As an author, do you struggle with using social media to sell books and connect with readers?
Not sure how much time you should be spending on social media and what you should be doing during that time?
Can you really find more readers using social media?
How do you promote my book properly on social media?
If you are wondering about any of these questions, then you are not alone. Many authors struggle with the same sorts of questions.
So, let’s a look at few of those questions and get tips on how to command the social media ‘beast’ and tame it.
How Long Does It Take for An Author to Build a Presence Online?
This is a popular question for any business, especially authors. They have spent months and months (sometimes even years) writing their books, and they want to find an audience for their books right away, it often doesn’t happen like that!
“It doesn’t take any time at all to BUY an audience. There are easy ways to… there are a lot of marketing strategies that allow you to amass huge followings. I want to be very careful to encourage authors, especially, to BUILD their audience. Slow and steady definitely wins the race!”
Many authors think that they need to find an audience for their book after they already wrote the book. This is the wrong way to look at it!
“As you’re writing your book, I want to encourage people to build that audience in tandem with that. Don’t expect to just write your book and say ‘Okay, I’m going to start shooting it out to an audience!’ I want to really encourage people to build your audience while you’re writing your book.”
Now, if your book is already done, you’re not able to start building that audience while writing so definitely start building an audience now, but if you’re planning on writing another book, start building that audience now!
The best part about building an audience while you are writing, is that you can share bits and pieces about your book as you write it. You can share the covers, you can share samples, you can give teasers. This allows your audience to become invested in your book. If they have spent months becoming invested in the book as you’re writing it, they are much more likely to buy the book when it’s released!
What do I talk about on social media? Do I just talk about my book?
Many authors struggle with what to write about on social media so they end up defaulting to some variation of “Buy my book!”. As many authors notice, that doesn’t get you more sales. People aren’t invested in you, they don’t have a connection with you, so they aren’t going to buy your book!
“You want to be approachable to your readers… I break the mould. Whatever is on my mind, whenever it is on my mind, I post it… I allow my readers to know me, all of me. I am not just going to feed them this part of me.”
Being an author is like running a business. You’re marketing a product: your book.
“Writing a book, that process, it IS a business. How do we manage good social media? How do we manage a business? How do we brand? All of these concepts are going to play into the marketing of your book.”
Which social media platform is best? Should I be on Facebook? Should I be on Twitter? Is Google+ the best for me?
“Is your reader on Facebook? If he is, great, then build out a social media strategy for Facebook! If you find tips for Pinterest, but your reader isn’t on Pinterest, then you shouldn’t invest in trying to get your reader onto Pinterest!”
First you have to define who your audience is, and once you have done that you can take the next step.
“You scroll through bios, and you literally do research. It’s no different than going to the library to do research.”
You have to determine where to find your readers and devote as much attention to that platform as you would engaging individual readers one-on-one.
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If you have questions or want to get published via a content production and publishing firm that offers a comprehensive range of authorial services to help writers refine their messages and reach their target audience, then contact SOI Publishing here.
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