This Is What Happens When You Don't Use Socia Media Effectively as A Author

There is a debate going on right now in the writing world about whether authors need social media or whether it does more harm than good when it comes to their book sales.

Now those who say that an author doesn't need to have social media to make book sales - are probably already a house name author with a loyal reader base - but otherwise take that same author and have them write a book under an unknown pen name. 

Then they should try to get it published through a publishing house they haven't been connected to for some odd amount of years or that they didn't use preexisting connections to get their manuscript read. 

Or better yet they should take that book and go ahead and self-publish it to see all the sales they will roll in with zero social media marketing done to promote their work. 

They won't see a single sale. 

Social media in this day and age for the upcoming writer is a necessity. Even if you don't plan to self-publishing your book some agents and publishers are requiring you to have a decent amount of social media following before they even begin to think about marketing your book because they can't market your book to a crowd that doesn't exist yet. 

Yes, this isn't all agents and publishers, I did only say that some may require it. Still, there isn't a downside to having a social media presence early on in your writing career to help give it that first initial boost of building an audience to be able to sell your book to. 

So how should you be using social media as an author?

Well, you're not going to grow a dedicated audience by posting about what you ate that morning, instead, you need to be posting about what you wrote that morning. 

If you're just resharing those cat videos we all love so much it's not going to say to anyone, "Hey, I'm an author, I wrote this book. You should buy it."

So what should you be posting?

• Writing Progres Updates
• Cover Reveals 
• Writing Tips 
• Excerpts From Your Book 
• Collages That Tell Your Reader Something About Your Book 
• Host Giveaways 
• Celebrate Milestones 

As you grow an audience you can move your posting to include the odd food picture or cute cat video, but the most effective way to be using social media as an author is to be posting about being an author. 

Your readers want to get to know you and the behind-the-scenes look at your book, whether you are traditionally or self-publishing your book, you can start to build anticipation for the moment that it releases.

With the rise in self-publishing growing every year it's almost impossible to just hit publish on your book on a platform like KDP and expect it to fall into the hand of your target reader. You need to give it a little push to help you rise above the rest and be seen. 

Now go on and tell the world about your book. 

Then get back to writing. 

With love, 

B. King xo xo

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