An active and engaging social media profile can be the difference between no book sales and bestseller status. Books don’t sell themselves. Writing and publishing a book is only 30% of the work. You need to promote your book too. If you don’t, no one will find it. So, if you want to get your book baby out there and read, you are going to have to be active in promoting your book. In this article, I am sharing the top 17 social media tips for authors. These tips are going to help you sell more books. So read closely!
Looking for more ways to promote your book? Head over to our blog where we share PR and more Book Marketing advice for authors.
The 17 Top Social Media Tips For Authors Who Want To Sell More Books Successfully
1. Encourage Reviews
Always encourage others to review your book. Ask people to write you a review on your Facebook page and Amazon book page.
If you get a negative review, don’t take it to heart. Instead, turn that negative review around by responding with empathy and courtesy. A sincere acknowledgment of a negative review will show new readers that your brand is committed to addressing issues and engaging with all types of readers.
Every author will receive positive and negative reviews. It is normal, and the person who wrote that negative review is probably not your target reader anyways.
2. Piggyback On What’s Trending
Whether it be a meme or a popular product, try and relate your book to what is trending. Relating to what is trending is a great opportunity not only to build off of the buzz but also shows off your brand’s personality.
3. Create More Videos
Videos do take more time to create than a photo or a blog post. But, more people may be interested in seeing what your book is about in a quick video. Plus Facebook and Instagram automatically play all videos on people’s feeds.
Pro Tip: Make sure to include captions in your videos. 89% of people watch videos without sound because Facebook and Instagram play the video automatically in your feed with no sound.
4. Give GIFs a Chance
The GIF format is more appealing than photos. GIFs are actually shared more than either JPEG or PNG formats and are more cost and time effective than producing videos. With research showing more people watch to the end of videos that are 15 seconds or less, learning how to create and post a GIF should be mandatory for your marketing strategy.
5. Tell Stories
With storytelling at its heart, social media is the perfect place to share your stories. Share a story about how someone else interacted with your book. Or the story about how it felt to hold your finished book in your hands for the first time. Or the story behind why you wanted to write a book. People love stories, plus it makes you more real and relatable!
6. Run A Contest
What’s better than free things? If your readers are skeptical to purchase your new book than consider hosting a contest for them to receive the book for free. This marketing idea can help you gain exposure with readers that aren’t too sure and can help you generate word of mouth publicity.
7. Address FAQs
Your audience will most definitely have frequently asked questions for you. Make sure you address these questions publically as well so that every reader can get to know you better!
8. Re-post Content
Always look to re-post popular content that your followers have created. This will encourage others to tag you in their content as well. Plus it will boost traffic to your profile.
9. Collaborations
Find an influencer that has a similar niche as you and ask them to collaborate. Why? Because their audience base is going to be very similar to yours and you can gain more exposure. If you don’t know how to approach an influencer, try just sending them a polite email asking to connect. Usually, they will be more than happy to hear from you and will want to work with you!
10. Promote And Collaborate With Other Authors
Other authors are not your competition. Instead, they are your companion. Look for opportunities where you can collaborate with and promote other authors. Try to promote books written by different authors and share their voice. By doing this, other authors will be more likely to support and promote you to their audience in return.
When authors band together they can have greater reach and noise than a single voice. Try collaborating with others by writing articles and creating content with them!
11. Live Streams
Live streaming can be a vast audience grabber! Try doing a live stream with you sharing information about your editing process or structural editing process. You’ll be surprised at how many people are interested in the process and not the end result.
12. Have Fun With Holidays
Know those random holidays like Happy National Coffee Day? There are plenty out there that suit your niche for sure! Use those as an idea to create content on days where you really can’t think of anything to post! Plus who doesn’t love reading a great book with a cup of steaming coffee?
13. Run a fan art contest
Hold a contest where you ask fans to share fan art of a character or scene in your book. Ask readers to share their art by using one of your branded hashtag on social media. Choose a winner to receive a prize and then get permission to use that fan art in your marketing.
14. Reach Out
Many online book blogs are more than happy to review your newest book. Email relevant media sites a pitch for your book and offer a free copy. Be sure to use a catchy subject line and opening sentence. Follow up by sending a press release and personalized letter with the book.
Pro Tip: When reaching out to online book blogs, make sure you also engage with them on social media.
15. Share The Playlists For A Book Or Character
Music can be inspirational, and readers often want to know what authors (aka you!) listen to while crafting specific scenes, or what songs influenced the creation of your characters. Or readers may be interested to hear what type of playlist one of your characters listens too.
When creating a playlist to share on social media, try to include local artists who don’t have a massive following. Why? Because if the local artist sees that you promoted them, they might be more inclined to read your book and support you too.
16. Share Good News By Thanking Others
Accomplishing a literary feat like topping a bestseller list, winning an award, or landing a new book deal is something authors want to shout from the rooftops. But thanking readers for their role in your accomplishments is a more humble way to share the good news. Always look to recognize readers for their involvement in that success on social media.
17. Share a quote from one of your books
To drive exposure for a book, create an image of a notable, inspiring, or funny quote from your book. You can use tools like Canva to turn quotes into eye-catching graphics quickly.
Conclusion: Get More Readers With These 17 Social Media Tips For Authors
By following this article and using some of the tips listed, you will be able to get more readers on social media. You don’t need to do all of the 17 social media tips for authors listed. Instead, choose one, to begin with, that is aligned with your marketing goals and objectives. After you see some success choose another tip to implement.
Are you looking for more social media advice? Join my Authors only Facebook group, where I will answer any of your marketing or publishing questions. Plus I am giving away my free 20-page social media guidebook that has over 100 tips for authors in it!
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