Done with Meta: Why I Left and Why You Might Want to Follow

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Fed up with algorithm changes, dwindling organic reach, and constant pay-to-play demands? You're not alone. This raw, unfiltered exploration pulls back the curtain on why Meta's ecosystem has become increasingly toxic for indie authors trying to build sustainable careers.

What began as creative playgrounds have transformed into profit-driven machines where creators work harder for less visibility every day. We've become digital sharecroppers, toiling on land we don't own, hoping for a few engagement crumbs thrown our way. But there's another path forward. When I finally said goodbye to Meta's platforms, something unexpected happened—I found freedom, genuine connection, and more effective marketing channels that I actually controlled.

This episode unpacks five powerful alternatives to Meta dependency: building your sovereign email list, creating communities on platforms like Substack and Patreon, embracing old-school discoverability through blogging and SEO, making direct connections with readers and influencers, and taking back your entrepreneurial power through direct sales. The most successful authors aren't waiting for permission from algorithms—they're creating their own paths to readers.

Your desires for your author career are divine guidance showing you the way forward. Are you ready to trust yourself, break free from platform dependency, and create success on your own terms? Listen now and start your author revolution today.

Are you an author at a crossroads, feeling stuck & unfulfilled in your author career? Do you know deep down it's time for a change, but you’re unsure of the next step?

The High Vibe Author is the only transformational membership designed specifically for authors like you—those who are ready to break free from limitations & step into the abundant life they deserve. Click here to learn more.

Indie publishing wasn’t built for neurodivergent minds—so let’s change that. Inside Author Revolution on Substack, I share exclusive insights on writing, publishing, and manifestation for ND authors. Plus, explore my neurospicy romcoms & urban fantasy worlds. Want to go deeper? Get access to Manifest Differently: The Deep End, my private podcast. Follow now: 👉 authorrevolution.org/substack

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Go forth and start your author revolution!

Episode Transcript

Carissa Andrews (00:05):
Welcome to the Author Revolution Podcast.
I'm Carissa Andrews, author andyour host here to help indie
authors like you master mindset,harness manifestation and
embrace cutting-edge innovationto elevate your career.
Let's dive in.

(00:25):
Hey there, badass indie authors,Welcome back to the Author
Revolution Podcast, the placewhere we don't wait around for
permission to be successful.
We just go ahead and take itright.
And today we're talking aboutsomething that's been brewing in
my soul for a while I am donewith meta.
Done.

(00:45):
Over it, piecing out, flippingthe bird, walking off into the
sunset like a final scene of aTarantino movie, and, honestly,
you might want to consider doingthe same.
Now I know what you're thinking, but I need Facebook to market
my books.
Or Instagram is where myreaders are, and hey, totally
get it.
I totally get it.
I used to think the same thing,but then I step back and

(01:07):
realize that meta isn't helpingus.
It's controlling us.
So in today's episode, I'mbreaking down exactly why I
ditched Facebook, instagram andthe whole meta machine, not to
mention Twitter X, whatever youwant to call it, and why you
want to start plotting yourescape ASAP.
Let's get into it, okay, solet's get real here for a second

(01:29):
.
Meta used to be the playgroundfor creatives, right, you could
post about your books, connectwith readers and actually gasp,
get seen.
But now it's a glorifiedpay-to-play casino where the
house always wins.
You want your followers to seeyour post.
That'll be $50, please.
Trying to grow your audienceorganically?

(01:50):
Too bad.
Here's a shadow ban.
Oh, and don't even get mestarted on their fact-checking
rollback and the flood of botsthat conveniently amplified the
worst voices on the internet.
Because, yeah, that's exactlywhat we needed.
I would hope you're the same,but, as an author myself, I
value freedom of speech,creativity, diversity and the

(02:10):
ability to actually reach myaudience without having to throw
money into Zuckerberg's everdeepening pockets.
But Meta, they don't value that.
They value control, they valueprofits, they value keeping us
on their platform long enough todrain our wallets.
And I don't know about you, butI refuse to be their pawn.
Now you might be thinking, okay, but is leaving meta really the

(02:34):
answer?
Aren't all social platformskind of the same?
And the truth is, yeah, kind of.
I mean Twitter, oh, excuse me,x is a dumpster fire that smells
like billionaire ego.
Tiktok is constantly on thechopping block.
As of this moment, I thinkwe're three weeks away from the
potential chopping block again.
Instagram is still meta, justwith prettier filters.

(02:57):
And don't even get me startedon the frustration of constantly
feeding the algorithm beastonly to get five likes and a
spam comment from read my cryptobooks for success.
Oh, at some point we have to askourselves are we indie authors
or are we just digitalsharecroppers working on land we
don't own, hoping our overlordsthrow us a few crumbs?

