Social media is an incredibly powerful tool for authors right now and can help authors build a community that was quite difficult in the past. By a community, we mean a fan base with which the author can interact and connect with readers. Social media is quite popular in the self-publishing community and we see quite popular authors using social media quite effectively in reaching out to their audience. Book lovers love it when their favourite authors are on social media. Be it audiobook authors or print book authors, a self-published author or a traditional, a fiction writer or a non-fiction, everyone loves to find their favourite author a bit closer to reality.
One of the best examples of how successful authors use social media is the engagement that authors like Paulo Coelho have on social media. With his immense presence on Facebook and Instagram, Paulo Coelho is the best example of someone who has seen offline fan engagement and online and has managed to transform himself to cater to the online fanbase.
You can follow him here on Twitter @paulocoelho
Another good example of an author fully emersed and embracing social media life is Stephen King. Also known as the King Of Horror, he tweets nearly every day and often multiple times a day garnering incredible social media presence.
You can follow Stephen here @StephenKing
Margaret Atwood is another great example of an author who has managed to create a community around her passion for writing as she regularly updates her audience on her progress. She is an outspoken author who has managed to utilise social media in one of the most positive ways.
Follow her here at @MargaretAtwood
All these authors and many more have a few things in common and that is their love for their audience and their regular use of social media to stay relevant and open to their readers. While other authors have simply kept themselves to email mailing lists and other formal ways of communication, they are not as effective in the use of online media as authors who have managed to create and mould their community around their social media.
If you are also an author and especially a self-published author who wants to create this community then this is an excellent choice for you as social media will give you the organic boost that is needed for you to create a community and bonding with your readers.
Here are a few ways in which you can shine as an author in 2022 by having a good author’s social media strategy.
FAN OPINIONS –
The writing process is never something singular and it is always the involvement between the author and the reader consciously and sometimes subconsciously and any reader community is quite appreciative of the fact that the author recognises and respects their opinions on various issues. Therefore, you can use your social media platforms to ask for the opinions of your readers. This can range from asking them on how they would like the plot of a new book that you are writing or even which are the publishing houses they would like for you to publish. You can even give them speak peaks on your writing setup and manuscript. You can also learn quite a lot from your readers by asking anything that irks you and being as open as possible to your fans. Maybe you do not quite understand any political issue or any other social issue and therefore it is an excellent opportunity for fan engagement where you get to ask them and appreciate their honesty. The key here is to be as humble as possible and this is appreciated by any audience base.
BOOK PROMOTION –
The best thing about social media is its wide reach and with billions of people using various social media like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest etc it becomes fertile ground for you to promote your next creation and that may start with simple teasers. One of the best tools authors use is the element of surprise as they tease a new book unboxing video and new creations with simple hints on like reading copies and parts of a new book on Instagram live or Instagram story etc. You too can do that wherein you give your social media audience special access and special information as to what your next release will be in virtual conferences and then you can choose to upload images of the cover of your new book. Another brave and quite a progressive thing to do is to ask audience members to create and submit their creations in a Facebook event and ideas and renditions of a book cover for your new book and this is one of the best ways to get your fanbase engaged. Then finally you can choose to release the first look of your book cover and give out updates as to when this book might release in which bookstores. This will allow you as the author to predict the book’s reception with more accuracy.
SHARING LIFE-EVENTS –
Readers are human and so are you and readers love when their inspiration and their role models, who are authors, do human things. These human things may include you taking eye-catching images of your morning coffee and posting it on social media and it can also include maybe a small street shop that you enjoyed looking at or even an autumn evening that is beautiful. You should totally use social media because of its dynamic nature and use it as a skilled storyteller all the while using it to engage with your fans more deeply.
BE INSPIRATIONAL –
Your fans look up to you as a role model and therefore you must be a good role model. You can do this by being inspirational and motivational throughout your social media presence all the while encouraging people to chase their dreams and also encouraging young writers to try and wrote. Being inspirational is perhaps one of the simplest things to do on social media and can gain you great mileage points even from people who are not even your readers and are not even readers in general. Thus, being inspirational and motivational will help you gain brownie points and followers that are beyond your fans.
Social media can provide quite the boost that you can hope to achieve for your books. You must simply, therefore, try being yourself and try sharing a slice of your life on social media that you are comfortable with and this is and has been always received well by admirers and fans and likewise will be the same case with your fans as they get to have an exclusive look into your mind and life. Authors on social media are such a powerful aspect simply because of the fact that there had always been authors but there was never a social media they could share their life stories on, imagine Shakespeare being on Twitter as he rants about the lack of lighting or even the lack of royal support for his plays. Wouldn’t it be amazing!
If you are someone who is passionate about writing and who believes in taking matters into their own hands, then you can choose to self-publish your book by publishing it with us at Orange Publishers. We are the fastest growing and the most reputable book publishers in India and we will make sure that your publishing process is the most seamless ever as we support you throughout the publishing process from the pre-publishing to the publishing as well as the copywriting. We also provide excellent book marketing services.
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