If you’ve been bombarded by short videos called “reels” on your social media feeds, there’s a reason for it. Content creators are earning money for them.
I just added it up, and Facebook has paid me $6,758.32 this year. You read that right, Facebook is paying me money. Technically it’s Meta, the parent company that owns both Facebook and Instagram. I’ve been earning money on Instagram too, just not as much.
How did this happen?
In 2014 I created a Facebook page called “The YA Gal” to specify that, at the time, I wrote young adult fiction. Building up my page was a lot of work. I posted pictures. I created memes. I sponsored giveaways. But I also had fun engaging with readers. Then, when my first book, “Genesis Girl,” came out, I had a built-in audience of people to read it. One book, became two, and then three, and then oh-my-gosh 17! I now have eight traditionally published books and nine self-published ones.
In 2020 I changed the name of my Facebook page from “The YA Gal” to “Jennifer Bardsley Author” because I now write contemporary romance for adults. I created a private Facebook group called “Jennifer Bardsley’s Book Sneakers” where I give behind-the-scenes information about my books and give away free books on Friday.
I’ve put a tremendous amount of work into my Facebook page, and it’s helped me sell books, but it never earned revenue of its own accord until 2022. Starting in December 2021 I keep seeing pop-up messages inviting me to enroll my account with the Meta for Creators program. At first, I thought it was a scam. It wanted me to enter my Social Security number and banking account info, which made me nervous. But after learning that lots of high traffic accounts were receiving the invite. I took a risk, signed up for it in January 2022, and promptly forgot about it.
Fast forward to late February 2022. I opened up my checking account and my heart stopped: “2/22/2022 FACEBOOK, INC, $1,211.16.” I thought someone had hacked my account! It took me a while to realize that it was a deposit, not a deduction.
Why was Facebook paying me good money for things I was already doing? I don’t know for sure, but I suspect it’s because they want to keep content-creators like me from jumping ship to TikTok.
I’m horrible at making reels. The most views I’ve ever gotten is about 11,000. Some people get millions of views on their reels and are becoming rich. As for me, I’m doing what I’ve always done; posting pictures, memes and discussion questions — and writing more books.
If you’d like to find out more about the Meta for Creators program and see if your account can make money too, go to www.facebook.com/creators.
Jennifer Bardsley is the author of “Sweet Bliss,” “Good Catch” and more. Find her online on Instagram @jenniferbardsleyauthor, on Twitter @jennbardsley or on Facebook as Jennifer Bardsley Author. Email her at teachingmybabytoread@gmail.com.
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