Over a Million Views, Hundreds of New Followers …
and No Change in Book Sales

Last week (September 24, 2026), I went to Ocean City, Maryland, for the Oceans Calling Music Festival. Instead, a nor’easter moved through, the festival ended up getting canceled, and my social media posts about the weekend generated more than 1.02 million views (and still climbing).

I gained hundreds of followers on each platform. My phone notifications became overwhelming.

But my subsequent author posts have received very little activity, and I saw no change in my book sales during this period, at least so far.

As a marketing consultant and an author, I think that is the part worth talking about.

Why people were paying attention

There were a lot of people in town for the festival (55K attendees), and people were checking the weather frequently to see what was happening along the coast.

With significant flooding, beach erosion, and debris along the beach, there was plenty to document. I took reels of what I was seeing and posted them immediately.

I also shared a brighter moment: KT Tunstall was performing a free concert at Salty Dog, a local restaurant. I ended up meeting her and capturing that on video, too.

Across five platforms, my reels and photo updates generated:

• Facebook: 640,000 views
• Instagram: 236,000 views
• TikTok: 116,000 views
• Threads: 27,000 views
• YouTube: 2,000 views

One Facebook video alone received almost 300,000 views:

The weekend brought together a major event, disrupted plans, and weather conditions people wanted to understand. My posts offered a firsthand view of what was happening.

The questions I received about flooding, roads, and beach conditions showed that people were looking for practical information.

For businesses, that raises a useful question: What does your audience need to know right now, and what can you contribute from your own experience?

Timing was part of the value

I filmed the flooding, erosion, and beach debris and posted the reels immediately… the wind was blowing, sand was flying into my face, it was raining. Snapshots of conditions as I encountered them.

I was initially embarrassed because I wasn’t “camera ready.” I had to let that go and share what was happening in the moment. Looking polished wasn’t what made those updates useful.

Waiting would have changed their purpose. They could still have told the story of the weekend, but they would have been less useful to someone looking for a current view of the coast.

Many times, the most useful content is something you recognize and share in the moment. That requires judgment, too. During a weather event, firsthand observations should be clearly presented as observations, with care around locations, timing, and what you actually know.

The numbers need context

Facebook accounted for roughly 63% of the total views, with one video contributing almost 300,000 on its own. On Instagram, that same video reached more than 110K.

That gives me a reason to examine that particular post more closely: what it showed, how it opened, when I published it, and what people said in response. Many of the comments tagged other users and it was shared more than 800 times.

Likewise, the 1.02 million total represents combined platform views, not unique people. These numbers tell me the content traveled. It’s interesting to study how the exact same content performed on different channels.

A larger audience does not automatically mean the right audience

I gained hundreds of new followers, but that growth has not translated into much activity on my subsequent posts, including my author content. I also saw no change in book sales during this time.

The storm coverage gave people an immediate reason to watch and follow. My author content serves a different interest. Someone who wanted to see flooding in Ocean City would not necessarily be interested in my books (Welcome to Seagull Street and Back to Seagull Street) even though they’re set in Ocean City.

I cannot tell from these results alone why subsequent posts have received less attention. But the difference highlights a question I would ask any client: Are you attracting people who are likely to care about what you share after this particular moment passes?

From a marketing perspective, the weekend produced several distinct outcomes:

• Visibility: More than 1.02 million combined views.
• Audience growth: Hundreds of additional followers.
• Ongoing engagement: Diminishing engagement on subsequent posts.
• Book sales: No observed change, yet.

New followers are not necessarily future readers, and attention does not automatically translate into purchases. That doesn’t erase the value of the experience. The posts prompted questions, documented what I was seeing, and reached an audience far beyond what I expected. Based on these results, I would not describe the weekend as a book-marketing success.

My author content still has a purpose and an intended audience. The people arriving for storm updates may simply have come for something else.

Attention has an operational cost

At first, I responded to questions about the flooding and the condition of the roads and beach, sharing what I had personally observed. People wanted information, and I was trying to be helpful.

But as the comments grew into the hundreds and then thousands, I could no longer keep up. I had to stop responding.

The notifications became so constant that I turned them off completely. At times, I put my phone in airplane mode or disconnected from Wi-Fi just to use it without alerts popping up.

That was another lesson: the ability to reach an audience can quickly outpace your ability to respond to it.

For a business, that deserves planning. Who handles questions when comments and messages suddenly multiply? Could a pinned update answer common questions? How do you keep useful information visible when individual replies are no longer practical?

Engagement takes time and attention. Setting limits is part of managing it.

I went to Ocean City expecting a music festival. I left thinking about the difference between capturing attention in a moment and building an audience that returns for your regular work.

For my own marketing, the question now is how to connect with people who will care about the next story I have to tell and not just the storm that brought them to my page.

Shout out to KT Tunstall for being the Oceans Calling MVP! See this video.

There will be much more about the cancelled Oceans Calling in my next blog, coming soon!

I’ve always wanted to go viral… and now I have. Mission accomplished. What’s next?