I’ve talked recently on social media for authors, but wanted to highlight a specific platform that I’ve been using more and seeing results from and discuss Instagram for authors.

I think that most social media platforms have potential to work for you if you understand how they work and make it your goal to connect with the correct audience. (As opposed to authors who accidentally gather an audience of other authors, rather than fiction readers, by posting author-y stuff.) This year, I dove into Instagram, a platform I’ve been on since 2014 and not really used well since that time.

LISTEN TO EPISODE 203- INSTAGRAM FOR AUTHORS

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app!

---

 

INSTAGRAM FOR AUTHORS

About the platform

Each social platform is different. Instagram, which is under the FB umbrella, is visual, based primarily on images. Some people use lots of text, utilizing the posts as microblogs, or shorter-form content in the image description. Hashtags are vitally important on Instagram. It’s a very simple platform with people you can follow or not and the ability to send messages. There are no groups or pages vs profile. It’s pretty… simple.

Here’s a tiny map of all the things you can use on Instagram. Because oh, right–it’s not THAT simple.

Main feed – people post pics/short videos (square)

Stories – These are videos, images, photos (vertical) which disappear after 24 hours, available when you click on a person’s profile image. Can save them for longer by creating highlights that will show up as little circles above your feed and save your stories there

Reels – These are IG’s version of TikTok, basically 15-30 second videos with popular music attached. Can upload video from other program or create in instagram. Can show it in your feed or only in the reels feed. Can see  a reels feed above the regular feed, pushing the reels icon which looks like a square director’s thingy with a play button.

IGTV – Any video longer than 30 seconds becomes IGTV. Can go live and do interviews or video or you can upload video for this. Icon looks like a little TV with a tiny lightning bolt across it.

Guides – Not a lot of people using them yet. They appear at the top of the feed as well as a little newspaper icon.

 

HOW INSTAGRAM WORKS

There is an algorithm to the feed. Like FB, you’ll see the things they think you want to see. The more you interact with a type of content or people, the more you’ll see.

You can follow people, but you can also follow hashtags to see strangers you don’t follow who have used a hashtag in the feed. You can search for hashtags and see the top hashtags in the feed (a great way to be discovered) or you can search the most recent hashtags.

Like other platforms, they tend to favor what they want to favor. Right now, that’s reels. You might see more traction or show up on a search page or for a hashtag if you’re using Reels.

A lot of people will use the same filters, the same kinds of images, or count the images so every third or every other is one kind of image so there is a curated and beautiful feed when people look. This can be images you take, stock photos, etc.

Instagram is primarily used via the app, though there are more options rolling out to desktop now, and some schedulers that you can use, where in the past you couldn’t. You can schedule though FB’s new Creator Studio, through your Facebook pages.

WHAT IS BOOKSTAGRAM?

Because Instagram is simple and just based on the kinds of content above (feed, reels, etc), there isn’t some page or group called Bookstagram. So, when people refer to Bookstagram, it’s referring to content creators and people who are involved with the content on Instagram centered around books.

Popular Bookstagram hashtags to look for: #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #booksbooksbooks #bookstagramcommunity #bookstagrammers #bookstagramchallenge

The primary people creating content in this bookstagram community are readers. They often start by posting reviews of books they buy or own, but as they grow, they receive advance or review copies from authors or publishing companies. This is something being utilized by traditionally published books as well as indies. Some bookstagrammers tend to use one or the other–more indie or more traditional, while some are a mix.

Authors are also using these hashtags, either for their own reviews of different books or to discuss their own books and attract bookstagrammers to their content.

HOW TO GROW ON INSTAGRAM

Follow hashtags to see content and new creators. Follow creators. Engage authentically with them by commenting and liking posts you actually like or have something to comment on. Get ideas and inspiration.

Don’t join follow/engagement loops or groups. I’m not a fan. It’s not authentic, and Instagram doesn’t like it. Do it at your own risk. These are small groups of people trying to make sure their content does well, so they have a small group on insta or elsewhere and every time one of them posts, they all go like, comment, or share to give engagement.

Don’t follow advice that’s super specific on gaming the system. Follow-for-follow strategies or advice on liking X number of posts and commenting X numbers of times to see other people follow you … just no. Engage authentically with what you’re actually interested in and people you like. Over time, this pays off in a more organic and authentic way.

