At a recent Costco shopping run, I passed by one of those sample tables. The attendant had a large pack of Kirkland Select toilet paper. He asked me if I wanted a sample. I figured he’d give me a small packet of a few sheets, perhaps enough to blow my nose. I said, “Sure.” He gave me a whole roll. A whole roll. Remember what store shelves used to look like four years ago during the pandemic? If stores had any toilet paper at all, they were rationed at two packs per customer. And you had to get there early before they ran out. So, I posted the following on Threads:

Four years ago, you couldn’t find toilet paper on store shelves. Today, our local Costco is giving away whole rolls as free samples. Just another sign things have gotten better!

My threads normally get a few dozen views and maybe a couple of likes. Here are my stats at the time I started this post.

I would consider this “viral.” I’m sure to an influencer with millions of followers, this would be incredibly disappointing. But it’s the comment section that offers the most important lesson.

Once your content goes outside of your comfortable circle of followers, you get all sorts of feedback. Some of it attacked Costco:

Just don’t buy the fruit or vegetables from there.

Some of it was the usual sarcastic comments.

Covid is over, the toilet paper population has rebounded!! /s

And some of it didn’t like me posting this at all.

Dude that was literally bc we were in a pandemic. Today we are in just a regular state of life. Just delete this. You’re a clown for trying to compare the two.

But this is part of speaking your mind.

The moment you express your opinion, someone will disagree with it. Write a book, and someone will pan it. I often say, “If you don’t have any one-star reviews, you don’t have enough reviews.” This is the risk you take by putting yourself out there. You make yourself vulnerable to criticism. Some of it is valid, and some of it is not. Sometimes, it’s nothing personal, but just a difference of opinion. Sometimes, it is personal because someone dislikes you, what they think you stand for, or just because you fit into a certain demographic they despise. Some just like to talk crap because it makes their day.

But by putting yourself out there, you also find people who will agree with you, support you, and join your group of followers because they like your content.

Threads doesn’t list the number of followers added from a post, but TikTok does. Here are my statistics from my most popular recent post.

These are the risks and rewards of putting yourself out there. You will get criticism, and you will get encouragement. You will get hate, and you will get support. But you won’t get anything if you don’t share your sincerest and truest self and express it with your whole chest. As authors, we need to write from our values. Haters will hate anyway. They might as well hate you for who you are and what you stand for. At the same time, you will find people who will connect with your message and will tell everyone about your work.

And who knows? Perhaps your work will connect with enough people to make you go viral, too.