What good is social media?
Allison K Williams is a memoirist, essayist, and travel journalist whose recent post, Writers, Stop Using Social Media (Like That) on JaneFriedman.com explained the use of author platform in a way that made sense to me:
Twitter, Instagram or TikTok might deliver the final “buy this” message, but that message is a single nail in your author platform. To have anything to attach that message to, you must first know your mission, discover your best mix of publishing, events, ads and social media, and create an audience who agree to show up and buy books.
In other words, it is all about the message, not about how many followers, likes or clicks you have.
Do this:
Williams explains:
- Know your mission, why it matters, and who needs your work.
- Have at least three paths to connect with your audience that are not social media—events and appearances, writing and publishing essays, op-eds or blogs, interacting in real-life groups, etc.
- Create an email list and start writing to your audience regularly.
- Be able to write a press release or pitch that serves the magazine/podcast/newspaper’s needs—not just your own.
- Engage regularly with other writers as your colleagues, and copy the behavior of authors you want to be shelved with.
She adds, ”You don’t have to do all of it—but you do have to do some of it.” My biggest struggle is an email list. I have one, but haven’t sent an email in over a year!
One benefit of social media is it allows us to amplify messages we share elsewhere. Williams’ examples are:
- I wrote an essay, here’s a quote on Twitter, go read it.
- I’m speaking at the library, here’s the poster on Instagram, please come.
- My book is on sale, here’s a review quote on Facebook, this is the third of the seven times you’ll hear the title before deciding to buy.
Build relationships
Most importantly, I believe social media helps to build relationships. If you have books on consignment in bookstores, or you’ve sold books wholesale to bookstores, use your social media accounts to help promote those bookstores through hashtags or shout-outs. For specific ways to do this, please read my blog post Social Media and Selling Books.
You can read Allison K. William’s entire post here .
Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a writer, poet, and artist.
Learn more about her multi-award winning novel, In the Context of Love.
Learn more about her picture book, Gordy and the Ghost Crab.
Learn more about her poetry chapbook, Security
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