We all know that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Well, that’s true in theory, but practice is another thing entirely. Great images grab attention – you only have to look at social media sites like Tumblr, Pinterest, and Instagram. If we see something that grabs our attention on one of these sites, the chances are, we’ll share it with others, thus widening the audience of that image. The same applies to a book.

So, how can you use image sharing to promote your book?

There are a few ways you can do this but, however you do it, make sure that the platform you choose is a match for your creative skills. Two of the best ways is to create digital scrapbooks of story ideas and to communicate with your audience directly. Let’s see how both of these ways can help you.

Digital Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is the best way if you can see pictures while you are writing and sharing images that tie in with your story is a great way to potentially widen your audience. Some writers will collect images that give them inspiration, using Pinterest as a platform to share their creations. It doesn’t matter what will inspire you – if you can get a photo of it, you can use it and you can share it. Take Bryan Lee for example; this graphic novelist helps his readers to connect with his books by sharing his character’s fashion choices on Tumblr.

You could share images of where your characters live, images of places you have been that gave you inspiration for scenery in your book. This draws readers in and allows them to connect with your work – very important for a writer.

Direct Communication

If pictures don’t help you to think, then scrapbooking isn’t the way for you. If, however, you prefer direct communication with your fans and readers, you can use social media to share images that will help you connect with them and them with you.

Pinterest is a good place for this and many authors use this platform to share images of their upcoming book cover – this acts as a teaser, provided the image is good enough, and it allows the readers to put your story into context.

Take this further; add in photographs of the entire journey your book has been on.

Ask For Contributions

Get your audience involved; ask them to upload images that convey their experiences of your book, maybe a photo of where they read it. There are magazines that ask readers for photos of them reading the magazine while on holiday somewhere exotic. You can do this and it’s a great way of getting audience participation and potentially growing your audience. Readers are more likely to stay loyal to you and will happily share your images and posts with others.

With social media, your fans should feel like friends, not customers.

Get Started

Start now; sign up for an account on Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest. Start posting images, not forgetting to link back to your website. Post those links on any social media site you can and share mages on a regular basis. Ask your readers what they want to see.

Social media is a powerful tool in your book marketing strategy so use it to its fullest extent. It's easy and you get instant results, a better connection with your readers and more potential readers.

Simply put, you can’t lose.