One of the biggest questions from authors is how to promote their book on social media. You’ve spent years pouring your heart into your manuscript, gone through the painful process of getting editorial feedback and now your book is ready to find its readers.
One of the first places authors turn to is social media. I get it. After all, millions of people log into social media platforms on a daily basis and some of them must be your readers. But how do you tell people your book is out there? How do you rise above the noise? How do you get people to actually buy your book? Is it just a matter of uploading your book cover to your profile page and preparing a series of tweets about your book?
The clue is in the name: social media. Twitter (and Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads etc) wasn’t invented to sell your book. It was created for conversation, exchange, connection, networking.
So, does that you should never mention your book? Just let others do that for you? No. What I am saying is the way you choose to promote your book can alienate your readers or not, and I think we all want to pick an approach that doesn’t alienate our readers.
SELLING VS. EMPATHY
The problem with the ‘slap a book cover up and ping people about my book’ method is that you’re starting in the wrong place. You’re jumping to selling your book when effective marketing starts somewhere else entirely. “OK,” you say, “that’s nice in an ideal world but I didn’t have time to think about promotion when I was writing my book and now it’s being published next month and I’d really quite like some people to buy it.” I won’t sugarcoat it. One month isn’t really long enough to build up to a book’s publication date, but if it’s all you have, just remember to approach everything you do with the right mindset.
Effective marketing is about building a relationship. Sales is one part of the process, and it’s not a dirty word. But marketing doesn’t start with sales, it starts with empathy: taking the time and trouble to understand your audience, reach out to them, communicate you understand them, listen to them, and make an exchange with them.
PEOPLE DON’T BUY FROM STRANGERS
Let me put it this way. Do you like it when a stranger calls and runs through their script about why you should buy fraud protection on your credit card without drawing breath? If you direct message strangers about your book or constantly tweet about it, they will feel the same.
Need proof? Here’s one Twitter thread I saw on the topic recently:
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen people lament some of the ways authors promote their books. I recently saw an Instagram post asking what followers liked to see authors post about. While the followers were happy to see book-related content, they overwhelmingly commented they loved insights into an author’s life, what they’re reading, their writing process.
SHARE DON’T SHOUT
So, what’s the alternative? Let’s go back to that word social. These platforms are intended for exchange, so the best way you can build a bridge to your readers is to join the conversation. Don’t set up auto-follows on Twitter. Don’t direct message people who follow you with a blurb about your book. Instead, take the time to discover and connect with a network on whichever platform you prefer, be it Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Goodreads.
- Start with EMPATHY – put yourself in your readers’s shoes, ask yourself what they want and how your book might match that, ask yourself what else they might read and why, actually ask them these things (like the Instagram author above).
- SHARE don’t SHOUT – take time to find and follow authors in your space, librarians, bookstore owners, potential readers, bookclubs. Observe what people are talking about, what’s important to them. Share your author life: your writing process, writing or publishing milestones, your inspiration, book reviews, teasers, sneak peeks.
There comes a point in the publishing process when it’s time to promote your book. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. The world needs good books and if you don’t talk about yours, how will we know it’s there? But, let’s remember to engage in an exchange with our readers. To share, not shout.
Do you feel the need to review your social media activity as a writer? I created a SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT for my newsletter subscribers. Sign up to my monthly newsletter and I’ll send it to you, along with a free DRAFT YOUR BEST BIO template.
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