Originally published at: Announcement: @AckerlyGreen & @TheBriarArchive - Ackerly Green
I was recently lamenting in my forum journal that I was struggling to come up with ideas for content and motivation to focus on social media and wasn’t sure what the solution was.
I want to build a social media presence that feels immersive and magical so that new readers know what they’re getting into from the moment they find my account, but I also want it to be informative and not so high-pressure and polished that I feel frozen by the need for it to be “perfect.” I also need to use it to sell stuff so that I can keep all this afloat.
The obvious solution, for me at least, was to create two separate accounts, which at first just seemed like twice the work, but when I dug deeper into the idea, it offered me a lot of freedom to have both a curated entryway for new readers, as well as a more informative, casual, “behind-the-scenes” place to show what I do, and sell, with occasional crossover and “sharing” between the two.
The idea is that @TheBriarArchive will be more like a cabinet of curiosities, a scrapbook of the narrative I’m already writing that I can pair with curated, collected video, imagery, and occasional quotes (and also puzzles and mysteries!) then I’d be free to run @AckerlyGreen as a more informative, less precious, fun, casual space that can offer behind-the-scenes content, inform existing readers about upcoming events, releases, and also unabashedly sell products. 🙂
I equate it to having an account for the Grishaverse, and a separate account for Macmillan, which publishes Leigh Bardugo’s books.
I see the content being two sides of the same coin, like this:
| Ackerly Green | The Briar Archive | |
|---|---|---|
| Functional | Aesthetic | |
| Informational | Mysterious | |
| Products & News | Experiential | |
| Original content | Collected content | |
| Behind the scenes of the company | Content from the narrative | |
| Casual | Curated | |
| “Out-of-world” | “In-world” | |
| Concrete | Liminal | |
| Off-the-cuff | Intentional |
I think both accounts could share content with each other via Stories, and both bios would link to one another. @TheBriarArchive would remain aesthetic, with tweaks to simplify the grid and let the art and content take center stage. It would still have the dark academic, magic in the mundane, liminal, haunted hygge vibe, like this simplified mockup:
And @AckerlyGreen would be more “me” and content without curation or overarching “aesthetic,” so I feel freer to create and post without worrying that I’m ruining the Briarverse vibe.
I’ve also hired someone to help with scheduling and managing some of the backend social media responsibilities (Hi Sarah!), which will also help lessen the stress and pressure.
For all its flaws, social media is the number one way people find the Briarverse, and I think this will allow people to discover it, follow it, and interact with it in whatever way they want.
I’m still working out the logistics, but I’d love your thoughts, and I’ll update when the @AckerlyGreen account is officially live!