20 Ways to Use Social Media to Sell Your Book
A “Special Report” by Rusty Fischer, www.requestedmaterial.blogspot.com
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Five Ways to Promote Your Book on Facebook
Chapter 2: Five Ways to Promote Your Book on Twitter
Chapter 3: Five Ways to Promote Your Book on Scribd.com
Chapter 4: 5 Ways to Do Social Media in 30 Minutes or Less
Introduction
Social media is a powerful tool when promoting – and ultimately selling – your book. Regardless of the genre you write in, social media can help build powerful connections that can result in glowing book reviews, positive word of mouth and, of course, increased book sales.
This special report will help you discover how to use three of today’s most powerful social media tools to help you promote, broadcast and SELL more books:
And, if you’re in a hurry, it will help you do so – in 30-seconds or less!
Key to the fundamentals of social media is the slow, gradual and purposeful “art” of building of relationships. This is not a “get rich quick” report designed to help you sell 1,000 books by tomorrow but, instead, a practical primer in how to build enough relationships to sell thousands more books over the course of a lifetime.
Chapter 1:
Five Ways to Promote Your Book on Facebook
The other day I bought a book from an author I’d just met. Not at a bookstore or conference or signing, but on Facebook. I’d “friended” her weeks earlier and she’d responded with a personal reply. Nothing major or time-consuming, just a quick, “Hi Rusty, thanks for friending me.”
That was that. The beauty of the relationship is that she never mentioned her book to me; once. But I was so intrigued by the interaction and her regular posts that I eventually fiddled around on her wall, read her info, saw that she had a new book out, clicked on the Amazon.com link and, like that, pre-ordered her latest release.
I wouldn’t be writing this article if that was a unique experience. In fact, it’s happened about a dozen times this year alone, and I’ve really only been active on Facebook for the last few months.
The experience made me stop and think about how we buy books, in general, and why I bought that book, in particular. I realized that there was something to learn here, and after careful analysis I realized that there were five main reasons I’d been buying so many books by my Facebook friends. That analysis resulted in what I like to call the Five Ways to Promote Your Book on Facebook:
The First Way to Promote Your Book on Facebook: Always Use a Book Cover as Your Profile Picture
I like author photos, I like candid snapshots of families having fun, I even like your cute little kitten, but something “happens” the minute I see a book cover in a profile picture. The writer in me, and the reader, just has to learn more.
Often by learning more, I get intrigued; typically once I get intrigued, I’ll want to find out more about the author, the book, and invariably I’ll wind up at the author’s blog, or website or, more typically, at Amazon.com.
Once I’m at a place where I can actually “buy” something in a few clicks or less, I’m much more likely to. But none of that is likely to happen if I just see another smiling face – or a cute little kitten.
The Second Way to Promote Your Book on Facebook: Make it Easy for Me
If it’s going to happen at all, I have about a 10-click minimum for buying a book off a Facebook friend. One click on his or her profile pic, one or two clicks on their wall or “info” page, one or two clicks more to visit their blog or website, one or two clicks more to link from there to Amazon and a click or two to seal the deal with my credit card handy.
If I waste 10 clicks just trying to find the book on your blog or website, I’m sorry; that’s it for me. I’ve passed my expiration date; I’ll move on. It’s nothing personal, but I figure if you want me to buy your book you’ll make it really, really easy for me.
For that matter, your book cover shouldn’t just be your profile picture on Facebook, it should be VERY visible on your blog or website, and every time it appears it should link to Amazon.com or Bn.com or Bamm.com or your publisher’s website; somewhere I can actually purchase it in a few clicks, smile and move on.
The Third Way to Promote Your Book on Facebook: Don’t “Sell” Me
I have to be honest: I’m not really on Facebook to buy anything.
I’m there to interact, to learn, to share, to be made aware, to experience and, frankly, to kill some time. Those times when I am actually moved to purchase a book from a Facebook “friend,” it’s because they’ve made their presence known, because they’ve said something funny or wise to get my attention, or reached out to me personally in a non-sales way, or consistently posted really interesting articles or simply impressed me as someone who’s got their act together.
In short, I don’t like to be sold; nobody does. The more an author sells him or herself, the less likely I am to buy from them. Heck, the less likely I am to be their friend. Some of my Facebook friends literally post every single day about a new promotion, contest, sale, blog post, etc. It gets so I expect to see a message from them every morning, until I’m finally motivated to act and “un-friend” them.