(03:18):
I don't know about you, but Ididn't go indie just to beg an
algorithm to let me exist.
Know about you, but I didn't goindie just to beg an algorithm
to let me exist.
Okay, that's a lot, right,that's a lot, but it's how I've
been feeling about this platform, how I've been feeling about
these social platforms ingeneral and the direction that
they're headed, and I refuse toplay by their rules.
The rebellious streak in me oh,she is on fire and she is ready

(03:42):
to just throw it all out.
Oh, she is on fire and she isready to just throw it all out.
But the problem here is okay.
So if we're not going to spendour days dancing for Zuck's
attention, what's thealternative?
How do we actually get ourbooks into readers' hands
without relying on algorithmgods?
Well, I'm glad you asked,because this is something that
I've been working on behind thescenes for the past oh, about
four months, because I know thatthere has to be a better way.

(04:07):
There has to be something thatwe can do other than just be a
part of the ecosystem that'sbeen in place for the past 10
plus years.
Right?
So let's talk about owning yourown marketing.
Like the badass entrepreneur,you are Number one.
We know this already, we'vebeen told this already, but it
still rings true.

(04:27):
Your email list is your kingdom.
Okay, if you're not building anemail list, stop what you're
doing and fix it as soon aspossible.
Get on Miller Lite, get onMailChimp, get on whatever kind
of email service provider youcan, and start building that
list, because social mediafollowers can disappear

(04:49):
overnight Hell, the platformitself could disappear overnight
, like TikTok, right, but youremail list, that's yours forever
.
Well, at least as long as youhave your list intact and you're
paying your bill, but you getwhat I'm saying right and you're
paying your bill, but you getwhat I'm saying right.
Number two community is king orqueen or monarch, of choice,

(05:11):
whatever, but I love, love, lovebuilding community for my
readership, whether that bereadership or whether it be
author revolution or manifestdifferently, it doesn't matter.
Patreon, substack, Discord,facebook groups ironically, the
only part of meta that stillkind of works, but I wouldn't go
there if you're not on Facebookat all.
I'm not using Facebook, thoughevery once in a while I will hop

(05:33):
in right now just to make sureI'm still staying on board of
understanding when, like thenext, zoe bub is going to be,
for instance, right, but myfavorite places right now are
Patreon and Substack.
I love them.
Substack, in essence, hasbecome my hub when it comes to
social media because I've beentrying to you know as a digital

(05:53):
nomad for the most part when itcomes to social for the past few
months.
What I've realized in playingaround is that Substack has been
super huge in my own growth forwhat I want to do and who I
want to be.
Super huge in my own growth forwhat I want to do and who I
want to be.
I'm able to create content in away that just really feels
natural and powerful to theperson that I am.

(06:15):
So I can split off all thecontent that I create so
Manifest Differently.
Author Revolution, neuro Spicy,rom-coms, neuro Spicy or Ne
neurodivergent fantasy, whateverit is, or all my big thoughts
that don't fit anywhere else.
I have different containers onmy sub stack and it's been so
much fun having discussions withpeople about it and sharing

(06:38):
what I know in a way that is sodifferent than anywhere else.
It's just been fabulous.
And of course, I still havePatreon, where I'm dropping my
chapter by chapters and all thethings, and I have my direct
link to my readers, which is alittle bit different than
Substack for me right now,because Substack are kind of the
people who love everything I doand if you haven't checked me

(06:58):
out on Substack, I reallyencourage you to go over there.
You can find me.
I am Carissa Andrews, theNeurodivergent Manifestor.
That is my sub stack, so headover there and check it out.
But, at any rate, sub stack hasbeen a favorite Discord super
cool and fun.
There's so much discussionhappening on Discord, but I want
you to build a space, or be apart of a space, where your real

(07:19):
readers hang out and engagewith you, not just a feed of ads
.
Okay, because, think about it,you enjoy communicating.
That's the whole reason.
We're authors.
We have something in our headsand we're trying to share it.
And when we don't get theresponse back from the readers,
via like reviews, for instance,we have nothing.
Where, if you have thatcommunity, you are in this

(07:42):
supportive element and you aresharing who you be.
All those insights, all thatjuiciness no-transcript, okay.
Number three is go old schoolbaby Blog.
You can blog Podcast like thisone.
Youtube SEO is still a thingand it's way more stable than

(08:03):
social media trends Way morestable.
Plus, with the use of likeChatGPT, you can find SEO a lot
easier to accomplish, tounderstand, to wrap your head
around.
So much more fun than having todeal with all that stuff Now.
As a podcaster, I love beingable to express myself through
my voice as well as my writtenword.

