Being a self-published author means being in charge of all your marketing (unless you can pay someone else to do it!). These days, social media is king when it comes to marketing, branding, and getting your book out there. Below are 5 social media tips for self-published authors to help your book reach the most readers possible!
1. Be Yourself
Personally, I believe the most important thing when it comes to posting on social media is to be yourself. As an author, you (and your books) are your brand! Being authentic on social media will attract the right people to you. If you are trying to be someone you’re not or are just copying what you see others doing, people will see right through it (this does not apply to following trends).
You have to do what Jera Bean, one of my favorite social media gurus, calls finding your “secret sauce.” It basically means being yourself, allowing yourself to be goofy if that’s your jam, getting vulnerable if you’re comfortable doing so, and sharing content that feels authentically you.
2. Follow The Trends
While creating authentic content is important, following trends is also key when it comes to growing your following and getting more eyes on your books! Trends are particularly important when it comes to video content on TikTok or Instagram Reels, but they are also relevant on other platforms.
Because I consume a lot (too much) social media, I typically know what sounds/effects/transitions, etc. are currently trending. Spend an hour scrolling TikTok and you’ll have seen enough videos in the same vein to understand the underlying trend enough to recreate it.
However, if you’re not an active consumer of social media content and have a hard time figuring out what’s even trending right now, have no fear! There are plenty of accounts that are dedicated to keeping people up to date on current trends.
Here are a few:
- Jera Bean – Jera shares tutorials on how to do different transitions and trends, updates on new features, TikTok/social media tips, etc.
- TrendBible – shares a current trending sound every day as well as periodic trend alerts.
- Wavewyld – shares TikTok tips and updates, as well as trending effects.
- Master Media Company – shares TikTok tips and trending sound alerts.
Trends and challenges also show up on other platforms. For example, on writing Twitter there are often fun prompts you can plug your book into (below are three I did for my debut novel Beauty In The Details).
There is also a Twitter challenge called #FridayKiss where an account (@yourfridaykiss) posts a new word each week. You then search your WIP for quotes containing that word and choose one or more to post! It’s just a fun way to connect and share your book.
By following current trends or doing trendy challenges, your content will likely get more traffic, which will hopefully result in more readers!
3. Batch Your Content
Creating content to keep your social media presence consistent can seem overwhelming. It’s exhausting to feel like you have to create new content every single day just to keep up! But here’s the secret: you don’t have to create content every day just to share content every day!
Batching content basically means choosing certain blocks of time and creating multiple pieces of content during those times, then sharing what you’ve created over time. Rather than feeling pressure to create every day, you dedicate specific times to creation!
You can either schedule these creation times into specific time slots (like Saturday mornings or Tuesdays after work), or you can be more flexible (like I am) and just wait until you have a chunk of free time are feeling creative/inspired. This allows you to save content creation for those times when your creative brain is turned on. Sometimes you’re just not in the mood/not inspired to create, and forcing yourself to do so may result in subpar content.
Here’s what works well for me:
- Throughout the week, I scroll TikTok, Instagram, etc. for fun. During this time, I also learn the current trends, collect trending sounds, etc.
- I save trending sounds or sounds I like by clicking on the sound and tapping “add to favorites” –> then when it’s time to make TikToks, I can just scroll through my recently added sounds and make relevant videos.
- I save TikToks I might want to recreate to a folder titled “Video Inspo” so I can go back and watch how to do the trend (by saving the video, I can also access the specific sound and filter used straight from that video).
- I also save Instagram posts if I like the composition of a photo and may want to recreate it, or if there’s a “bookstack” challenge I want to participate in (like creating a rainbow stack, an ombre stack, a specific color stack, etc.).
- I also have a note in my phone where I write down TikTok/Reel ideas as they come to me. Perhaps I saw a trend and know exactly how I want to spin it for my brand, so I’ll write one line about that in my notes to save for when I decide to make content!
- When I have some time and I feel inspired to create, I’ll open up TikTok or Instagram and look at the sounds/videos/photos I’ve saved since my last creation session. Then I’ll get to work making my own!
The only real downside to batching content this way is that you’ll be wearing the same outfit in every video (unless you’re really dedicated and change outfits during your creation session – some people do this and I admire them! I usually don’t even bother to put make-up on).
4. Cross-Post Your Content
Good content takes a lot of time, energy, and creativity to make, so don’t post a piece of content in just one place! Repurpose it by cross-posting it on your other social media platforms.
For example, you can post:
- TikToks to Reels and Reels to Tiktok
- Instagram posts to Facebook
- Tweets to Instagram
This way you are getting the most out of the content you make!
Cross-posting is also important because sometimes content does better on one platform versus another. Check out this side by side comparison of a TikTok I made (which did fine) but also cross-posted as a reel (which did AMAZINGLY well!):
As you can see, the TikTok got around 1,000 views, 78 likes, and 17 saves, which is more than my average TikTok, but the Reels version got a whopping 51,500 views, 2,900 likes, and 3,500 saves. This was my most successful reel to date and I credit it as a big reason my Kindle Unlimited page reads doubled during the second month of this book’s release!
If this comparison doesn’t drive home the point of cross-posting content, I don’t know what will.
5. Focus On More Than Followers
I know it can be tempting to focus on growing your number of followers. It seems like the easiest metric of success on social media, but when you’re trying to sell a product (like a book!) you should be more focused on views, saves, shares and other metrics that could convert to sales.
Yes, more followers can sometimes mean more sales because it means more eyeballs on your books, BUT someone doesn’t have to follow you in order to buy your book. There have been plenty of times where I’ve seen a viral TikTok or someone has shared a post about a book to their Instagram story and I’ve been influenced to get that book without ever even looking at the author’s social media or following them.
On both Instagram and TikTok, I tend to think of “saves” as the most important metric because it means someone is saving the post for later – likely because they want to read/buy your book! However, likes, comments, and shares are also great because they boost your post and potentially get it in front of more people. Overall, any interaction with your content is great!
What are your best tips for social media success? Share them in the comments below!