And I’m pretty sure that’s the opposite of what they wanted.
The Fourth Way to Promote Your Book on Facebook: Less is More
As a companion tip to the previous one, when it comes to promoting on Facebook, for me anyway, less is more. That’s why using your book cover as your profile picture is so crucial; every time you post, it’s like a mini-banner ad.
So even if you’re sharing a recipe, or that your kids are gearing up for winter break, or that you just stubbed your toe, I’m seeing your book cover on my wall. Sometimes, that’s all it takes.
More often, though, what sells me on a book is the author. I get excited by watching authors live their lives, when they share tips on technology, or let me know they just got a new book deal, or their edits are done, etc.
I don’t want to hear every detail of their lives, but I enjoy the rare snippet and become a quiet cheerleader on the sides; I think all readers/writers do that.
So instead of selling me, instead of bombarding me with how great your book is, how it’s on sale – again – or hasn’t sold very well lately (really?), post something that will let me get to know you a little better as an author, as a writer, as an entrepreneur, as someone creative and professional. I’m much more sold by the author on Facebook than I am the book.
The Fifth Way to Promote Your Book on Facebook: Treat Me Like a Friend
At the end of the day, selling a book happens one reader at a time. I don’t often buy an author’s book the first day it’s out, the same way I rarely see a movie on opening day – or even opening weekend – anymore.
More often than not I kind of ease into buying a book over a period of time by getting to know the author more; his or her style, personality, book cover, contacts, likes, dislikes, etc.
I’m not particularly “friendly” with my author friends, mostly because I don’t want to be too intrusive, but I often support them with a positive comment or by “liking” some new development in their lives or careers.
It’s a weird time. Never before have I been so “friendly” with so many authors, and I guess that’s the real crux of the issue here: I want to be treated like a friend. Not intimately or intrusively but with the same respect, grace and TLC with which you’d treat a friend.
So next time you go to promote yourself, or post this or tout that, ask yourself, “Would I share this with my real friends? And if I did, would I share it in the same way?”
There are thousands of ways to sell a book; these are just five. And while I’m no expert, I’m an expert in what prods me to buy a book – and these five work (almost) every time!
Chapter 2:
Five Ways to Promote Your Book on Twitter
It’s always amazing to me when an author I know and love decides to “follow” me on Twitter. I’m never too far from being a huge fan and getting star struck, even though I’ve published books – and even have “followers” – of my own.
But what inspires me most about having real, live, actual people who choose to take the time – and clicks – to “follow” me is the responsibility I feel to make the effort worth their time.
Yes, I’m an author; yes, I’m there to promote books and, yes, I wouldn’t mind if I made a little money in the process. But before every tweet, I always stop and think, “Is this going to make someone un-follow me? And will it eventually want to make them buy my book(s)?”
That question, and the subsequent answers I’ve learned in the few months I’ve been on Twitter, resulted in what I like to call the Five Ways to Promote Your Book on Twitter:
The First Way to Promote Your Book on Twitter: Graphics Matter
One of the first ways to promote your book on Twitter is to pay attention to graphics. Look, I’m no webmaster or cyber guru or tech wizard, but even I know how to upload my book cover as my profile picture and tile it as my Twitter background.
If you are an author promoting a book on Twitter, why hide it? I’m all for making your Twitter page a comfy, cozy, attractive place to be, but if your home page is your first impression, why not make it count when it comes to book sales as well?
A good book cover says a lot; you and/or your publisher worked hard to design and create something special, magical even, so why not share it with your readers? There are thousands of cool, neat, awesome backgrounds to use on Twitter; and everybody’s using them!
But there’s only one book cover that looks like yours; and that makes it unique to you. It also makes it a great, big billboard! Imagine Twitter to be like a highway, with people speeding by and not having too much time to stop and look.
If you throw up just another flower or puppy background, they might smile and stay awhile; if you use your book cover as your background – and they read in your genre – chances are they’ll stick around longer and be more inclined to actually buy that book, or at least come back for more – and buy it the next time, or the next.
The Second Way to Promote Your Book on Twitter: Make it Informative
Believe it or not, most people don’t come to Twitter to buy books! They’re there, mostly, because their friends are there, or their coworkers, boyfriend/girlfriend, spouse or family members are there.
