Tuesday, December 31, 2013

How to Use Social Media to Market Your Self-Published Book without Going Crazy Doing It

Jim Gaffigan's fussy old lady voice: (here she goes again with the marketing jargon. just talk about writing! or about 97! I want to hear more about William's back muscles.)
Fussy Lady: Well some statue's butt isn't really appropriate for an author blog, is it?


  • Set up a Facebook account for either A) your book or B) your authorship. You can create a 'business account' but if I had to do it again, (and I do, because of Book 2!) I would just create a page associated with my private page. The business account doesn't let you Like stuff or do searches, or anything fun like that. Annoying.
  • Set up a Twitter account for either A) your book or B) your authorness. If your account is for your book, then your tweets will necessarily be about your book. You have a little more leeway for topics if it's an author account.
  • Set up a blog. Queue Jim Gaffigan's fussy lady voice: (now there's more writing to do. I want to write a book, not my life story.) Well, I think it's a necessary evil. Basically if you are self-publishing, then you are self-promoting, and you will need all of the platforms you can get your hands on. Surprisingly, once I started this Author Blog, I felt kind of refreshed writing some non-fiction crap. And it's an author blog, so I don't rewrite my drafts. Sorry peeps, it's the first run every time.
  • Try Google +. Why not? It can't hurt. I tried it, and the whole Google Circle thing, and it's kind of cool, and who knows...maybe it'll take off in 2014 and we'll be the trend-setters. Or not.
  • Network with other authors. Fussy lady voice: why do I want to meet other authors? So I can buy more books I don't have time to read?  Well Fussy Lady, I have found an incredible support group amongst my fellow writers. Some of them have also purchased my book. Bonus! And you can bet if an author buys your book, they're going to review it for you too. Double bonus! Additionally, other authors have clued me in to things such as contests, promotional platforms, book sales, free books, places to leave links and so on and so forth. I have also made friends and found AMAZING talent. Yes, on one hand fellow writers are 'competitors' but let's be real. Our books cost between a dollar and four bucks as eVersions. We're not going to sink our own ship by buying and supporting each other's works.
  • Goodreads. You can set up an author account, post Book Trailers, host giveaways...it's a great resource.
  • YouTube. I was born when people still used heavy typewriters and carbon paper. And yet I was able to figure out how to create a PowerPoint presentation, add copyright free music and stock photos to it, convert it to video and UPLOAD it to YouTube. TaDa! Book trailer. Look, anything that you don't know how to do, just Google the instructions. You'll probably find a YouTube tutorial on how to do it, and you're set. Don't neglect YouTube in promoting your book. There is an entire enormous community out there.
  • Social Media Etiquette. Just because you're sitting privately at home in your drawers and you haven't showered in three days doesn't give you permission to act like a jackass on the internet. Treat everyone on the internet the way you would treat them if you were face to face with them at a coffee shop. Be polite. Ask permission to post things. Be gracious. Be smart.
Hopefully these ideas will jumpstart you in promoting your book. I've had a great response using social media, and I know absolutely nothing about marketing, as I've mentioned in two other posts. So basically, you're following the advice of a total noob. Last tip; don't believe everything you read on the internet.

No comments:

Post a Comment