Guest post: How I got comfortable being cringe on social media

Thriller author Noelle W. Ihli makes the case for putting yourself out there as an author

That’s right, it’s a guest post! Because I don’t actually know everything, I’m excited to share from-the-trenches pieces by authors and publishing professionals. This galvanizing one is from Noelle W. Ihli, whose pulse-pounding thriller, Gray After Dark, is out today. Enjoy!

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If you look me up Instagram, you’ll find a video of me lurking behind an aisle of books at Target. Or getting water thrown on my face while I tell BookTok to read my latest thriller. Or pretending to teach viewers how to change a tire, only to pull out one of my books and encourage them to give it a try.

Either way, you’ll find my face front and center, while I do something I never thought I’d do as a writer: record half-baked viral videos while lipsyncing to Sabrina Carpenter.

A few months ago, a fellow author was sharing her frustrations about visibility online. When I asked if she’d considered creating more content, perhaps a video of her pretending to fall off a ladder, book in hand, while Charli XCX plays in the background, she gave me a horrified look. “That’s way too cringe for me.”

And the thing is, I kind of agree with her. It does feel a little cringey to dance to another viral hit or record myself crawling around my backyard, twigs in my hair, yelling at the camera that my newest book is on Amazon now! Each time I get ready to record a video, I think to myself, “This is nuts. I’m going to look so stupid.”

And then I do it anyway. Here’s why:

Cringe is cool!

In a world of AI-generated, slick, scripted content, all of us are feeling a little nostalgic for reality. It’s okay if you stumble instead of delivering your lines with perfection, laugh at the wrong moment, trip over your chair, have a slightly shaky camera, or even if you’ve got a slightly smudgy iPhone lens from when your kid grabbed it yesterday. All of that is real life, and it makes your readers feel like they’re getting to know the REAL you.

Real is rare, anymore. And when people do find something that’s earnestly real—on the Internet of all places—it’s a breath of fresh air. Even if you’re participating in the latest trend, there’s a human behind that phone, setting up and hitting record only to realize they look like a complete idiot. That’s the pull. Humans being human.

It’s free eyeballs.

Instagram Reels and TikTok still have the potential for thousands and sometimes tens and hundreds of thousands of organic reach—when your content is compelling. So make your content compelling. Figure out what’s trending, and put your own spin on it.

Nobody wants to listen to a sales pitch about why they should read your thriller, but what they DO want is a clever or funny soundbite combined with a simple skit, or an incredible hook for your book paired with eye-catching visuals, or a heartfelt and compelling short story from you as the author, direct to camera, about how you scared yourself writing your own thriller.

What content made you laugh, what meme did you send your partner yesterday? Find a way to spin that into something related to your book or your genre.

I know my audience.

Sure, some people might roll their eyes. Even I rolled my eyes at the video I posted the other day, where I pretended to get kidnapped only to ramble on about my love of thrillers while rolling around in the back of a Honda CR-V. But I still clicked post.

Why? Because that video wasn’t made for everyone. It was made for a specific someone. Maybe the Booktokker across the country who’s looking for her next thriller fix. Or the teenager who just scrolled onto my viral video on TikTok and gave one of my books a chance. Or the stressed-out mom who decided in that moment to treat herself to a couple hours of reading.

That’s who I make content for. Not random scrollers who go from one hate-watch to another. I’m making content for readers who are counting down the days until my next book release, who comment that the video made them laugh or made them excited to read my books. Even the ones that just leave a laughing-crying emoji. My content is for them, too.

That’s my audience. Those are the people whose opinion I care about. And if I can make them smile or laugh or think, “Hey, I could use a good thriller today,” I’ve done my job.

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Giveaway!

Noelle will send a signed copy of Gray After Dark to one lucky paid subscriber. (Contest open to those residing in the lower 48 states; enter by 11:59pm ET on Friday, July 3.)

The close proximity and destitute wilderness of Freida McFadden’s The Crash meets the female-centric plot of Yellowjackets in #BookTok viral author Noelle W. Ihli’s thrilling tale of abduction and survival – inspired by a true story.

A merciless wilderness. A harrowing attack. A desperate escape.

When a tragic accident sidelines Miley's dreams of Olympic gold, she takes a summer job at a mountain guest lodge. The Frank Church Wilderness is remote, but it’s the perfect place to train and recover. Local lore about a staffer who died years ago doesn’t scare her.

But it should.

Miley’s plans take a terrifying detour when she’s abducted during a morning run. Held captive in a desolate off-grid cabin, she’ll have to use her athletic prowess, cunning mind, and courage to survive. But as the nightmare at the cabin escalates, Miley is forced to form an unlikely alliance and attempt a risky escape.

Can she outwit her captors and survive the wilderness before it’s too late?

Inspired by true events, Gray After Dark is a pulse-pounding psychological thriller with a finale that will leave you breathless.

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