Many authors wonder how social media can be useful to them, especially when they are about to launch a new book. They often wonder how they can use it to create a buzz around their books even before they are launched. Several years ago, authors relied on traditional publishers to get people excited about books that are about to be launched. However, in this digital age authors don’t have to rely on print magazines and journals which take a long time to reach the public.

Today there are millions of bloggers who collectively command audiences much bigger than what traditional presses control. Authors can use any number of these bloggers to spread the word about their newly released books. Thanks to the Internet, there are millions of consumers today who can recommend an author’s book to friends with a single click of a button. The following are some great ways to increase people’s anticipation for your upcoming book.

Embedding retweet buttons on free chapters of books

Authors should take advantage of the fact that everybody loves free things. One great way to make readers spread the word about your work is to give away free chapters of your book and embed retweet buttons strategically in the paragraphs. If a person likes a particular part of the chapter, he/she can share it with friends and therefore do free marketing for the author. The tweet should include a link for people to download the free chapter of the book.

Create a publicity page

On your author website, you should make a page that is dedicated to spreading news about your book. On this page, you can make prewritten tweets which readers can share on their Twitter accounts to let their friends know about your book. You should also appeal to people visiting the site to help you spread the word about your upcoming book launch.

Design a photo contest on Facebook

One great way to get people to participate in spreading the word about your book launch is to create a contest on Facebook. You can create a photo contest asking people to submit photos of messages regarding your upcoming launch. For example you can start a contest asking people to submit funny photos with the words ‘help me launch.’ Such a contest will create a lot of chatter on Facebook and give you the publicity you need for a book launch.

Interviewing experts live

You can host one or more experts in your field and discuss with them some of the topics covered in your upcoming book. You should avoid pitching the book too much as it might cause people to lose interest in the live interview.

Start a blogger’s contest

The real world has TV, radio, and newspapers to give people information, but on the Internet that job belongs to bloggers. They control people’s perception about almost everything these days and you should use them to your advantage. If you have an upcoming book, ask some bloggers to review the book and promise some rewards to the top few bloggers. The bloggers will read your review copies and then write what they think about them and spread the word to their followers. This is a great way to make people aware of your upcoming book.