I Am Now On TikTok (Gasp!)

Nearly three weeks ago, I took the bold step of finally setting up a TikTok account!

Some backstory: Andrew York, the star of Hold My Beer, had recommended that I get on TikTok because of a trend known as "BookTok," where authors post videos talking about their books and their personal writing journeys. Apparently, this trend had - and is helping - some authors gain new readers, which is something that the Joel Suzuki series could sure use. 

But while I appreciated his suggestion, I didn't do it at first, for two main reasons: (1) I had an iPhone 6, which, because of its inability to update its operating system, had a hard time running apps and was only good for texts and phone calls and (2) I was terrified of TikTok.

I had never used TikTok before, even just to watch stuff for fun, and the thought of creating an account and posting videos of myself was very intimidating. But then I remembered that I'd actually been doing similar things using other platforms like Facebook and YouTube for years. I also took the momentous step of getting a new phone. At that point, I had no excuse.

So I set up an account and lurked for a while, watching videos from other authors as well as from different kinds of creators, and then, once I got my courage worked up, I took the plunge. And honestly, it's been going pretty well so far! I've been trying to do at least one post a day, and I've been focused on telling the story of how the Joel Suzuki series got started, how it evolved, and where it stands today.

If you'd like to follow along, you can find me at: www.tiktok.com/@brian.tashima.author

Moral of the story: face your fears!