Social media—a great tool and a terrible cesspool. It is a fascinating microcosm of existence, one which I have to take regular breaks from because it is stressful and overwhelming.
But social media, despite it’s many (MANY) flaws, is a fantastic tool for reaching an audience. It can be difficult to sift through ALL the people to find the RIGHT people, but the truth is: there are people on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram who would enjoy reading your work if they knew about it.
The trick is, of course, finding them.
There are many, many strategies for using social media effectively. There is advice out there on frequency of posting, times of day to post, which platforms for which type of content, how to most effectively use the tools each platform offers, advertising on those platforms—all kinds of things.
But the one thing that has always been most elusive for myself and many other fiction writers I know, is content.
It can be extremely difficult to come up with unique content, and it’s frustrating because it seems like it shouldn’t be. After all—we’re writers! We’re creative! Why does it seem so impossible?
I personally have been developing social media content for years (for myself, companies I’ve worked for, and clients). The first thing that I had to get over was the idea that it should be easy. It’s not. The second brain block I had to get over was that people cared. They don’t (at least not until you start posting something they actually want to see). And the third hurdle I had to make was the idea that it’s enough to post a lot of content, because eventually someone will get someone’s attention. That is false—quality over quantity, always. Especially when you’re all on your own and don’t have a team to manage it all for you.
A few things I’ve learned:
People don’t care about my content unless they get something out of it.
Content that engages people but doesn’t make them curious about me as an author is not helpful and wastes my time.
The number of likes (on a post or a page) is ultimately irrelevant—what matters is the quality of engagement. Shares and comments are 1000x better than likes. As a social media user, I like people’s content all the time just to make them feel good—not because I care about what they’re posting. Not everyone is like me, of course, but the point here is that every user is different and has different goals and reasons for using social media. Hence, quality of engagement is the best indicator of whether content has value or not.
So, the trick is to create unique content that is not just a copy of someone else’s content, but a true reflection of you, your brand, and your books.
So that’s what I’m going to talk about today.
First, please be aware:
There is no magic formula.
Sorry to disappoint. What content you produce will depend entirely on you and your books. However, I do think there are a few best practices, and I’m going to throw out as many examples as I can think of throughout this blog post, with the hope that something (anything!) will trigger that creative switch in your brain, and at the end of this, you go AH HA, and all your problems are magically solved. If this does not happen for you, I humbly apologize. ;)
Following this introductory section, you will find three steps, then several examples, and then a few more strategies and other ways to think about it.
Step 1. Know your genre and audience.
Alright. You probably hate this piece of advice by now (because everyone says it all the time), but it’s really crucial.
So, why is it important on social media?
One billion people use Facebook. One billion people use Instagram. 330 million people use Twitter. 2.95 billion people worldwide use social media [Source].
I know I said at the beginning that there are a lot of people on social media that would really enjoy your books. But the majority of people won’t give a crap. Even if they read your book they probably wouldn’t like it. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but focusing on getting everyone to read your book is only going to waste your time and money, and be very disappointing. One of my first one-star reviews on Goodreads was from a historical romance reader who for some reason decided to read a monster-apocalypse and then give me two-stars because it wasn’t historical romance.
And let’s say you are one of the few people in the world who’s book everyone will like. Well, there’s no disadvantage to starting small. You’ll garner a group of early super-fans who will pull in their friends and family and your book will take off all on it’s own, right? Starting with a targeted, focused approach makes sense in every scenario.
For the rest of us who didn’t write the next Harry Potter or Eat Pray Love or The Bible, the majority of people in the world probably won’t like your book, and that’s okay. We don’t care about the majority of people. We care about finding the right readers.
In 2018, Washington Post reported that only 18% of Americans over the age of 15 read for pleasure [Source]. And out of that 18%, the majority of them don’t read in your genre.
So the trick becomes to narrow down your target audience to find not just readers in your genre (although that’s a good start), but to also find readers who enjoy your specific type of style, voice, sub-genre, and themes.
But you can’t find them if you don’t at least have a general idea about who they are.
So, what does this have to do with social media content? Well, the content that you produce is going to resonate with certain people, and not with others. So you want your content to be relevant to the same people who are going to read your books.
I could post pictures of hot guys on my social media all day, and probably get a lot of romance readers to follow me. But guess what. I don’t write romance! So my social media content would be irrelevant to the scifi readers I’m trying to engage with, and might actually turn them away.
Step 2. Focus on your value proposition (unique or not).
When you write the blurb for your book, what is the main point of the book? What makes your book unique? What makes it stand out from other books in your genre/the world? When you write your ad copy for Amazon ads, what is that one line that you always put at the beginning? What are the stakes? What is the one thing that will make a reader pick it up and try it out?
