12 Handy Social Media Tips for Authors to Promote Their Books

Building a social media following for the promotion of a book takes time and dedication. If an author is joining Twitter, the day his/her book comes out, it’s already too late. Authors should plan to implement a social media strategy at least a year before the book's publication.

Being successful at social media, means putting out great content and engaging with readers so that when a book is released, an author’s followers will care about it help spread the word, and of course buy the book.

Here are a few tips for authors which shall surely help them for their social media.

Join Early

Just like a book takes time to write, it also takes time to make your presence establish online. So make your account online as earliest as possible.

Make a great profile

Your profile page is like an advertisement. Here you have to sell yourself to your audience in order to attract your fans. So make such a profile that it convinces people to join, subscribe, follow or like you. A tip to increase your fans would be by using high resolutions pictures and good text.

Write a series/short novella

There are chances it wont work for all books or author. If and when possible, creating a series and publish it on your platform. It is a very powerful and effective way to develop a presence, gain reader loyalty and boost sales of earlier works with subsequent novels.

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Enlist Others to Help Spread the Word

Creating a community of existing and newbie authors to help promote your books can also be an effective strategy for spreading the word. This will help develop powerful friendships and alliances with other authors and contribute greatly to your success.

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Create a Video Book Trailer

These days video is a powerful way of connecting with audience. Make a video trailer for your book. Video gives you the chance to reach a wider audience and also gives people something that's easy to share. If you don’t have the budget for it, ask your fans to make it for you. This is a great way getting more engagement and reach of your audience.

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Measure your ROI

At the end of the week, measure your return of investment (ROI). This will give you an idea about engagement rate, demographics, etc. One can use this data to gauge the success/failure rate and see whats works best for them or what can be done to make it best.

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Repetition

Many may feel repeating a post/tweet can be annoying, but it's one sure hell of a way to get your fans notice you. This repeated posting/sharing/tweeting acts like a reminder to your fans and is one sure-shot way of getting their interest.

Link your book to trending topics.

Write articles that tie your book topic or genre to current popular interests.

Decide usage of platform

Each platform of social media offers a different service. It’s not necessary to use them all, but each serves a different purpose. Use which you think is suitable for you to build your platform.

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Set up online book giveaways

What makes a fan’s day? Getting a book for free and that too signed by his/her favorite author. Set up online giveaways at sites like goodreads,amazon,etc which will help create more buzz online among friends.

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Guest post frequently and strategically

Guest blogging is one the best ways to increase visibility, gain influence in your genre or topic and draw targeted readers to your online ‘bookstore’ or author site.

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Don’t stop promoting one book to start writing another.

The buzz and excitement of a launch can be elating , but the marketing and promotional effort for a book must continue far beyond the initial days and weeks of ‘getting it out there’. In your marketing plan, plan a schedule that allows for ongoing promotional activities of your previous work, while providing time to write your next bestseller as well.

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These are just a few suggestions on how you authors can use social media platforms to make your marketing plan a better success. So if social media isn't a part of your plan, make sure you include it!