Use relevant hashtags. Find a few people to watch who are doing well in your genre. See what they’re doing and what they’re posting. Use the hashtags they’re using. A mix of hashtags with tons of follows and some that are smaller is a good idea. I’m not giving an ideal number or telling you whether to put it in the post or the first comment. I use however many I want and have them in the post itself.

Post consistently. Whether or not you have an intentional visual aesthetic in your feed that’s consistent or not, do consider what you’re going to post on instagram and post consistently, each day or a few times a week.

Engage with people. If someone comments on your post, respond. If you love someone’s post or they mention you, share it in a story. This is a great way to show off someone else and to have them notice what you’re doing. I’ve had authors share my content in their stories when I’ve tagged them in my stories or posts. (Again, don’t expect this always, but just engage and behave in the way you wish everyone does. Sometimes this comes back to you or not.)

WHAT ABOUT PAID OPTIONS?

I would not at all suggest paying bookstagrammers for reviews or posts. At all. There are some great book tours on instagram that will ask you to send review copies (ebook or paperback) and provide a giveaway prize. They’ll take signups and vet people and then arrange for when everyone should post.

I’ve used these two companies: Prism Book Tours and Just Read Publicity Tours. They’re both affordable, do quality work, and helped me connect with people over time who really grew my account with the right kind of people. I did not do blog or any other tours with them, just Instagram.

---

Like any other social media site, you can choose to dig in and find your people to see results. If you want to see this platform work for you, make sure your readers are ON instagram. Look for specific hashtags for your genre and see what authors and bookstagrammers are posting.

Your book cover MUST be great. Your book MUST be great. You want people to want to show off your book in the feed. You want them to write good reviews. Before spending time here and investing trying to build, check to be sure that your genre is active and represented and be sure your book is ready.

 

 

The first month I published a book in 2018, I made $115. Which totally excited me! People were reading my book! I wrote and published a book! But the goal was always a CAREER. I joked (but not really) about building an Emma Empire.

Three years later, I made $26k in February 2021 and am slated to make over $20k this March. Want some takeaways? I’ve got ’em!

(In the episode for this, I mentioned a deeper training, but I’m not going to do that. You can still go to Deep Dive and find some good resources!)

---

LISTEN TO EPISODE 202- LESSONS LEARNED IN THREE YEARS AS AN AUTHOR

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app!

---

LESSONS LEARNED: MOVING FROM $115/MONTH TO $26k

Over the past few years, I’ve learned a lot. Many things… the hard way. I’ll hopefully share what I did wrong in another post, but here are some big takeaways as I’ve moved to a new income bracket.

At least, for now. Here’s the thing: this is a fickle business. Things are great now. I’m scrappy and smart, but things change month to month. That is super important to note. Also? If I’m not clear about this: there isn’t some simple success formula. I’m sharing what works and what worked for me, but there are so many factors involved.

I want the BEST for you, so here are my best tips and takeaways.

DON’T DO THINGS THAT WASTE TIME

Have I mentioned my biggest pet peeve? It’s other people wasting my time. I also don’t want you to waste your time. Can we all agree to stop doing things that waste time?

I’ve gotten specific about this in other places, like Episode 171 and Episode 148. As I worked and grew, I learned what things that might have worked when I was doing a lifestyle blog did NOT work to move the needle as an author.

Here are a few things that waste time:

Growing social media numbers, especially Twitter. These social things don’t usually bring in book sales and often the quick methods people use are growing NUMBERS not really READERS or FOLLOWERS.

• What you should do instead: grow your email list!

Blogging. So many authors are asking me if they should blog and what they should blog about. Blogging can work. It falls under content strategy. But guess what? Most readers just want to read books. The blog world has changed. Blogging CAN work (read this post on how), but it’s usually not going to bring book sales or traffic, and instead just be one more thing you’re trying to spend time growing.

• What you should do instead: write your books!

The biggest things that you should do: write books, grow your email list, and learn marketing as you go. Set aside some learning time for books, podcasts, YouTube videos, and paid trainings to help you on your journey.

 

DO GROW YOUR EMAIL LIST

This is always going to be the foundation of my author platform, and probably what I’ll always suggest for yours. I’ve explained the why of this before, but email has so many benefits. If you’re going to do just ONE thing, this would be the thing I’d suggest.

