Using Social Media to Promote Your Book
In this age of technology nothing is more important for promotion that utilizing the internet. There are countless social networking sites that can be your best friend as you grow your following and get noticed.
Twitter:
Twitter can be a useful tool to share links to your books and blogs with your followers. However, one of the hardest things to do is gain followers. One method is to search for specific keywords in the search bar. If you're a sci fi writer, search for sci fi geeks and avid readers. Be sure your profile description says that you are a science fiction writer and even mention the title of your book/s. Twitter only lets you follow 2,000 people so be careful who you choose to follow. Eventually, people will follow you back. Check your followers regularly and re-follow anyone who might be a potential reader. One final thing, your tweets should never be used only for promotion. No one wants to follow a spammer. Put some personality in your posts and you will go far.
Twitter can be a useful tool to share links to your books and blogs with your followers. However, one of the hardest things to do is gain followers. One method is to search for specific keywords in the search bar. If you're a sci fi writer, search for sci fi geeks and avid readers. Be sure your profile description says that you are a science fiction writer and even mention the title of your book/s. Twitter only lets you follow 2,000 people so be careful who you choose to follow. Eventually, people will follow you back. Check your followers regularly and re-follow anyone who might be a potential reader. One final thing, your tweets should never be used only for promotion. No one wants to follow a spammer. Put some personality in your posts and you will go far.
Facebook:
Create a facebook page for you as an author. You can even make a page or group for each individual book if you have a lot of extra time on your hands.
Create a facebook page for you as an author. You can even make a page or group for each individual book if you have a lot of extra time on your hands.
Blogging:
Create a blog! This is the best way to gain readership. Write blogs about your writing process, daily life, themes from your books, whatever, just keep them coming regularly. Reading an example of your writing can be the difference that gets you a sale. Blogger and WordPress are two of the more popular blogging platforms, both of which are quite easy to use. To get more traffic to your blog, contact other bloggers to Blog Roll with them or join a Blog Carnival! There are other articles written specifically for those two blogging tools.
Create a blog! This is the best way to gain readership. Write blogs about your writing process, daily life, themes from your books, whatever, just keep them coming regularly. Reading an example of your writing can be the difference that gets you a sale. Blogger and WordPress are two of the more popular blogging platforms, both of which are quite easy to use. To get more traffic to your blog, contact other bloggers to Blog Roll with them or join a Blog Carnival! There are other articles written specifically for those two blogging tools.
Goodreads:
Goodreads is a site where you can add which books you have read, write reviews, and share them with friends. It might be a good idea to make some friends on this site and recommend your book to your "friends."
Goodreads is a site where you can add which books you have read, write reviews, and share them with friends. It might be a good idea to make some friends on this site and recommend your book to your "friends."
LinkedIn:
While Conan O'Brien makes fun of LinkedIn as a lame Facebook, it can be useful at times. It is a professional network that can help you meet industry professionals, from editors to publicists. I use it, though it's not as essential as the other options.
While Conan O'Brien makes fun of LinkedIn as a lame Facebook, it can be useful at times. It is a professional network that can help you meet industry professionals, from editors to publicists. I use it, though it's not as essential as the other options.
There are many more options besides these four, but these are the ones I've found the most helpful in generating sales and gaining notice. It can take months before you see any dramatic change in sales so don't give up! Add friends daily to Facebook and Twitter, comment on other blogs, and ask other bloggers to review your books. There are tons of options out there to promote, this is just the start.
0 comments:
Post a Comment