What Authors Need to Know About Social Media For Writers

“Promoting a book is part of your profession, so there’s no point in hating the process,” wrote Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, Choke, Invisible Monsters, and Survivor. 

Like his work, Palahniuk is known for creating unusual spectacles at his book signings. When he learned fans had gotten his name tattooed on their arms, he started to bring mannequin amputated-looking arms to sign. This way, he thought, there was no need for the tattoo (talk about great content to add to your social media for writers).

But, before you start to plan your elaborate signings, you need to build a small following to build up your fan base and help promote your book. This means understanding social media for writers. This means understanding writing platforms, book promotion, how to market your book, and book advertising. 

“A true fan is defined as a fan that will buy anything you produce,” wrote Wired Editor Kevin Kelly. “If you have roughly a thousand true fans, you can make a living.”

Wherever you see yourself on the spectrum - making a living or trying to be the next Stephen King - there are several ways to help your audience find you online. And, the best part is, you can do the bulk of them from your home, between chapters of your novel or nonfiction piece. 

So let’s get started. How can writers use social media to build their network of true fans? As an author, what do you need to know about social media for writers? How to promote a book?

Let’s get into it. You’re wondering, how to market your book...

Most people that try to get seen everywhere, end up being seen nowhere. It’s important to resist the temptation that your particular first book will be seen by millions. Even if you love mass market paperbacks, it’s important to notice what types of authors are featured. 

On the bookshelves at WalMart or the tables at Costco, these books are either generic, specialized but written by the publisher, or written by someone already considered a celebrity (James Patterson doesn’t actually know how to promote a book, by the way). There are some niche topics at the bottom of the shelf or on the magazine rack, but it’s mostly surface area material, like paintings in a hotel room. 

Instead of trying to please everyone on a family vacation, you need to focus on the types of audiences who want to read your book. If you write horror, look for horror fans. If you write historic non-fiction, look for fans of historic non-fiction.

Everyone wants to go viral, but you need to get in the reader’s mind to think about what they might want to actually share. But, if going viral seems like an accident, it isn’t. “Catch their attention and pull them in,” writes Ryan Holiday in the book Growth Hacker Marketing. “It’s as simple as that.” (Ryan Holiday does know how to promote a book, by the way).

In the non-fiction world, authors like Ben Greenfield and Tim Ferriss create odd, shareable content to help market their books. For The 4-Hour Body, Ferriss posted an article called “From Geek to Freak: How I gained 34 lbs. of Muscle in 4 Weeks.”

Source: Tim Ferriss - From Geek to Freak

The title, combined with the photographic proof helped the young author get noticed online. At the same time, he attended local gatherings of bloggers and bought everyone drinks. As simple as that, he “went viral.”

This example, of course, is somewhat outside the box, so let’s take a step back and discuss some common practices that also need to be in place.

Read more on Tim Ferriss’ blog and book trailers here.

Like the daily practice of writing, using social media is a muscle where it’s best to focus on consistency over intensity. The impulse might be to start posting on Instagram or Facebook and hit the platforms 10x per day with dozens of hashtags. But in reality, most platforms work best like bathing - once per day. This is how to market your book. 

Many newcomers to social media get lost in the dopamine hits of Likes and Follows. And, while these metrics are important, they aren’t everything. When you’re building an audience, you want the right audience, not just any audience. And, to find the right audience, it takes a calculated approach, over time. 

Rather than judging posts by Likes alone, consider judging your own individual output. On some platforms, it’s best to post once per week. On others, it’s a good idea to post everyday. Some growth only comes from posting multiple times per day. This is how to promote a book. 

But, it’s important to see the big picture, which means considering how often you use social media, but also how your audience engages with your posts. For the most part, they don’t care about your work as much as they care about themselves. How can you reach them?

Like any habit, it’s about consistency. As author James Clear wrote, “You need signals of progress. One of the challenges of building good habits is that there’s a significant difference from the act of showing up and doing the work.”

He added, “The feedback loop - those signals of progress - they’re too delayed, too slow to maintain motivation. Make it visual - a spreadsheet, a habit tracker, an ‘X’ on the calendar - that goes a long way to creating a signal of progress while you’re waiting for those delayed rewards to accumulate.”

Clear is talking about habits in general, but sharing can be tracked in the same way. Then, when you go back and check for Likes and positive signals, you’ll have more data to use, so you can gauge what type of content to create going forward. It might be quotes. It might be photos. It might be 140-character (now 240-character) messages on Twitter. 

Now, let’s break down specifics of how to market your book.

Source: Kindlepreneur - Social Media For Writers

Facebook is one of the largest social media platforms, with the largest user base. Authors on Facebook generally create a Personal Profile, then an Author Page, then an Author Group to get started. But, if you’ve been on Facebook for the past few years, you may have noticed less overall interaction. 

Most people are sharing more than commenting, but use it to your advantage. What would make these potential fans share your work or your posts? Authors like Paulo Coelho, Neil Gaiman, and David Allen are masters of Facebook. They all provide quotes, insights, and even Q&A sessions with fans.

Next, there’s Twitter. Twitter covers everything from celebrity gossip to presidential politics, but it’s a tool that must be used in somewhat of a single-minded fashion. Most social media platforms are not multi-tools. They want you to be one single thing. Later, you can branch out some, but growth happens when you narrow your focus. 

Some young comics are being discovered on Twitter because all they do is craft 2-5 decent jokes every single day. Over time, they get noticed. Again, it’s a long play. But, if this was your goal, you can only post jokes. You can’t also post dog pictures or foodie photos. 

Authors like JK Rowling, Stephen King, and Jodi Picoult use Twitter to discuss projects, answer fan questions, and simply share their musings with the world.