Here are a few resources:

Author Email Lists in 2021

How to Build Your Email List

How to Promote Your Book with Newsletter Swaps

Email isn’t everyone’s favorite thing. But we’re creatives! You can totally do this. It’s a great way to connect with your readers. It has been shown to sell more books than social.

 

DO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER AUTHORS

Oh, man! One thing that really helped me was forging relationships with other authors! We have each other’s backs. We encourage each other. We help promote each other’s work.

Yes, there have been some rocky times, and I’ve got some tips to avoid those.

But overall, you can learn so much from other people in your space. Before I had books out, I tried to make myself helpful in groups. I gave freely, hoping but not expecting things to come back to me.

There are groups all over Facebook by genre. Find some groups for your genre and dive in. As always in groups, pay attention to the group rules and the feel of the group before you jump into posting or asking questions that might be answered in the welcome post or something.

 

DO READ AND KNOW THE MARKET

I did this all kinds of wrong when I first started. It’s not always easy, especially when you’re maybe studying a category that’s allllll over the place. Bigger categories usually are. Smaller ones can be too. But you want to learn to look at information like publisher–is it an indie or not?

You can try to market your books like traditionally published books, but remember those books have a publisher behind them. With money. And relationships with bookstores and Amazon that we don’t have.

Our covers need to be more on the nose. They need to be clear right from the start. Our books need to hit the tropes and things readers expect for certain genres. Spend time reading and looking at things like blurbs, covers, and reviews to see what people like and don’t like about the genres.

 

DO CONSIDER TRENDS, BUT DON’T CHASE THEM LONG TERM

The first series I started to write was my Sandover Beach series. I LOVE those books. I wanted to write beach books. And they just sold … okay. Over the years, especially after getting new covers, they’ve sold MUCH better.

But when I published my first billionaire book? I made it to four figures and stayed there ever since.

The funny thing is that I felt super eye-rolly about billionaire books and started writing one making fun of billionaire books. Like … a meta satire. Just for fun. And then I fell in love with the character and stories. I realized that as long as I wrote characters I liked, I could follow that trend I had rolled my eyes at.

Here’s the thing: trends come and go. Seeing and capitalizing on trends can help you. It definitely helped me find new readers as I was just starting out.

But chasing trends isn’t a great choice for longevity. If you keep chasing every trend that comes along, what will readers know to expect from you? Who ARE you? This will tie into the next one.

And you might want to check out my post on writing to trend vs writing to market.

 

EXPERIMENT, BUT WITH THE GOAL OF CARVING OUT YOUR OWN SPACE AND BEING CONSISTENT 

I experimented a lot. I tried trends, I tried various multi-author projects and went down some rabbit holes. Sometimes you have to do that to find out who you are and to find out what works for you.

BUT. It’s important to land somewhere. Become the writer you want to be and keep it consistent for your readers. Let them know what to expect from you. When you deliver what readers expect, it builds trust. When you go off-path and off-brand, your super-duper fans may follow, but you may lose some people who are confused by the departure from your norm.

I’ve realized over time just how important this is, and I’m working on creating consistent content: clean romcoms with humor and heart. I have some backlist series to finish up, but my new direction going forward is this one. Period. Departures will go into a pen name.

Who are you? What do you want to write? What do your readers already expect? Can you find an intersection between what readers are looking for (trends) and what you want to write? That’s a happy place to be.

Then keep showing up with that kind of content.

Does that sound overly simple? Sometimes, I think it is. Find out what readers want from you and what you want to give them. Then hunker down in that sweet spot and get cozy.

---

I hope these tips help! I’m still working hard, watching the numbers, and planning to keep on building the Emma Empire. It’s taken some highs, lows, and for sure some frustrations.

But it is a joy to write things I love and also make money doing so! Isn’t that the dream???

 

As a part of my series on what authors need to sell books, I’ve covered the overall author platform, email, social media, and blogging/content strategy. Which leads me into another piece of the puzzle: ads for authors.

Let’s first rewind a bit to talk about author platform. I defined it in my post as the way that authors connect with readers. And while ads aren’t NORMALLY what someone might think of when it comes to platform, it absolutely is a way to connect with readers. It’s simply … not organic.

Let’s dive into what you need to know about ads for authors, when you should consider running ads, and how you can learn them without breaking the bank.