But once there, most folks are hooked – and that’s where you come in. If you’re an author with a book to promote on Twitter, don’t just write “buy my book” and post a link day after day after day.
Yes, the law of averages states that eventually someone will buy it if they simply keep seeing it enough, but along the way you’re going to tick off a lot of people and lose a lot of followers – and potential book sales.
Instead, give folks a reason to read your tweets. Link to interesting articles about writing, or about the genre you write in, or about publishing – or reading – in general. Re-tweet valuable information that pertains to all of the above, or simply make observations or comments about writing and publishing in general.
If you have a blog, let people know about it on Twitter and keep your followers in mind when you link to it. If you’re on Facebook AND Twitter, chances are you follow the same people at both – and the same people follow you; so vary it up. Don’t post the EXACT same thing on Twitter and Facebook every time; people get tired of that.
Instead, try to make unique and stand alone pages at both Facebook and Twitter and elsewhere on social media. In all things, provide, share or create content that is on point to the genre you write in and will be interesting to the people who follow you.
The Third Way to Promote Your Book on Twitter: Keep a Schedule
A lot of people get on Twitter, get all hot and heavy, post 1,000 tweets in their first two weeks and then… nothing. Nada; their site grows cold and all those witty, fun, informative tweets just… stop.
Or, just as painfully, those people continue to post at the rate of 1,000 tweets every two weeks and lose all the goodwill they gained by becoming nothing short of a nuisance!
The key on sites like Twitter and Facebook is to post intelligently, post carefully but above all post regularly; not too much and not too little. I like to post between 5 and 10 times per day, all day; not all at once.
So I might hop on in the morning, post a link I found in one of my publishing websites, then post a comment about writing or publishing in general. I’ll stop by again around mid-morning and re-tweet a few targeted, intelligent, quotable or just plain witty posts; then do the same at lunch.
Once again in mid-afternoon I’ll drop in, read for a while, write something new, post a link or re-tweet a couple great posts, then once more at night and… that’s it.
Whatever you do, have a schedule and keep to it. If all you do is re-tweet, but the re-tweets are targeted and witty and entertaining and on point, great; but re-tweet with a purpose – and a schedule – in mind.
If you tweet what you do all day, and your followers like that, great; just make sure to keep them happy by posting regularly about what you do all day!
The Fourth Way to Promote Your Book on Twitter: Have Something to Say
Most tweets fall into one of three categories: something original you have to say, a link to a resource (such as a news story, statistic, interview or book review) or a re-tweet. All are valid, all can be entertaining or informative, but not all will help promote your book.
So before you post a link, or a review, or re-tweet or say something original, ask yourself one simple question, “How is this helping to promote my book?”
Hey, if people enjoy your funny comments on writing in a coffee shop and that helps brand you as a known author to them, great; that’s promoting your book! Remember, a tweet doesn’t have to actually say “buy my book” to help promote it.
Anything you’re doing to brand yourself, create relationships, connect with other writers and/or interact in a real, meaningful, entertaining or informative way that builds honest, genuine online relationships can help promote your book.
The Fifth Way to Promote Your Book on Twitter: Say it Well
Finally, remember that as a writer – particularly as an author – every tweet must represent you in your best light. For instance, if you write for children, posting risqué links or using adult language in your tweets might not be the best idea for promoting your latest book for kids.
Likewise, if you write erotica, make sure that your Twitter personality reflects your erotica author personality. That doesn’t mean you have to talk like a sailor or write the raciest tweets on the block, but remember your audience and tweet accordingly.
Quality is key, so remember that as an author you represent a particular brand. Hopefully, quality is a part of that brand. So before you post a tweet, edit it like you would a chapter in your book; check it for grammar, for spelling, for creativity and spark.
Remember, never tweet anything you wouldn’t write in one of your books.
Chapter 3:
Five Ways to Promote Your Book on Scribd.com
Social media is a powerful tool for promoting your books online, but not all of the “action” is happening on Facebook and Twitter. In fact, a website known as Scribd.com can be a powerful tool for promoting books online if you simply follow these five simple tips:
The First Way to Promote Your Book on Scribd.com: Have a Strategy
Scribd.com is like a huge online library; it boasts a variety of categories and genres and allows you to post entire books online. I discovered it as a way to help build up readership before my first young adult supernatural romance, Zombies Don’t Cry, was to be published by Medallion Press in Spring of 2011.
