Authors, Listen to the Chatter about connecting your
social media accounts to your blog and newsletter.
Object: Place a link to your blog or newsletter in your
social media entries and make the post interesting or inviting enough the
reader will follow the link. Pretty Simple, Right?
There is a little more to it than that. The interesting or
compelling part is the trick.
To give you some idea, here is a
sample of a recent tweet I made to my twitter account, pointing to my blog: HBS
Author’s Spotlight.
HBS Author’s Spotlight showcases
Dianne Harman @DianneDHarman new book: Murdered at the Gallery. Dianne is an
Award-Winning Bestselling Mystery, Suspense and Romance author. #mystery - http://bit.ly/2DocJEq #RT
Tweet Notes:
- Author name
and tweeter handle included
- Book Title
- Author Byline
(280 characters allows extra information on the author)
- Hashtag to author genre
- Link to my
blog post for her novel which includes book cover, blurb, buy links, and
an excerpt plus her contact information and book list
Included
in the tweet was a picture of the cover plus the author’s twitter handle in the
‘Who’s in this photo?’ space. This got a large response from my followers and
her followers
Here is what some of our Spotlight
Authors have to say about getting your book information out to readers using
social media.
Connect Social Media to Your Book Information
Ruby is the author of Mystery & Thrillers
novels including the Zombies v. Ninjas series.
I’m a firm believer in building a
social media platform and regular sharing of interesting content. My first
book, Peril, came out before I had engaged with social media but I made the
conscious decision to blog on various topics and built up quite a large amount
of traffic on my site https://rubybarnes.blogspot.com.
Tweeting the blog posts created
further traffic and I started to gain Twitter followers. One small but
important thing I learned was that a good blog post is “evergreen content”,
which means it’s timeless and can be periodically pushed out on social media
regardless of its age. With billions of people on the planet I can reach new potential readers by recycling my tweets
every month or two, using eye-catching wording.
Lorhainne is a Romance, Mystery & Thrillers, and Young
Adult Author.
Social media is a process that I
started building back when I first published in 2007, and then seriously
focused on building in 2011. It is not a process that happens overnight, but I
have focused on Twitter, Facebook, building my newsletter along with writing
two blogs, The Choice of Giving and Illusion. One of the most important pieces is making sure that my contact
information is in the back of every book, on my website and on my blogs, which
includes a link to sign up for my newsletter
and follow me on Facebook and Twitter.
Connect Social Media to Your Blog
Russell is the best-selling, award-winning author of The
JET series, Assassin series, and BLACK
series.
I spend what time I do online not
promoting books, but interacting with readers and alerting folks about new
blogs I’ve written. I don’t try to use social media to sell books. I don’t
believe that works. I also don’t believe that touting one’s books on forums
does anything but annoy people, so I prefer to interact, offer opinions, and if
they’re compelling and interesting enough, perhaps readers will take a gander
at one of my books. I have no newsletter, and I view forums as purely entertainment, not marketing. Authors
need to learn that their sales are often inverse to their desperation to sell.
No good’s served by bombarding free channels like Facebook or Twitter with book
advertising because it just makes you
look like a desperate douche, and nobody wants anything to do with those.
Richard is a thriller and
paranormal writer and author of the Near Death Series.
Social media and my blog are the main ways I keep in touch with folks and though I’ve learned a lot about abusing it over that last two years, it still remains a favorite of mine and you can find me on FaceBook quite a bit. Twitter seems to be a little less effective for me and I thought I spent a long time building a following there, the room for a much larger forum on FB makes it my fav… Now, I concentrate on being myself and building relationships with people and I have so much more fun with it. You’ll rarely see me ‘selling’ anything on there.
Steven is the Author of the
apocalyptic thriller, The Jakarta Pandemic, and gritty covert-ops series, Black
Flagged.
It’s an easy way for readers to reach out to me, without a ton of expectation. Twitter also draws people to my blog. I keep a Twitter feed rolling with book reviews (for other authors’ books) and articles that I have posted on my blog. I see these retweeted quite often. The bulk of my regular social media presence comes from Facebook, both my personal page and thriller-writing page. It’s probably the best place to catch what I’m doing, besides my blog.
Joseph writes thriller fiction
novels.
I'm pleased with my twitter followers. Not only will they receive book/writing updates, but I also tried to provide inspiration for everyday living. My tweets will coincide with my blog, Simple Thoughts From A Complicated Mind, Sort Of at http://jrlewis.blogspot.com I believe social media is extremely important, especially so because I am an Indie writer. I have built a nice loyal fan base, and it is growing mostly by word of mouth.
I am the self-published Mystery
Author of the Jonathon Stone Mysteries. Also, I am an Author Advocate and book
industry blogger.
I have my book information on my three blogs and my website.
The information includes buying links,
book blurbs, covers, and excerpts along
with my contact information. My goal is to use social media to get readers to
go to my blog and read the complete marketing message.
As I make entries in my Twitter and Facebook accounts, I
include a link to one of my blogs. I insert pictures in each entry to catch the
eye of the reader. Also, I add a tag to another social media user account in
the entry and/or a hashtag. This gives the entry the potential to expand to a
broader audience (retweeting, etc).
Use an Interesting comment – try to get the reader to follow
the link with an interesting tease like –
Read the interview or New book release or
Interesting series or set.
Connect
Social Media to Your Newsletter
Lindsay is the author of The
Emperor's Edge, Swords & Salt, Rust & Relics and Dragon Blood series.
I think the best use of social
media is to be out there, posting regularly, and being available to readers who
also use those services. I’ll occasionally tweet book links or post snippets on
Facebook, but I don’t rely on those venues to sell books. I do maintain a
newsletter, yes, and encourage readers who enjoy the books to signup (I put
links to my mailing list, blog, and social media profiles at the end of most of
my books, to make sure people can find me).