*This post contains affiliate links!

---

LISTEN TO EPISODE 201 – ADVERTISTING FOR AUTHORS

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app!

---

ADVERTISING FOR AUTHORS

WHAT KINDS OF ADS ARE AUTHORS RUNNING?

There are a lot of places where authors can run ads, but a few that stand out as the most common among authors right now.

Paid email promos- These run often by genre of book and are paid spots that go out to readers in email newsletters.

PPC ads, aka Pay-per-click – These are ads where you pay per click or impression.

• Facebook ads
• Instagram ads
• Amazon ads
• Bookbub ads
• Google ads (I don’t know anyone using this)
• Twitter ads (I know few people using this)
• Pinterest ads (I know few people using this)
• Magazines or other media (I know no one using this, but it happens)

 

---

WHEN SHOULD AUTHORS START RUNNING ADS?

Right away. Or when you can afford it. Or when you want to sell books.

Books can sell organically, but it’s not easy to find that sweet spot. It takes a lot of factors, like a really big platform already, word of mouth, some kind of happy PR accident, Amazon picking up your book and throwing it at readers (which normally only happens when it’s already selling), having someone really big share your book, etc. It’s not TYPICAL for a book to sell a lot of copies organically, or through unpaid means.

Authors should start running ads when their books are primed for selling, when they have some money, and when they know what they’re doing. You should know that there will be an ROI for the book first.

You should probably have SOME budget when you launch a book. Determine this and see what you can spend. Maybe your plan is to start with email promos, then gradually build up as you make money. That’s what I did!

---

WHERE SHOULD AUTHORS START WITH ADS?

The best place to start is with the paid email promos. There is no learning curve and they’re delivering directly to readers by genre who are hungry for books. And as I’ve pointed out, they’re using the best platform for sales: email. Not social media. (Avoid the sites just tweeting out your book 300 times a month.)

Kindlepreneur’s big list of promo sites

Nicholas Erik’s list of promo sites

---

WHERE CAN AUTHORS LEARN ABOUT ADS?

There are tons of courses, but before you drop your money on them, here are a few books and cheaper resources for them.

Help! My Facebook Ads Suck

Robert J. Ryan’s Amazon Ads Unleashed

Kindlepreneur Free Amazon Ads Course

David Gaughran’s Bookbub Ads Expert

The issue with any material is the trustworthiness of the info, and whether it relates to YOUR BOOKS. Sometimes authors have only one kind of experience (fiction or nonfiction) or have outdated material and aren’t updating. It’s a good question to ask when you’re getting into courses to look at what the author’s experience is, where they sell things, etc.

---

MY RECOMMENDATIONS ON ADS FOR AUTHORS

Focus on your craft and writing books to market. Knowing how to get the cover and blurbs correct and meeting reader expectations will go a long way, and will mean your books are ready to advertise when you are.

Learn as you go. Start with smaller things, and then invest more when you know that you’ve got a good product on hand. Read books, listen to authors talk about ads on podcast or YouTube. Enjoy free and cheaper resources as you’re writing.

Make sure your book is ready. You need eyeballs on your book. If you’re having trouble selling books through the email promos or newsletter swaps, it may be a cover or content issue. Just throwing money on your books won’t help, so make sure you’ve got the right product.

Invest when you can in a more extensive course. Courses are great because you’re going to get more video tutorials and things to walk you through. For something like ads, you might really need this! Ask around and maybe ask privately, as no one wants to badmouth people publicly. (Usually.) It’s a small world. Be sure before you invest that you have the money to pay for a course AND money for ads. But also that your books are proven enough that you can get that money back.

---

WHAT ABOUT MY COURSE?

Is my ads course for you? The good thing about my course: it’s a lot of information, but not OVERWHELMING. It takes you from the start (position your book to make sure it’s one that will sell) through specifics of the ad platforms and leveling up.

These are things I’ve tried and tested, and I’ve also learned from multiple schools, so present what works for me and also will recommend other things to try that have worked for others, even if not for me.

I’m not just out for money–fiction is my primary source of income. (Fiction that I sell by use of ads, just so we’re clear.) I put together the course as extra income and as a way to help teach authors because I LOVE TEACHING.

