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Beyond the Book: The Importance of a Writer's Online Presence
- Ella Millar
- 17 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Sarah J. Maas. Love her or hate her, we’ve all heard of her. A bestselling novelist prolific in the world of romantasy literature, her success as an author is undeniable. In January to June of 2024 alone, her A Court of Thorns and Roses (Bloomsbury, 2015) sold 740,095 units, putting her high on the list of fantasy bestsellers of that year, rivalled by Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing (Little Brown, 2023). An uncountable number of factors go into the writing of a bestseller like A Court of Thorns and Roses and Maas’ example makes her the perfect subject to weigh up the benefits (and potential hindrances) of establishing an online presence as a writer and how this may (or not) boost novel sales.
GENRE AND READER ENGAGEMENT
When considering sales trends and comparing sales data of 2024 to sales of previous years, we see a considerable rise in the popularity of romance and fantasy novels. While the marriage of these genres has proven to be a big hit amongst consumers for many years past (J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings [1955] and King Arthur [1903]), ‘romantasy’ is a fairly new term, carried largely by online reader communities. More specifically, BookTok. Romance was the top selling genre of 2024, with the romantasy subgenre rising to the top, fuelled by a typically younger readership: 66% of romantasy titles were bought by readers aged 13-34 in 2024. 70% of TikTok users are between the ages of 18-35, showing correlation between readers and app users. The promotion of the genre through social media platforms like TikTok shows undeniable engagement of readership, despite authors not necessarily being present on the platform themselves! So, in which ways are the writers present and how do they create such passionate fanbases?
ONLINE PRESENCE
A writer’s website and social media accounts are perhaps the most obvious online platforms they could take to. In the case of Sarah J. Maas, she uses her instagram account (@sarahjmaas) to keep her followers updated with her personal endeavors, e.g. time spent with family, vacations and various personal anecdotes, as well as her writing progress: cover reveals, sneak peeks, interactive posts and the promotion of tours and events of which she will be in attendance. Her political stance is also evident in her posts, as she stresses the importance of voting while condemning certain political figures and actions. She gives her readers plenty of insight into herself as both a person and a writer, all the while maintaining a focus on promotion and reader engagement.
Her website takes the online presence created on social media and strips her online persona away, maintaining strict focus on her books. On first visiting the website, the viewer is pulled in by well-loved quotes from her books written in bold, surrounded by lush colours and fonts reminiscent of those used on her book covers. The website mirrors Maas’ brand, cohesive with the physical books she releases, giving the reader a strong sense of familiarity with the books they have fallen in love with. These elements are most successful when they become a part of the writer’s brand, when their online presence not only promotes, but matches and contributes to, their creative signature. Maas gives us a strong example of this through her own website. While the site still stands to garner reader engagement through the aspects mentioned above, and through further features like quizzes and reading guides, there is little evidence of Maas as a person. Writers may find it difficult to find a balance between presenting themselves as a writer, and presenting themselves as someone interested only in sales and profit, and while this is potentially what Maas’ website risks, she counteracts this through her social media presence, finding the balance between writer/human and promoter.
Other examples of online presence could be a blog, a YouTube channel, a podcast, writing workshops, discord channels to connect with readers and fellow writers…the list goes on! This proves that while a writer’s online presence may be helpful in establishing them as authors and connecting them to their readership, there are so many mediums through which a writer can choose to present themselves. Regardless of the medium, from a publisher’s point of view, an author with a strong media presence demonstrates that they have a solid online platform to market their books. Taking Maas and her prolificacy on TikTok, we can see the impact her online presence has on her readership: they’re so engaged with her as a writer, that they willingly promote her books without Maas needing to be present on the site herself! Through her website and social media presence, we can see that Maas knows her audience and her genre, wielding this to her advantage to give the readers what they want. To publishers, Maas presents as a writer who recognises the wants of her readers and meets them every time, reflected in her sales data of last year.
WRITER’S CHOICE
A writer’s online presence is entirely dictated by their preference. Some may choose to spend every minute of their free time writing, not allowing any distractions to negate their focus from the creation of their novels. Some may have teams/individuals who manage their online presence for them. Some might want to steer completely clear of any harassment or online abuse that having an online presence may open up, something that risks draining the writer of their passion and motivation. In the variety of avenues to present themselves online, there are a variety of ways for writers to connect with their readers, and while Maas’ success and the rise of her genre has propelled her into many online spaces, who’s to say she wouldn’t have the same success without any online presence at all? Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games, is known (or perhaps unknown) for her aversion to online presence. And just look at her success! Writers, the choice is yours.
Check out this video from The Writer's Workout 2026 Conference to learn more!
“Building Author Websites” with Emily Rae Russo https://youtu.be/U1MzzwXEW3I
About the author: Ella Millar is a recent graduate of the University of Liverpool, having completed her Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Master’s degree in Creative and Critical Writing. Her words can be found in 'Tangents', the 2024-2025 School of the Arts Anthology (link below), for which she was also a contributing editor, and the Liverpool based Blood Orange Zine, Issue 2. She loves anything Gothic, with Daphne Du Maurier and Angela Carter amongst her favourite ladies of literature.
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