening Pandora’s Box: Social Media, Publishing, and Facebook

Brave Writer

Julie Bogart and Melissa Wiley

Books, Arts, Education For Kids, Kids & Family, Education

4.8 • 904 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Do you ever wonder why publishing feels harder than ever—even for talented writers? In this episode, we unpack the shifting realities of the publishing world, the gatekeeping role of social media, and how authors are increasingly responsible for their own marketing, platforms, and sales.

We also share a personal story about losing tens of thousands of Facebook followers overnight and how that loss spotlighted the fragile ecosystem of modern author visibility. As always, we advocate for connection over clout and remind you that real growth often happens offline—in living rooms, book clubs, and homeschooling co-ops.

If this conversation resonated with you, share the episode with a friend or leave us a review. Word-of-mouth is still the best algorithm. Listen now for an honest look at the highs and heartbreaks of writing in the digital age.

Resources:

Whether you’re new to homeschooling or a longtime homeschooler who could use an infusion of energy and fresh enthusiasm, our free Welcome Home webinar series is for you! Register now to join us on May 20-22!
https://bravewriter.com/landing/welcome-home/
Purchase Julie’s new book, Help! My Kid Hates Writing!
Check out Julie’s new author website: juliebogartwriter.com
Subscribe to Julie’s Substack newsletters: Brave Learning with Julie Bogart and Julie Off Topic
Try out our Brave Writer Practice Pages
Learn more about the Brave Writer Literature & Mechanics programs
Read all Brave Writer class descriptions
Start a free trial of CTCmath.com to try the math program that’s sure to grab and keep your child’s attention
Sign up for our Text Message Pod Ring to get podcast updates and more!
Send us podcast topic ideas by texting us: +1 (833) 947-3684

Connect with Julie:

Connect with Melissa:

Website: melissawiley.com
Substack: melissawiley.substack.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	Looking for a great math program?
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0:11.0	creative graphics and animation that are sure to grab and keep your child's attention.
0:17.0	Here's a great testimonial from Lori.
0:20.0	She said, one day, my 10-year-old was in tears over math.
0:23.6	I tried my best to help, but I ended up in tears as well.
0:27.6	That very night, I received an email offer for CTC Math.
0:32.6	The following Monday, we reviewed the curriculum together.
0:35.6	She was willing to give it a shot, and we have never looked back.
0:41.0	Start your free trial today by visiting ctcmath.com.
0:49.3	Even as we're recording, Facebook is chatting me up like the good AI bot that it is.
0:58.2	It just said, please let me know if I can call you over.
1:02.0	Red Rover, Red Rover.
1:04.5	Red Rover.
1:08.1	Julie, it's so hard to be a human.
1:10.9	Well, it is.
1:11.7	And interestingly, so where you and I started to go, and this is kind of interesting because we were going to talk about format writing, but I want to bring this in.
1:19.4	One of my friends just sent me a substack article that is all about how publishing is operating right now, Melissa.
1:28.9	And basically, they're giving the vast majority of their money to the largest celebrities,
1:35.8	the most well-known people, no matter whether their books are good or not.
1:39.7	And then they do what they call like a gamble.
1:42.9	They're rolling the dice, and they have certain levels of
	...

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