If you jibe with my style, you might love the course. It’s a great price for what’s included, but still may not be on your radar because, remember–don’t buy a course until you’ve got the money for a course AND ads AND that your books are positioned to sell. 😉

---

WHAT NEXT FOR YOU?

If it wasn’t clear yet, start at the starting point. Write great books that are serving up a reader experience people are looking for. Learn what you can for free and low cost.

When you’re ready and sure you have books that will sell, take a deeper dive into a course!

Know that advertising for authors is going to be a necessity to sell books, at least in some form or fashion. Don’t be scared, and build as you go. 🙂

• Want some community? Join the FREE FACEBOOK GROUP!
• Want to sign up for my email list? Get the weekly QUICK FIX!

As a part of my author platform series, we’ve talked about overall platform, newsletters for authors, social media for authors, and now I want to talk about what authors should blot (and video and podcast) about: aka, content strategy for authors.

Authors often aren’t so familiar with that term… and I think it’s because often we create content without the strategy. Let’s start using the term more because we should be intentional with the content we create.

Let’s talk about what authors should blog (and podcast and video) about: content strategy for authors!

LISTEN TO EPISODE 200 – WHAT SHOULD AUTHORS BLOG ABOUT? CONTENT STRATEGY FOR AUTHORS

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app!

---

WHAT IS CONTENT STRATEGY?

Let’s define this thing. Because you probably know what it is, even if the term isn’t one you use. According to Hubspot, content strategy is “a strategy that takes your business goals, and then uses content as a primary means to achieve those goals.”

What kind of content are we talking about? Typically, this refers to things like blogs, podcasts, videos, and even could include things like posts on Instagram.

This is really hitting the question: what should authors blog about? What should they create YouTube videos about? Podcasts? What kind of microblogging content on Instagram and even TikTok??

See? You know what content strategy is. And you’re probably creating content.

But often, I think authors can miss out on the strategy part, or miss the mark altogether. Let’s change that!

Because the more strategy you use when creating content, the better your results. 

And what results do we want? We want to sell more books without being smarmy. But what that looks like is connecting with readers and turning them into superfans who want to buy and read everything you write.

For authors, the goal of content strategy (should you choose to create content other than books) is to attract your ideal reader, connect with them, and see the relationship mature into superfandom.

MISTAKES AUTHORS MAKE WITH CONTENT STRATEGY

1 // SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME

Growth and content creation takes time. Whether you’re blogging or creating YouTube videos, you’ll have to learn a skillset. 

Do you have time to learn the skills it take to blog well? Will you see a return on that investment of your time and money?

For me, content strategy is the LEAST effective in selling books and growing my readership. With time and attention, this can work well, but I wouldn’t consider it primary in terms of platform–in terms of sales or growing a readership.

2 // ATTRACTING THE WRONG AUDIENCE

Often, authors create content for the wrong reader accidentally. Too often, I see fiction authors talking about WRITING fiction, which attracts authors, not necessarily readers of their genre. 

To effectively create content strategy, you need to consider your target audience and then what that audience is interested in. Often, that is NOT how to write or writing tips.

---

CONTENT STRATEGY FOR AUTHORS IN PRACTICE

Not sure what to write, create videos or podcasts about? Consider what your readers might want. Hang out in reader groups and see what readers are chatting about.

What posts get lots of comments? What do people engage with? What do they want to know, read, or watch? 

Here are some ideas and examples:

• Roundup of books by topic. ex: The Best Clean Romances (for clean romance authors)
• Roundup of movies by topic. ex: The Most Hilarious Romantic Comedy Movies (for romcom authors)
• Five books readers wish were made into movies
• Ten books that were better than the movie adaptations
• Inventions that make space travel seem possible (for sci fi authors)
• Historical details authors (or movies) often miss (for historical fiction)

Consider what topics or interests readers in your genre might want to read about. Don’t just limit it to books. Think about food, pop culture, other entertainment, or more. Consider the things fandoms obsess over and how you can create content around that based in your genre.

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF AUTHOR CONTENT STRATEGY

The great thing about creating content like this is that you have content to share beyond “buy my book” posts. You can share some of these posts in appropriate places, and may have more traction than just a link to your book.

But… make sure your post and blog are optimized for your books. Have links to buy your books or sign up for your email list. Promote yourself in a related way to the content you create.

Consider keywords, SEO- for YouTube and blogging specifically, Pinterest as well. What are people searching for? Create content around that!