Where Twitter focuses on text, Instagram focuses on images, but image-based quotes do work well for writers who wish to gain a following on social media. In fact, you can find free images on UnSplash and design posts on Canvas. These tools can help you figure out how to market your book. 

Poets like Rupi Kaur and R.M. Drake share short lines on their accounts, where authors like Susan Dennard use the Instagram Stories feature to chat with her audience.

Read more on 4 Unrealistic Expectations to Avoid During Book Promotion

Social media apps are constantly changing and being updated, but writers generally have the best views on apps where words are the focus. There’s Medium, for writing articles. There’s Pinterest, for showcasing quotes and images. And, there’s GoodReads, where authors can actually review other books they enjoy (it’s basically book promotion porn!).

The key with any of these outlets though is consistency. Where are you willing to spend some extra time to engage with your audience? Which ones have the most value for the audience you want to meet? For example, if you’re a YA author, then Instagram might help you connect with younger people. If you write about gardening, Pinterest might actually be the best bet.

If you’re not sure where to start, look at other authors you admire and see where they share most of their content. Again, for this research to be beneficial, it’s best to look to lesser known authors rather than King and Patterson. Their tactics are going to be different than your tactics and it’s likely an assistant or marketing team is doing their social media anyway. 

Since there are countless examples of synergy, let’s move into some more common practices that work well in every form of social media.

No matter which outlet you choose to spend your time, there are a few big things to consider. First of all, you can’t let the administration get ahead of the work. It takes time to post on social media, but it shouldn’t take up all of your time. This is where discipline and futuristic focus come into play. 

If you wanted to be a standup comedian and spent more time on the website than your material, then you wouldn’t make it very long in the business. Make sure you write more than you promote. You can also think about your work as pillar content, where you write something like a short story, then tease it across multiple platforms. 

Author Benjamin Hardy blew up on Medium in 2018 and went into traditional publishing (this was his goal, not an accident). These days, he will actually share an array of thoughts and quotes as small articles, which helps him think about the topics, and then turn the more popular reads into chapters in his next book. He’s not focused on being precious with the work. He gives away a lot of free material in order to find an audience to buy books. He focused on gathering emails and referring readers to his landing page (read more on website creation here).

Basically, you can’t leave your social media or book promotion up to chance. 

Start somewhere, then keep refining and refining until you find a formula that works for you. If there was a no-brainer for everyone, it would quickly become oversaturated and fall apart. This is why it’s a little different for everyone. Just be the writer willing to work more than everyone else. Don’t get outworked in the areas you can control. 

Here’s how…

There’s no need to think like a generalist when doing book promotion. Decide who the book is for and write it for that person.

Here’s a specific example: Let’s say you’re a psychologist writing a book on food addiction. This is a touchy subject, but there are actually Facebook Groups (3,400+ people) online discussing food addiction.

There are also Sub-Reddits on the site Reddit that discuss “Addiction” and “Food Addiction.” Even if you can’t market directly to these groups, you can see what they’re talking about, what they’re reading, and figure out how to market to this group.

Where do your potential readers already spend time? Go there.

For the most part, TV and radio coverage are somewhat obsolete, unless you’re a local celebrity or in a position to become an influencer or guest speaker (if you’re trying to be an expert in something, check out HARO).

Instead of fishing these overpopulated waters, consider looking for blogs around your subject. This is best for book promotion. Plus, Bloggers and Vloggers get just as many views as television stars today, if not more.

Plus, their audiences are way more engaged with what they’re doing. Are you writing an in-depth book on film in the 2010s? Why not advertise to the followers of Lessons From The Screenplay or Nerdwriter on YouTube?

In terms of going viral, how can you create an absolute no-brainer for your audience? How can your audience help you with book promotion? Something simple might be giving away a free first chapter (or two) in exchange for an email.

Or, you could find something else within the same genre. If you’re a self-help author who writes somewhat like Seth Godin, maybe create an ad giving away 5 of his best books in exchange for email (see WishPond for more details here).

When Ryan Holiday was promoting a Chef’s book, he reached out to the website BitTorrent and built a 700 megabyte bundle, including “250 pages of material, interviews, extras, videos, and photos” to promote the book, along with a 40 percent discount.

The book promotion results? They received 2,000,000 downloads, 1,261,152 page visits, and 293,936 book trailer impressions. It’s tough for a book to go viral, but it’s not impossible.

But again, virality isn’t everything. Godin also said, “Writing a book is a tremendous experience. It pays off intellectually. It clarifies your thinking. It builds credibility. It is a living engine of marketing and idea spreading, working every day to deliver your message with authority.”

That said, Godin no longer reads his own Amazon reviews. He avoids the potential for this negative mindset and instead, asks his peers for review of his books. This way, he writes better books because he’s getting the best feedback, not bloated opinions. 

Whichever route you go for book promotion, the best way to promote a book is to write another one. Pour over the data to see what works and what doesn’t work as you prepare for the next launch. This will let you know which book promotion techniques work best. 

Whether or not you choose to market your books yourself or hire outside help, it’s important not to confuse speed and convenience for process. Like writing a book, growing a true following takes time. 

Come up with a plan and stick with it. Consider taking 30- or 90-day sprints in the marketing world to gather data and see what works. Otherwise, you’ll always be chasing the next big thing. Your audience is out there. Stick with a process and you’ll find them (or they’ll find you!).

As filmmaker Ken Burns said, “Everyone wants to have it done and I get it, but what you really want is to keep that scaffolding up long enough that you’re sure the building is gorgeous and will stand by itself. It takes time and you have to do that. Have faith in the process.”