(08:24):
There's something powerful init, and so if you want your
readers, your audience, to hear,you try a podcast, see what
happens, write some articles orcreate long form content to give
you some lastingdiscoverability.
Because when you add and createthese types of things to like
your website, for instance, nowall of a sudden you have all

(08:45):
this good SEO, juju bringingpeople back to your website, so
so good.
And then, of course, directoutreach.
This is number four.
It's more powerful than youthink.
Have you ever actually triedemailing book bloggers or
influencers instead of hopingthat they stumble across your
tweet Like, have you ever talkedto them?
Have you ever just checked into see what is their process?

(09:08):
How do you take on new books orget in front of people who
already love books like yours,without the middleman?
You can do this through, youknow, going to the bookstores
and doing book signings.
You can do bigger book signings.
You could go to craft fairs andsell your books there, I'll
tell you.
Craft fairs, for whateverreason, so good for getting in

(09:29):
front of people who are going tolove your books.
The goal here is that I want youto be thinking about ways to go
bigger.
And number five this is justlike a sub category, the sub
thing that I want you to bethinking about.
Ways to go bigger and numberfive this is just like a sub
category, the sub thing that Iwant you to be thinking about.
It has nothing to do with meta,although it might a little bit.
I want you to be thinking about, like, when you're creating
your ecosystem as an author, areyou doing it from a place of

(09:52):
empowerment or are you justgiving everything over to Amazon
?
Are you hoping that all ofthese bookstores are going to
help you be seen and hoping andpraying that someone's going to
stumble upon your stuff?
Or are you taking your business, your you know entrepreneurship
in your own hands and creatingyour own store?
Now, I've talked about directsales in the past, but it has

(10:13):
been the single best decision ofmy life to take everything away
from, like my mindset for sure,away from sending everybody to
Amazon, for instance.
I am now sending everyone to mystore, to my work, to the
things that I feel importantabout right, and so be thinking
like is there a way to take backyour power?

(10:35):
It doesn't mean you don't sellyour books on Amazon if that
still is in your valuewheelhouse, but stop sending
everybody to other people'splatforms.
Bring them to your own.
If you're going to put moneyinto ads, send them to your site
.
Capture their emails.
Do the work to become theentrepreneur that you're always

(10:57):
meant to be.
Okay, the point here is that youdon't need meta.
Meta needs you.
Okay, meta needs you, and so itdoesn't matter how you're
trying to grow or how you'retrying to expand.
You can do it without meta.
You can do it in so manydifferent ways without that.
So here's my challenge for youI want you to ask yourself that.

(11:21):
So here's my challenge for you.
I want you to ask yourself isbeing on meta serving you or are
you serving them?
If you're crushing it onInstagram, awesome, but if you
feel like you're constantlyyelling into the void, maybe
it's time to rethink yourstrategy.
Okay, because let me tell you,authors have built entire
empires, empires without socialmedia, and we can do it again.
And listen, I'm not saying quitovernight if you don't want to,

(11:42):
I get it.
Change is scary.
I'm not overly scared by change, but what I am saying is that I
want you to start making somemoves now so that, when meta
inevitably screws authors overagain, you're already in control
of your audience.
This is kind of why I wentdirect sales as well.
Like Amazon keeps screwingaround with authors, you know

(12:03):
what?
I'm not going to wait aroundfor them to tank everything.
I'm going to do my own.
This is the author revolution.
Okay, we don't wait forpermission.
We create our own success.
We create it.
That's what manifestation hasalways been about.
That's what my talks aboutmindset and making sure you're
aligning with who you actuallyare.

(12:23):
Why it's so important.
Whether you believe inmanifestation or not, this is
still in play.
We need to decide for ourselves.
What do our author careers getto look like for us?
And we have to align with it inorder to not put so much
resistance between us andgetting the thing that we want.
So many authors are blockingthemselves and their success

(12:44):
because they're not actually inalignment with what they want.
They're just following along,trusting that everybody who's
like started this thing beforethem knows better than they do.
No, trust yourself.
Trust yourself and what it isyou want.
Your desires for your authorcareer are divine guidance,
telling you where you need tohead.
Okay, they're bread crumbs.
What do you want your authorcareer to look like?

(13:06):
Is it involving meta or is itto say goodbye to them?
Okay, for me it was goodbye.
It was the second he came outand he did his whole like
fact-checking.
Rollback bots are a new thing.
I was done.
So what about you?
Are you in or are you out?
As always?

(13:27):
Thank you for listening to theAuthor Revolution podcast.
If you love this episode, or ifit made you pause, made you
think about it, I want you toshare it with a fellow indie or
leave a review.
Okay, just engage with it insome way, shape or about it.
I want you to share it with afellow indie or leave a review.
Okay, just engage with it insome way, shape or form, because
that's going to help othersfind this particular episode as

(13:48):
well.
Now remember, you are in chargeof your destiny.
You create the way your authorcareer gets to work for you.
You do not have to follow thefootsteps of those who came
before you.
Follow your own path, trustyour own inner wisdom and go
forth and start your authorrevolution.

(14:09):
Thank you.