• Check out this post on author SEO

CREATING YOUR OWN CONTENT STRATEGY

Spend time brainstorming and considering your content strategy. What is your WHY? What’s the main goal?

What kind of content can you post that will serve that main goal??

This is much easier for nonfiction than fiction, but it’s not impossible. It can work well, even if I do NOT consider content strategy one of my primary ways of selling books or growing my readership.

Realize that your strategy might be turning current readers into superfans OR it might be disoverability. Or both. You can have some posts that aim to grow current readers closer to you, while some posts might be more about discoverability where strangers may find you and read your books.

Again, consider that overall WHY. What’s your purpose? How can your content serve that purpose?

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CONTENT STRATEGY?

Author blog school is focused on blogging, but the overall principles work for other platforms as well. You’ll learn how to set up an effective author blog and utilize SEO (search engine optimization) to help you be discovered by people searching for particular topics.

Want to do better with your content strategy? Sign up for Author Blog School, a self-paced course on blogging and search engine optimization. For just $25, this course is a steal! 

Social media is often a dreaded piece of the author platform. There are so many different places to be and to post … not to mention WHAT to post. Then there’s the matter of how to handle social media while also writing books.

Never fear! Authors can handle social media. You don’t have to be everywhere or post a million times a day. Megan Ericson, a social media strategist, joins me for a conversation on social media for authors.

LISTEN TO EPISODE 199- SOCIAL MEDIA FOR AUTHORS WITH MEGAN ERICSON

This interview deals with how authors should use social media, mistakes they make, how to choose a platform right for YOU, and how to run social media on limited time.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app!

CONNECT WITH MEGAN! 

• Megan’s Social Media Marketing Show
• Instagram

(more on Megan below!) 

---

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR AUTHORS

To discuss social media, first we need to start by backing up a step to consider the big picture. Remember that author platform is an overarching look at how authors connect with readers. (Check the post on Author Platform in 2021.) It’s the bridging of the gap between author and reader.

Social media is just one piece of the platform pie. I would totally give up social media for my email list, but social media can work in conjunction with email (more on email HERE) to help build a solid author platform. Social media is about engagement, connection, and discoverability.

---

WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA?

The common misconception about social media is that you need it to sell your book. While I can certainly attribute some sales to social media, overall, selling isn’t main purpose of social media.

Social media, as Megan says in the interview, is a part of a larger funnel drawing readers closer. It’s a place to be discovered, to meet and connect with readers who might become superfans.

Social media is about being SOCIAL. -Megan Ericson

Go figure, right??? Being social on social media…

Social media may not be your primary place for sales, but it is great for discoverability and connection. Can you sell books with it? Sure. But don’t count on this as a primary way of selling books.

---

HOW CAN AUTHORS KNOW WHAT TO POST?

Nonfiction authors have it easier. There is so much built-in content around the topics they write books about. You can repackage information from the book or write about similar but related topics.

For fiction authors, it’s more about peeling back the curtain and being real, like sharing your workspace or your work in progress.

BUT YOU CAN’T JUST SHARE THOSE WORK THINGS. Social media is social, remember? Your readers want to see the real you behind the curtain.

The thing is … not everyone WANTS to come out from behind the curtain. Many people don’t want to share personal photos of themselves or their children. And that’s okay!

TIPS FOR WHAT TO POST ON SOCIAL

Pick 3-5 things you’re actually interested in that you can share about (this can include your writing). This does NOT have to relate to writing or your books, but it can. If you write historical romance, maybe you share facts or links or images to interesting corsets.

Maybe one of your things is cats. You post pics of your cats or specific kinds of hairless cats. Maybe it’s coffee. Or sushi. Or alligators. (That’s me.)

You can rotate the five things, working your promotional posts (which don’t have to be buy-my-books posts) into the flow. Consider this like an edit of yourself: you’re not sharing EVERYTHING with your readers, but picking a select few true things about you that you can share.

When readers have unique things they associate with you, they think about you. When they spot that whalebone corset, they might pop into your Facebook group and share a picture there. THAT’S what you want. Association. These seemingly unrelated things can come to make an easy way for readers to connect.

For a great example of someone being personable (and talking lots about tacos), check out author Lucy Score’s Facebook page. She has a mix of posts about her books, about other authors books, and just random posts about herself or asking readers questions.

