We know social media doesn’t come easy to some people. It can seem like a very daunting thing, so that's why we’ll start with the simple stuff. Facebook has been around the longest, so it’s probably the most familiar as well as the most diverse for what you as an author can do to market yourself.
Facebook is just one of the many ways you can market your book, and it’s simple to use! You can create pages, ads, and send out updates to market your book to a very wide audience. In this post we’ll cover:
- What Facebook has to offer
- Tips for using Facebook wisely
- And so much more!
Facebook Overview
Before we get into the meat of it all, let’s take a look at what Facebook has to offer an author seeking to market their self-published books! Here’s what you can do through Facebook to find yourself the audience you want!
- Ads: purchase ads to display on your author page and other social media sites. We’ll have a future blog more about social media ads to give you even more details.
- Business pages: you can create business pages to connect to your readers. These help you post what you want, provide updates, as well as receive messages from your audience.
- Videos: A lot of authors use facebook to post videos of what they’re currently working on! It’s a really fun way to market yourself and your books.
- Live chats: This is getting really popular. Many authors (and famous people) like to do live chats where they answer questions that people send in through their social media. Especially during COVID, it’s been a great way for fans to get to know authors and get a feel for who they are.
- Countdowns: This is an amazing way to tease your readers and keep them strung along as they wait for your next great book!
- Links to other pages: Definitely use Facebook to connect to your other sites, whether social media, or your blog and author website
- Facebook Notes: Tease your readers and market your book by providing excerpts! Since Facebook posts have a word limit, this is an add-on in which you can put longer posts such as excerpts to give your readers a taste of what’s coming!
- Start your own community: On Facebook, you can create groups and communities that can be centered around your books and whatever else you offer. It’s an amazing way to boost your online presence and bring on more readers.
Facebook Tips for Promoting your Book
Facebook is such an amazing marketing tool for authors, and if this is your first book, or if you’re a seasoned author but are only now getting started on your online presence, then take a look at a few suggestions to use Facebook for marketing effectively.
However, let’s start here. A lot of people wonder when to start marketing for your book. Start now. Start before your book is ready for publication or even finished! It’s a good rule of thumb to start about a year before all will be said and done and the book available for purchase for your readers. Like a salesperson, you are teasing, building anticipation, and preparing your future readers for your book!
It helps to actually put yourself in a reader’s shoes for a moment. For example, I absolutely adore J.K. Rowling’s Cormoran Strike series. I am always waiting desperately for the next one to come out, and when I see she’s posted about her next one, I am on it, counting down the days. Imagine my disappointment if she only told her readers about her book a few weeks before it was about to come out? Normally it’s about a year or two between her books, so her readers would be hungry for news and not getting it. Do the same! Tease and excite your readers well before your book is ready to come out.
Here are some tips for Facebook users to help create a good marketing strategy and presence:
- Post often: maintain interest! Just like I mentioned above, you want to give your readers little bits at a time or they’ll get frustrated and lose interest. Market something about your book, something related to your book, or to your writing in general
- Be kind: This is important. Maintain a good online reputation by being respectful and kind in your posts. If people write to you and ask questions or make comments, be kind and respectful back. You are marketing yourself, so you need to make sure that you are representing yourself as you want to be seen.
- Be responsive to your audience: Don’t forget to write back! If you give your readers a way to contact you, get back to them! You’re building connections and relationships, a whole network of readers that you don’t want to lose.
- Keep things up to date: Keep going back to your site to make changes, provide updates, or even remove old, outdated things. That way, you look professional, your readers can get the latest info, and you look like you actually care about your product!
Conclusion
Facebook is one of the many ways you can market your book. It’s pretty easy, and most everyone has Facebook, so you can really hit a large audience and spread word about your book like wildfire. Use our tips to help you use Facebook to its greatest advantage! But in future posts, we’ll get more into other social media and how they can be used to market your book as well.
For any more information, check out these extra resources:
If you don’t want to do it alone, and you need some advice, contact us at HGW with any questions! All you need to do is click the messenger icon at the bottom of the page, and we’ll be ready to answer you!
Kerilee Nickles
HotGhostWriter.com