For my monster apocalypse, I often use the phrase, “monster apocalypse.” Why? Because I know people like apocalypses already (zombie, nuclear, environmental, disease, alien)—but the “monster” part is what makes it different. I also tend to use the phrase “Set 40 years post-apocalypse” because most apocalypse stories are told as the world is ending, not so much later.
Another way to look at this is exactly the opposite: what concepts in your book will make your reader feel comfortable? What details will remind your reader of other books that are similar, or something more popular than your own book but in the same genre?
For my fairy tale series, I often go with “A fairy-tale retelling of Cinderella.” I’m not talking about what’s unique about it—I’m talking about how it’s the same as everyone else’s. Yes, another fairy tale retelling. And yes, I’ve done Cinderella again.
Why? Because I know that’s what this particular audience is looking for. They want another fairy tale retelling. There can’t be too many fairy tale retellings as far as they’re concerned.
Okay, so what does this have to do with social media content, you ask?
Because you want to develop content that will engage with readers who are interested in similar things to your “unique” value propositions or to the “comfort” value propositions. What similar ideas can you draw from? What interests would a reader of your work have besides your work?
Step 3. Think about emotional impact.
First off, how do you want your reader to feel at the end of your book? Whether or not they will is mostly irrelevant (unless you’ve written a bad book) because everyone is different. But what is your intention?
Do you want them to feel happy? Satisfied? Scared? Powerful? Excited? Horny? Battle rush? Focused? Motivated? Awwww? Warm and fuzzy? Angry?
If you need help, you can use the Pluchik Wheel of Emotions:
Or this helpful list for putting words on emotions from Hilary Jacobs Hendel (and there are tons of lists like this one if this one doesn’t do it for you—just Google “lists of emotions”):
Once you’ve figured out how you want your reader to feel, apply that same concept to your social media posts. Ask yourself, “how will this post make a person feel? Is it relevant to the emotional impact of my book?” (Note, it doesn’t have to be the same, but it should at least be relevant. If you write HEAs, you probably want to avoid posting dark and depressing memes.)
There’s a reason romance writers post so many pictures of hot, sexy people on their feeds, or quotes from the steamiest parts of their books. It’s because they’re targeting a specific emotion: they want their reader to feel horny or satisfied or anticipatory—and those types of posts create those feelings in the viewer. Which means that hopefully, over time, a social media user who wants to experience more of those emotions via reading will say, “Well, if this author’s social media posts match their books, I’m going to love them.”
The catch is that the emotion the social media posts evoke need to align with the book or else the reader will be disappointed. Like the person who gave me a 3-star review because they thought my books were going to be about a dark sea-faring apocalypse, not a hopeful land-lubber apocalypse. Their expectations didn’t end up matching the book.
Examples of Social Media Content That Match The Book
Next up, examples! Examples are honestly the hardest part. I don’t want to steal any other author’s hard work, so I’m going to make these up off the top of my head, based on some things I’ve done, some things I’ve seen other authors do, and just random whatever pops into my head.
These examples are not designed to tell you what to do, just to give you a starting place to brainstorm your own social media content. If I had to categorize most of what talk about, I pretty much focus on:
Images
Discussions
Questions to ask your audience
Themes
Articles
But keep in mind, you can also do stories, videos, group stuff, games, giveaways, Live events, and all kinds of things on social media. It’s all about what you like doing and what you’re comfortable doing—and of course, what platform you’re on.