Don’t overthink this! We’re creative. Get creative with your social media.

---

WHAT MISTAKES DO AUTHORS MAKE WITH SOCIAL MEDIA?

• Speaking to the wrong audience. A lot of authors write for AUTHORS, not readers. If you’re posting a lot of how-to posts, a ton of behind the scenes posts, or all writer interviews about process, you might attract other authors, not readers. Yes, authors read. But the main bulk of your audience should be readers in your genre (unless your goal is to attract authors and sell services to them). A lot of authors accidentally draw in other authors instead of their ideal readers.
• Posting all promo. When you don’t know what to do with social, you might just post links to your books, images of your book, and links about buying your books. YES, you can sell. You don’t even have to be sorry about it–we’re running a business. You can sell. But social media should have more than just links to buy.
• Not acting human. I can always tell when someone’s taken an Instagram training. I’ll have someone follow me, then like exactly six different images, maybe commenting on one. It’s like clockwork and feels… impersonal. If you attend some kind of training that has EXACT actions to follow like that, consider the spirit behind them rather than following some list. And the spirit behind most things is that you need to act like an actual human being, not a bot. Be real. Be engaged. Be engaging.
• Posting things that are too lengthy. While you CAN write more on Instagram or Facebook, these platforms shouldn’t be confused with blog posts. Write a blog post if you want to write a lot. There’s a reason those platforms are often called microblogging. Micro, as in, SHORTER. Use social to give a tease about something. A teaser of your book. A teaser of a longer blog post. Quick. Engaging.
• Using your personal Facebook profile for business. The Facebook terms of service are, as many TOS are, vague. They DO want your personal profile (where you add friends, as opposed to your PAGE, where you get likes or follows) to be about PERSONAL. The lines are much blurrier between personal and business these days, especially in the creative fields. We aren’t as compartmentalized as we used to be. Personally, I do SOME sharing of my work on my page, though Megan warns against doing it. Ultimately, you don’t want to lose your account, and Facebook decides what is too much. Use your page or a group primarily for your author things and keep the personal profile personal.
• Having two Facebook personal profiles. Many authors create a second personal profile on Facebook for their author name. This is against the terms of service. If you’re found out, you could lose your WHOLE account. Not worth it. It’s harder to get engagement on a page, but if you work hard, you can find it. Or you can use your page to run ads and focus engagement in your Facebook group.
• Not utilizing hashtags on Instagram. One of the features authors should use more on Instagram is hashtags. Look at what other hashtags authors are using. Check out this post from Kindlepreneur on the best hashtags. You can follow hashtags also to connect with readers and authors. This is a GREAT tool for being discovered.
• Taking yourself too seriously. Megan makes this point and I LOVE IT. Social is about social. Don’t feel like everything has to be perfect or totally serious. The same goes with photos and things, like for Instagram. You don’t have to have photos of you or gorgeous photos at all. Create quote graphics in Cavna. Just show up imperfectly, as you are. Be yourself. Take the pressure off.

WHAT CAN YOU DO IF YOU ONLY HAVE 10-20 MINUTES A DAY?

Megan’s best tip for managing social media is to batch and schedule. If you don’t already use batching, it’s basically taking a larger chunk of time once a week or once a month to schedule out all your content. This can save time and keeps you in the same creative flow. You can schedule natively, on each platform that allows it (for Instagram, you can schedule natively via FB) or use a tool like Hootsuite or Buffer.

Daily, your “work” on social media might be showing up to engage with your people. Responding to comments, engaging with other people’s posts, or sparking discussion on the fly.

TO SUM UP: SOCIAL MEDIA FOR AUTHORS DOESN’T HAVE TO OVERWHELM

You don’t have to be on all the platforms at once. You don’t need to (and probably shouldn’t) spend hours a day on the various platforms.

Pick one to two places you can really engage (though I always like to stake my claim by getting the same name/handle on new social) and plan out the 3-5 kinds of posts you’ll do and make a schedule for how you’ll manage it.

Above all, remember the goal: social media is about discoverability and connection, not PRIMARILY for sales.

---

MORE ON MEGAN ERICSON

OTHER HELPFUL LINKS

The Create If Writing Facebook Community

The Quick Fix Weekly Email from Kirsten