Along the way learned that one of the best ways to promote on Scribd.com was to have a strong strategy of posting regularly.
Scribd.com lets people “subscribe” to you; much like they would to a magazine or newspaper. It’s really no different than having “friends” on Facebook or “followers” on Twitter; you need to treat your subscribers with respect and give them something worth subscribing to.
One way to keep subscribers happy is to post content regularly. It could be excerpts from your forthcoming book, or rough content from a work in progress, or a poem you write for the holidays and give away for free.
Some authors are very active on Scribd.com, posting content weekly; others post monthly, or every time they have a book published. Any system will work, as long as you actually have a system and stick to it.
The Second Way to Promote Your Book on Scribd.com: Make Your Book Cover Your First Page
Scribd.com works by allowing you to upload content, but you do all the formatting yourself. In other words, the site is like a big warehouse of published works; some look better than others. What I find works best is to make the first page of whatever you post – be it 5 pages or 500 pages long – your book cover.
So instead of having your title page be first, open up a .gif or .jpeg of your book cover – ask your publisher for help if you’re not that tech-savvy – and paste it into the first page of your document.
Now when you upload the document, instead of seeing a lot of white space with a title when they run across it, readers will see your actual book cover. This makes a great first impression, and also helps brand the book in people’s minds because they can actually see the cover the first time they read the title.
The Third Way to Promote Your Book on Scribd.com: Master the Art of Excerpting
Excerpts – or “teasers” – are a great way to build interest in either your upcoming book or a book that’s been recently published. Check with your publisher to see how much you can excerpt without giving too much away, and then create a document containing that sample chapter or those sample pages; again, using your book cover as the title page.
Of course, the real value of posting an excerpt is making sure there is a page at the end – or even in the beginning as well – that makes it clear to readers that this is “only” an excerpt and offering a specific link for where to buy the rest of the book.
When it comes to links, don’t run readers around; give them one link where you want them to buy the book you’re promoting, either your publisher’s website or an online bookseller like Amazon.com. That way they can easily “click and buy” while they’re still excited after reading the excerpt!
The Fourth Way to Promote Your Book on Scribd.com: Give Stuff Away
Excerpts are fine, but sometimes your subscribers will want to read an entire work. In that case, start getting comfortable with giving things away. I’m not talking about entire 300-page books or content that you could otherwise sell elsewhere, although that’s certainly an option, but more along the lines of short stories or poems or essays, etc.
For instance, maybe you wrote a short story for a particular writing contest or anthology. And maybe it didn’t get accepted, even when you sent it out to another contest – or another anthology – and another and another.
Don’t let it sit around and gather dust; post it on Scribd.com instead and make sure there is a page at the back that links to the current book you’re promoting so that it goes to some good use.
When I began promoting my book Zombies Don’t Cry, I thought it would be fun to write a goofy little zombie poem for every holiday leading up to its release in April of 2011. So one weekend a month I would sit down and write a 10-12 page poem for, say, Halloween or Thanksgiving or Valentine’s Day.
Then I would post “Zombies Don’t Trick or Treat” or “Zombies Don’t Gobble” or “Zombies Don’t Date” on Scribd.com as a kind of holiday “gift” to my hundred or so subscribers.
It was fun to do, didn’t cost me anything, didn’t cost readers anything and I felt it was a good way to help promote the larger book by kind of creating a monthly presence on Scribd.com that typically generated 25-50 new subscribers with each new poem.
The Fifth Way to Promote Your Book on Scribd.com: Treat Subscribers Like Friends
Finally, it’s important to respect and be grateful for your Scribd.com subscribers. Much like you have “friends” on Facebook and “followers” on Twitter, Scribd.com trades in subscribers.
These are people who have taken the time to read a few of your pieces, click a few online buttons and literally “subscribe” to any new content you may wish to produce, upload and distribute; don’t let them down!
Give them something to look forward to, like a new poem, story, essay or excerpt every month; or even every few months. Make it quality and creative; don’t treat Scribd.com like a depository for all your rough drafts. Instead, edit carefully and only upload the things you’re most proud of.
In the end, a Scrib.dom subscriber today could just be a major book customer tomorrow!