A Romance Novel with an HEA and a Motorcycle Gang
Audience: romance readers, probably women, that like motorcycles
Unique value proposition: It’s set on a small island in the Caribbean, as opposed to a small US town
Comfort value proposition: Girl next door trope, enemies to lovers trope, motorcycle romance
Emotion: happy, horny, and satisfied
Ideas for social media content:
Pictures of motorcycles
Pictures of hot dudes/women on motorcycles
Pictures of the Caribbean (or whatever island the book is set on)
Discussions about vacationing in the Caribbean (invite audience to share their experiences)
Posts about other motorcycle romance books
Pictures of author on a motorcycle/in Caribbean
Invitation for fans to share pics of themselves on a motorcycle
Discussion of enemies to lover trope/girl next door trope
Discussion of cruising in Caribbean
Invite audience to discuss brands of motorcycles
Invite audience to share their best motorcycle/cross country trip experience
Why are motorcycles sexy discussion
Quotes from book about sex/motorcycles/tropes
Quoted reviews of book, book cover, the usual
A Scifi Horror Novel set in Space with Aliens & a Lot of Death
Audience: dark scifi/fantasy readers, 50/50 men women
Unique value proposition: author has degree in Biology, made aliens super realistic, no FTL
Comfort value proposition: outer space & spaceships, explores the frailty of human existence, existential philosophy woven through
Emotion: thoughtful, curious, fear, horror
Ideas for social media content:
Images of space from NASA
Discussions of biology, zoology
Images of the real-life biological creatures/concepts used to create aliens
Any sketches done of said aliens or world-building
Map drawing
Share other books by authors who have done similar things
Discussions of favorite space travel TV shows
Discussions of alien depictions in TV shows (that you both like/don’t like)
Discussions of representation of FTL spaceflight/time dilation
Ask audience if they think aliens are real
Images of yourself doing real-life biology work (if you have any)
Any philosophical discussions based off of some of the questions in the book (i.e. is everything just a giant simulation? why are we so tiny in comparison to everything? human ego in relation to the natural world)
Music that you think reflects the overall feeling of the world you’ve tried to create
Quotes from other authors who explore some of the same philosophical concepts as your book—Pascal for example (“Let man, then contemplate the whole of nature, in her full and grand majesty, and turn his vision from the low objects which surround him…” -Pensees”
Quotes from book that demonstrate descriptions of aliens, descriptions of world, philosophical discussions
Book cover, reviews, the works
Historical Fiction set in 1920s Los Angeles with Coming of Age Arc
Audience: people interested in history, anti-racism, and personal growth
Unique value proposition: MC is a Black woman who becomes a doctor, vivid descriptions & imagery
Comfort value proposition: flapper period, feeling like you get to experience that time period
Emotion: anger, sorrow, thrill, suspense, satisfaction, hope for the future
Ideas for social media content:
Images/drawings of clothes from the era
Historical photographs or articles about era
Things you learned as you did research for the project
Picture of you dressed in garb from the era
Discussion of coming of age trope
Discussion of readers’ own coming of age stories (what was your tipping point when you finally realized you were an adult)
Discussion of race in the 1920s and now
Discussion of what conceptions/misconceptions people have about the 1920s/ race/ flappers/ prohibition, etc.
Quotes from book that focus on descriptions of the period or illustrate the challenges the MC faced
Black Lives Matter, anti-racist educational content
Content focused on unlearning and becoming a better person
Philosophical discussions of how understanding the past can help influence the future and the individual decisions we make
Discussion about the lies society taught us during our own coming of age period
Discussions of the history of medicine, what it looked like in the 1920s vs now
Discussions about “what makes you angry,” “what gives you hope for the future”
Articles/posts about the impact of history and the way that we understand history
Book covers, reviews, all that jazz
Cozy Mystery with a Bakery & Cats
Audience: mystery lovers, women, happy people
Unique value proposition: set in a bakery that focuses entirely on round food, features a mortician turned baker
Comfort value proposition: cozy murder mystery with cats
Emotion: satisfaction, warm & fuzzies, curiosity, excitement
Ideas for social media content:
Pictures of cats
Cat memes
Memes about cozy mystery TV shows
Recipes of round baked goods
Pictures of cakes, muffins, and delicious things of that nature
Bakery pinterest boards
Bakery playlists
Ask audience to share their favorite recipes of round food
Ask audience to share their favorite cat picture of the week
Discussions of favorite mystery books/TV shows/movies
Quotes from book that focus on baking, mood, cats
Pictures of author’s cats/cooking
Live videos of cooking (“Author’s Murder Mystery Cooking Show”)
Blog posts about weird things my cat did this week
“Tips and tricks” on knife usage as if from your mortician MC
Book covers, reviews, and the works
Urban Fantasy Thriller with Witches, Mythical Creatures, and an MC Who Likes to Paint Their Nails
Audience: young adult, women, and Neil Gaiman fans
Unique value proposition: the mythical creatures are takes on traditional ones, but all mixed somehow with dogs and the MC keeps finding cursed items
Comfort value proposition: always happy endings and lots of mystical, mythological creatures
Emotion: excitement, fear, cheerfulness, satisfaction, curiosity, mystical-ness
Ideas for social media content:
Mystical, foggy stock photos with quotes from books photo shopped over them
Sketches, drawings, photo-shopped concept illustrations of mythical creatures
Articles about said mythological creatures by other people
Sketches/concept illustrations of cursed objects
Discussions of mythological creatures
Live video series where each one you talk about a mythological creature used in your series
Discussions of the way old myths are used in pop culture
The philosophy of mythology—what are old myths supposed to teach us or how are they encouraging humans to behave
Videos of cats
Cat memes
Discussions of witches, modern & historical
Recipes for spells to cleanse a house of spirits or bringing peace into a home
Mystical music or playlists
Mood boards on pinterest with lots of foggy streets and candlit vigils
Pictures of fingernails done interestingly—either the author’s or partner with a fingernail person
Custom fingernail mood boards to match the book
Author’s fingernails custom painted to look like the MC’s
Discussions/ blog posts/ re-shared content of interesting fingernail painting design
Discussions of other books that feature mythical creatures
Ask audience to share their nails/cats
Polls on most interesting historical witches
Discussion of any weapons used in book
Pictures/stories about historical cursed items in museums
Non-Fiction Books
Now, I know I said this article was for fiction writers, but just in case there are any non-fiction writers here—I want to say that it might seem hard, but you actually have a world of content to pull from to create social media fodder. You can totally use the system outlined above, but you can also just focus on the actual content of the book and use that as a basis for your social media.
