Social Media Marketing Tips for Authors

If you are an author and you want to start marketing your books and getting more credit for your work, then maybe it’s time to sign up on Facebook or Twitter, or create your own blog and get into the world of social media. Aside from being a place where you can say what you want to say, you can use social media for advertising purposes and to help others get to know more about you as an author; and for them to learn what your works are all about. But how can you do it properly? Listed below are some of the tips to keep in mind so that marketing on social media will work well for you and your books:

1. Make use of your contacts. First, you have to make use of the people who already know you and who are in your contacts list. Send them invites to upcoming events, ask them to review your works and post their reviews on their blogs or on Goodreads accounts, and ask them for suggestions about how you can generate more followers and how people can get to know more about you and your works.

2. Build your mailing list. Ask people to subscribe to your mailing list and offer them goodies or discounts if they choose to buy your books. Offer them great deals and assure them that they’ll get to know about your projects first before anyone else - you’ll be able to get their attention and their loyalty. It’s all about building trust with your followers so that they know you are worth supporting.

3. Post in real time. Get a Twitter app on your phone and be ready to share some details of your day with your followers. No, you don’t have to tweet every minute or so; just share a few of your thoughts or tell them about the event you are currently attending. It’s important to let them know that you are real and that you’re not just a spambot. They'll realize that it’s good to follow you and that your tweets are actually entertaining without being hard-selling.

4. Ask them about what they want. Get to know your readers’ opinions because, after all, they are your readers and they deserve to know that what they will be reading is good. They also deserve a say in what you are working on because they will be the ones who’ll read it later. It’s always important to value your readers’ opinions.

5. And, of course, create quality work. You cannot expect people to continue being interested in you and your work if they know that your work is not of excellent quality or if it is not worth reading a second time. Focus on making your work better and you’ll be able to easily generate fans and followers.

Follow the tips listed above and make social media marketing work for you as an author.