Eliza is the Science Fiction
writer of The Exilon 5 Trilogy.
I’ve met some lovely people through Twitter and Facebook and I use social media as another way for me to connect with readers. It’s important to define how you’re going to approach tweeting and posting on social media. As well as sharing my own posts, I like to share other writers’ blog posts that I find interesting. There are people who follow me because of that. I’ve been blogging and on social media since July 2012, so building relationships anywhere takes time.
I produce a newsletter every so often to announce new projects or talk about what’s happening with the trilogy. People who subscribe to my newsletter are not necessarily the same people who are subscribing to my blog or following me on Twitter. Again, it’s another way to reach out to new, or interested, readers.
Be Active and Post Regularly
An important key to an indie
author’s success is to be active on Social Media and connect the reader to your
book information on your blog and in your
newsletter.
Uvi is a bestselling,
award-winning author, poet, and
artist. She is the author of
Contemporary and Historical Fiction novels.
Thank you for noticing my 24K followers on Twitter. The best way to gain followers is a simple one. Surprise yourself! Every day I publish a blog post about a different topic. Then I share it on social media, and readers come flocking.
What topic, you ask? I go for variety, so a post may be about the creative process, about a voice clip of one of my stories, a back story of what inspired a particular passage in my story, a peek at my art studio, the influence of art through history on my writing, readers’ reviews of my books, a verse or two from poems...
Jami writes Science Fiction
& Fantasy, Romance, Suspense novels. She is the author of The Kyn Kronicles
series.
Social media is the key in reaching your readers on a personal level. I tend to prefer Facebook, mainly because I don’t have to limit my characters, but I try to make sure I’m fairly regular across all outlets. Writers are reminded often to stay personable to their readers, and today’s social media can really give a writer that forum to make connections, not just to readers, but within the artistic community.
Carol E. Wyer @carolewyer
8101 twitter followers – Spotlight Interview
Social media is the key in reaching your readers on a personal level. I tend to prefer Facebook, mainly because I don’t have to limit my characters, but I try to make sure I’m fairly regular across all outlets. Writers are reminded often to stay personable to their readers, and today’s social media can really give a writer that forum to make connections, not just to readers, but within the artistic community.
8101 twitter followers – Spotlight Interview
Carol is the award-winning
author of the Detective Robyn Carter crime thriller series. She writes
Thriller, Humor and Comedy novels.
I love social media purely because it allows me to hook up with my readers and develop relationships with new ones. I was a blogger before I became a published writer and many of my relationships grew from blogging.
You may think me naive, but I was surprised at how effective twitter, Facebook and more recently, Instagram, have been in garnering interest in my books, and in gaining readers. I treat it all like a giant online party. If you chat to people at a party, you become friends and build relationships. If you're a wallflower and don't chat with anyone, they instantly forget you.
I love social media purely because it allows me to hook up with my readers and develop relationships with new ones. I was a blogger before I became a published writer and many of my relationships grew from blogging.
You may think me naive, but I was surprised at how effective twitter, Facebook and more recently, Instagram, have been in garnering interest in my books, and in gaining readers. I treat it all like a giant online party. If you chat to people at a party, you become friends and build relationships. If you're a wallflower and don't chat with anyone, they instantly forget you.
Patricia is an
award-winning writer for her essays, columns, editorials, articles, and
fiction.
My first novels were published
traditionally, and I grew disillusioned with the publishing world, but not with
writing. Then I realized I needed to change my thinking and climb on the social
media train. I began educating myself in this new world. I grew (and am still
growing) my twitter followers and my Facebook “likes” through my blog and by helping
out other writers. I think social media works best when you have a support
group to shout out for you (and vice a versa). No one wants to see you only promoting
your own work. Launching a book via the Internet requires hard work, but I find
it easier than the other way.
Post By James
Moushon @jimhbs
Other Indie Author Chatter Posts
HBS Author's Spotlight http://bit.ly/QVEMix
The blog's
purpose is to help authors get exposure in the book publishing industry. He has
interviewed and showcased over 900 authors to date.
HBS Mystery Reader's Circle http://bit.ly/19Nfrx8
The HBS Mystery
Reader's Circle provides information about the latest novels and what is coming
next from a collection of Bestselling and Outstanding Authors in the Mystery,
Thrillers, Historical Fiction and Crime genre.
Indie Author's Corner http://bit.ly/TauYkJ
Indie Author's Corner http://bit.ly/TauYkJ
The Corner is a collection of
Author advice, ideas, experiences and studies including Marketing, Social Media
and other major topics created to help writers in today's ever-changing world
of book publishing.
Authors: Improve Your Twitter Messaging and Control - http://bit.ly/1FHB1oR
Melissa Foster - Developing Social Media Relationships - http://bit.ly/1qhhR3j
Troy Blackford - Using Social Media to Connect with Readers
- http://bit.ly/1on7Nk8
Paul Western-Pittard - Importance of Social Media
Relationships - http://bit.ly/1p2ppTE
Laurel A. Rockefeller - Importance of Twitter and Social
Media Relationships - http://bit.ly/1B74epm
eBook Marketing: What Goes Around Comes Around
Indie eBook Marketing: When You Get to the Fork in the Road,
You Must Take It. - http://bit.ly/10TUstg
Your Book Launch: Marketing
Methods and Ideas Used by Outstanding Authors – A Study - http://bit.ly/1luAbo3
Thank you James, great post!
ReplyDeleteVery helpful post. Thanks for including me!
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