If your book is about science—anything, literally anything from that field is relevant. If your book is about animals [or a specific animal or species]—share articles (research or otherwise) about animals, pictures of animals, other books about animals, recent news stories about animals, scientific diagrams of animals, drawings you or your kid or your class did of animals.
If your book is self-help—every chapter in the book has content. Talk about philosophy, post pics of inspirational quotes, write short posts about other influences in the topic. (Body positivity? Write about Jameela Jamil or Jessamyn Stanley or Tatyana McFadden. Over-coming alcoholism? Write about Annie Grace or Catherine Gray.)
If your book is how-to—literally write about how to do the thing. Share strategies from the book. Share articles you wrote or someone else wrote about the topic. Share short quick tips. Share testimonials. Share personal anecdotes of how your own life changed using the strategies in the book.
If your book is memoir, share content about the place you were. The time period. The overall theme. The concept. Coming of age in the 1960s? Share content about the 1960s, coming of age, the politics of the time. Road trip across the US? Share pics of all the places you visited (even if you have to buy stock photos) or write anecdotes about your experiences in those places, or tips for sitting in a car with another human for three weeks. Personal experience with abuse or depression? Share resources for getting out of a situation, working with a therapist, or finding help.
A Few Extra Strategies for Developing Social Media Content
All of the stuff above, I came up with off the top of my head. But I assure you—it’s much harder when I’m doing it for my own books. And I think the reason for this is that I know everything about my own work, and it can be hard to figure out what content to prioritize—what will people actually find engaging?
It can also be difficult to figure out what to save as a surprise in the book, and what to be open about. But the truth is—don’t get too hung up on spoilers. Obviously don’t tell everyone the main plot twist at the end, but it’s not going to ruin the book if they know what the monsters look like beforehand. It’s not going to ruin the story if they know the main character sucks at decision making, or that the universe itself is an upside-down version of our reality. And these details are what engage the curiosity of potential readers and may eventually cause them to pick up a copy of our book and read it.
So a couple extra tricks:
Ask.
Even if you have a small audience, ask what they like. Ask what discussions they have enjoyed having in the past. If you have a few readers, ask what they liked about your book. What concepts they found interesting. What their favorite parts were.
No response to your queries? Never fear. You can still…
Experiment.
I’d argue that you have no idea if something will really work until you try it. We all get excited about an idea or a strategy, but the truth is, just because you’re excited about it doesn’t mean anyone else will be. Likewise, you might think an idea is terrible, but it might be the one thing that takes off. So don’t be afraid to try something, and don’t be afraid to quit doing something that doesn’t work.
I did a series of “Question of the Week” posts for about 6 months, and I almost never got replies. So I quit doing it.
My monster drawings, on the other hand? Almost always get a series of likes or hearts, and almost always get at least a few comments. So I keep doing it. And I built an entire Patreon around it.
Keep doing the stuff that works, quit doing the stuff that doesn’t. Don’t get hung up on an idea and waste half your life doing it.
Brainstorm.
Pretty much all of the stuff I listed above is just an extended brainstorming session, right? But here’s the thing—there are tons of brainstorming strategies available for all different kinds of people with all kinds of different brains.
What brainstorming strategies work for you? Bubble maps? Singing? Sketching? Writing on the wall? List-making? Poetry? Here is a list of 15 brainstorming methods from HubSpot. Do whatever brainstorming method works the best for you.
Here’s what I did for my fairy tale series. I made a bubble map, starting with my main concept, and brainstorming as many ideas or concepts that could be made into social media content as possible. I won’t use all of these, but it gave me some ideas for future blog posts, as well as some ideas for some images I could post that are relevant and related to my work.
At the end of the day, just post stuff. Or don’t.
You don’t have to use social media to have a successful career as an author, no matter what anyone says. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of different ways to market your book, and if you hate Facebook (or Twitter, Instagram, Wattpad, Tumblr)? Don’t use it. If you don’t want to spend time coming up with social media content? Don’t bother.
Your best marketing strategy is always writing the next book. And if that’s all you want to do—do that.
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