Kerane Marcellus On Writing In The Age Of Social Media

Since moving to New York City last year to do what everyone does when they move here — follow their dreams of fill in the blank, I’ve noticed the writing community, specifically journalists, are screaming out into the void about their careers. Rightfully so, there was little to no warning at how difficult it can be in this industry whether you’re a freelancer, full-time, or a little bit of both with extra gigs on the side, like myself.

I went to a women’s networking event last year at Dumbo House, still so new and enamored by the magic this city had to offer me, and that fun question, “So, what do you do?” was asked of me. I answered, “I’m a writer,” and immediately I’m given phones to type in my Instagram handle. They asked me what other things I’d worked on and said that I needed to post my work more since some of the projects weren’t on my grid. “You need to be posting everything on Instagram and TikTok and build a personal brand!” I said, “I don’t know, I just want to be an arty girl and stay in my corner.” They laughed but kept telling me all the benefits I would get from posting more.

For a while, I would post fun little monthly photo dumps with a screenshot of an interview I was proud of but, in hindsight, that wasn’t even to build momentum. I met a good friend of mine last year, Julio. He's been telling me forever that I need to post all my work at least three times a week. He’s a designer and a Virgo so you can imagine he’s quite particular about the importance of imagery and what posting on Instagram can do for your career. I started posting more frequently on my stories but again, that wasn’t good enough to keep eyes on me—I needed to post on the grid and let my work be seen.