Chapter 4:
5 Ways to Do Social Media in 30 Minutes or Less: Or, How to Promote Yourself on a (Time) Budget
I’ve written several articles recently about the importance of social media for authors, be it published or unpublished, and listing dozens of ways to increase your all-important “platform” for publishers using sites like Facebook, Twitter, Smashwords and Scribd.com.
Since I work from home and am literally online 10-12 hours a day, every day, it’s easy for me to forget that lots of authors are using social media on the run; checking into Facebook for a few minutes here, tweeting for a few minutes there and perhaps posting on a blog or Scribd.com when they can.
I was reminded of this fact recently when a reader wrote in to say, “Help! This is all great advice IF you have the time, but I don’t. What can I do when I have less than 30 minutes a day?”
It got me thinking of what an effective social media campaign might look like if you didn’t have all day to post, update, tweet and re-tweet; if you didn’t even have an hour. And so, for my time-challenged author friends, here are five simple ways you can have an effective and optimal social media campaign in 30-minutes (or less) per day:
The First Way to Do Social Media in 30 Minutes Or Less: Schedule It
If time is of the essence then you really, really have to schedule your time online when it comes to social media. Let’s say you really do only have 30-minutes per day to devote to social media. What will you do with them? How will you split them up? If you can find a nice block of 30-minutes, that’s a no-brainer, but if you’re grabbing 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes at lunch and 10 minutes after dinner, then so be it; make that your “schedule” and try to stick to it every day.
The Second Way to Do Social Media in 30 Minutes Or Less: Prioritize It
Let’s face it: some days you just won’t be able to hit all the sites that are important to you. What then? Know which sites you definitely want to hit in a day and then be active on them in that order. For instance, if you have 5,000 Facebook friends and 500 Twitter followers, well, start where you’re going to get the biggest bang for your time and make sure you cultivate those 5,000 FB friends before you turn to growing your Twitter base. If your blog or website is getting (far) more link-backs from Scribd.com than Linkedin these days, then recognize that trend and go where the heat is and hit Scribd before you tend to Linkedin.
The Third Way to Do Social Media in 30 Minutes Or Less: Cycle It
Ideally, you want to hit all your social media sites every day, but if you can’t, then start at the top of a short, daily “to do” list and get as far as you can before your 30-minutes are up. I call this the “cycle.” So, let’s say on your list you have Facebook, Twitter, Scribd.com, Smashwords and Linked In – in that order. Start at the top of the list and work your way down; stop when you’ve hit your 30-minutes. Let’s say you’ve only had time today to hit Facebook and Twitter on your cycle. That’s fine, just circle the sites you didn’t hit and, the next day, start with them so that you’re always hitting your 4-5 social media sites every two days, then starting over through the cycle.
The Fourth Way to Do Social Media in 30 Minutes Or Less: Share It
Don’t spend hours a day thinking of something original, fun, cutesy, clever or SEO-optimized to say; let others do the work for you! Seriously, you can boost your own profile while helping build the success of others by regularly sharing interesting, targeted and informative posts on Facebook or re-tweeting great links, advice or quotes on Twitter. I re-tweet often throughout the day and folks are always grateful for it; plus I get to share timely and helpful links or advice without scouring the internet for hours a day!
The Fifth Way to Do Social Media in 30 Minutes Or Less: Say It… With Less
Finally, don’t think you have to blanket your favorite or most effective social media sites with daily posts, long-winded witticisms or rambling messages. In fact, I’ve found that with social media less really IS more. Everyone is busy, not just you; so whenever you say something, say it with less. If you’ve thought of something funny, timely or relevant to share on Facebook, share it quickly and without a lot of explanation. If you’re tweeting a great link you found elsewhere, remember the link is the most important part of that post, not your rambling explanation about it. Trust your friends and followers to do the rest!
So there; you really CAN do social media on a time budget… IF you know what you want and how to find it – fast. This should come in handy as the holidays approach and we all find ourselves with less (online) time on our hands, and more family to see, share and enjoy.
About the Author:
Rusty Fischer
Rusty Fischer is a bestselling ghostwriter whose collaborations with many influential clients have been published by such respected houses as Wiley & Sons, Simon & Schuster, McGraw-Hill and Kensington, among many others.
Rusty runs the popular and informative “Requested Material” blog, which can be found at www.requestedmaterial.blogspot.com.
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