Social media has always been a major bonus for authors trying to reach readers – using hashtags and clever following you can build an audience for free. I was an early adopter on Twitter and found it brilliant in many ways. But now the algorithms are changing constantly and many of you will have found your Facebook and Instagram audiences dropping as those companies have made changes to who sees your posts. Instagram is suddenly all about reels; Twitter has changed massively (particularly this week!) and the corners that aren’t a toxic swamp are dominated by liked tweets – the early principles that made Twitter so useful for spreading the word on book content have changed.
But the readers are still out there! And as authors we now need to find more ways to connect with them. Choosing your platform carefully is one step, and making sure that you use it to your best advantage is another. Setting up an author newsletter is the ideal – this article might help.
Most importantly you need to know who your reader is – identify who is most likely to read your books and have a think about how you will connect with them. What are their interests? Age? Location? Mainstream publishing traditionally focuses on women aged 25-45 as the strongest book buyers, but perhaps your reader is much younger, older, or your books focus on a niche audience?
If you’re writing for children, they aren’t going to be on Twitter, but their parents might be, similarly Facebook. If you’re writing for teens, they are on TikTok and Instagram. Your reader demographic might be huge Facebook users. Facebook groups are very popular – from hedgehogs to art deco, 3d printing to your local town, there are Facebook groups for everyone, and LOTS for readers.
Unfortunately today, opening a Twitter account isn’t a magic fix to reaching out, now authors have to be social savvy and focused.
As with all social media, the clue is in the name, it’s social, so nobody wants to hear you broadcasting about your book as if you’re driving down the road with a megaphone – they might be interested in a research photo you post though, or an Instagram feed focusing on your poetry or photography that has inspired your stories (be aware of copyright in all posts). Readers want to get the inside story and find out about you, and as a natural extension of that, find out about your work.
Building a following will help you reach readers, but chose wisely when it comes to the platform you opt for – make sure that you’re comfortable and not trying to be something you’re not.
If you are using social media to magnify your blog posts, be consistent in posting on both. Make it easy for yourself and work out batches of content to post over a period of time. Having a strategy makes posting on social much easier, and means you can prepare your main posts in advance. You’re aiming for a blend of interesting or informative, some posts about you (your story), and mixed with those (with a delicate hand) are posts that link to your product.
Understanding your ‘brand’ and who you are as a writer will help you come up with post ideas.
Make it easy
- Ensure your ‘username’ is easy to find and remember (preferably not a string of numbers) – if someone hears you on the radio, will they be able to find you? Make your username as close to your author name as possible (I’m @SamBlakeBooks everywhere.) Similarly for a blog – think about your author brand and what your message is.
- Use the SAME username where possible across all platforms so you are easy to find on your readers’ preferred form of social. Ensure it reflects your website, and where possible get a wesbite professionally designed so it really works for you.
- A blog and a website are different (but can be combined, with a blog section on a static website) but make sure you buy your username url to use on both – again it makes it easy to find you (my website is samblakebooks.com)
- Use a consistent avatar across them all – ideally a good author photo so people recognise you. You can of course use your book cover, but as subsequent books come out, people could find it had to spot you as the author if the image keeps changing.
- Look for tools that enable you to hook up accounts to cross post – you can easily link Instagram and Facebook. Use platforms like Hootsuite or Hubspot to speed things up.
- Look for ways to maximise your efforts by repurposing content across different platforms – a blog post can be edited into a Facebook post or quoted in a tweet.
- Be courteous – not everyone will agree with you, and they may not hold back, but be prepared to walk away. Internet fights don’t benefit anyone.
Who to follow?
- Social media is a great way to connect with fellow authors and see what’s happening in the publishing world – find authors who you aspire to, find literary agents, discover festivals and agents looking for submissions (check out the #pitchmad hashtag)
- Find book bloggers and bookstagrammers and support them through sharing and conversation.
- Authors buy lots of books and readers follow authors, so interaction will increase your following.
Don’t become a slave to social
- Nobody expects you to be online 24/7 and really nobody notices if you don’t post for a few days – perhaps you’re doing something FAR more interesting and haven’t had time! Try and post reasonably regularly but you don’t need to post every day.
- To be a great writer you need to write – and not in 280-character sound bites. Don’t end up spending so much time on social you don’t get time to write!
- If you’re a new writer and hate the very idea of social media and are reading this with dread, don’t worry!! A social media following is desireable, but NOT essential to getting a book deal – a brilliant book will always find its way regardless of the number of followers you may or may not have. The rush to publish (for instance) influencers, has proven that converting free users (followers) to paying for content (your book) isn’t as simple as it sounds. As an alternative, see my article about building an author newsletter.
Think of every book you publish as a building block to reaching new readers, an opportunity to build your tribe and grow your sales. Look for ways to magnify your voice to reach those readers – write an article for a blog or for Writing.ie (join as a member and as well as a bunch of discounts, you have access to the members blog. Or get in touch to see what we’re looking for, contact adrian@writing.ie)
Social media doesn’t suit everyone but tools like Substack (which lets writers and podcasters publish directly to their audience and get paid through subscriptions) are another way to build a following. Every connection you make is a potential sale, whether that’s someone reading your review column in the local paper, an article like this, a social media post, or a newsletter. Reach out and find your people.
(c) Sam Blake
Sam Blake’s Remember My Name has been shortlisted for Crime Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards – you can vote for your favourite books (voting closes 10/11/22, be quick!) and short stories at www.irishbookawards.ie/vote
Remember My Name is out in paperback this week!
** A NO. 1 IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER **
If she’d turned off her phone, instead of listening in, perhaps no one would have died…
When Cressida Howard catches her entrepreneur husband playing away from home, she hires security expert Brioni O’Brien to get the evidence she needs for a speedy and financially rewarding divorce.
But what Brioni uncovers goes beyond simple infidelity. Because Laurence Howard is also in bed with some very dangerous people. Bribery and blackmail are the least of his worries as someone comes after the women in his life – someone who is out to destroy Laurence and his empire, whatever the cost.
And Cressida and her teenage daughter could soon be collateral damage, if she and Brioni don’t act fast.
Order your copy here! (Free delivery UK and Ireland)
