Does Social Media Help Sell Books?

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blogging, books, Facebook, indie authors, Indie books, indie writers, self-published authors, selling books, social media, Twitter, vlogging, YouTube

If you’re a newcomer author, you probably have heard that you need to establish a social media presence in order to sell your books. It may seem daunting if you are unfamiliar with how social media works when it comes to selling something, but it can be easily be learned. It also can be easily learned that some of what you hear about selling books via social media may not be true.

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During the five years since I released my first book, I’ve learned a lot about how social media works, in terms of business. So, in this post, I am going to give my thoughts and opinions on the whole social media thing. Remember, this is based on my experience.

First things first: no, you are not going to sell books via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and all the others.

You might have heard people tell you to provide links to your books on these social media platforms, and constantly provide these links, in order to have success as an author. But that is not how it works. In my experience, very few people are going to click on a link on Twitter or Google+, and go to Amazon or Smashwords, let alone actually buy your book. Those social media posts may come across as spam for a lot of people.

In my opinion, the best time to ever provide links to your book(s) on social media is when you have a sale, a big promo going on, or something seasonal may attract people to that link. For example, it’s October, and my books is about vampires. Since it is the month of all things dark and spooky, I will tweet a few times a link to my book on Amazon or Goodreads. It may not work; it may come across as spam. But it doesn’t hurt. I just will only do it a handful of times.

In the meantime, I better do something else with my social media presence. I need to add more content to my feeds in order to draw attention to my authorship. And that is what social media is all about: drawing attention to something. Whether it is a person, a business, a promotion, whichever – social media announces, “I am here!” And that helps get word out about your books.

Remember, selling books is a business. Writing is a craft, an art. Selling the work is a business, and social media is a big part of how businesses sell their products.

It is a way to interact with followers that could lead to sales. It is also a way to meet other people in the same field. I’ve met quite a few other authors through social media. Eventually, word gets out about your book(s) and people may just pick them up and read them.

But no, social media does not sell books. Don’t count on it, don’t rely on it.

You are probably wondering if blogging – which is form of social media – sells books. Well, I’ve had a few sales that way, but not a lot. But that is not why I blog; I do not blog to sell books. I blog to get the word out about myself as an author. I blog because it is my way of talking to people. I blog to start conversations with other authors. I blog because it is fun.

That being said, I am going to start a new way of reaching people: starting next week, I am going to vlog – meaning video blog. I am going to set up a YouTube channel where I would be doing the same thing I do here, only I’ll be speaking rather than typing/writing. No, I won’t stop blogging altogether. I like this blog, and I want to keep it going. I’ll just be finding a new way to reach people as I continue on as an author. That will happen sometime around next week.

In the meantime, I will continue using social media to get the word about myself and my book(s). And you do the same. Fill your channels with content related to you and your work. Let others get to know you. That may help – just help! – sell your work.

 

Hey You! Get Off My Platform!

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authors, book promotion, Facebook, Facebook spam, promotions, self-published, self-published authors, self-publishing, spam, writers

The other day, I noticed an alert on my Facebook author page app, which indicated someone had either liked my page or left a post on my wall. Excited, I checked it out, hoping I had a new fan.

My hopes were dashed when I saw a post that kind of went like this:

“Hi Megan! I’m [so-so]! I’ve just published my book! Here’s the link to it on Amazon, please tell everyone you know about it! Thanks!”

I blinked, took a deep breath and deleted the post from my wall altogether.

I do not know who that person was. I never heard of that author, and that author had never before contacted me. S/he had not liked my Facebook page at all, never followed me on Twitter or Google+, or anything. I had never interacted with that person before, and yet here s/he was crashing on my Facebook page – which is part of my platform used to promote my books.

This wasn’t the first time this happened, and sadly it won’t be. There are some authors out there who simply don’t seem to understand how to properly promote their books. They may have heard social media is the way to spread the word, and that authors are supposed to help other authors. But the way they go about it is kind of rude and unprofessional.

If that person wanted me to help them get exposure, I would have been happy to do so. All they had to do was check out this blog and see that I offer author interviews. If they were polite when they contacted me, and not pushy and arrogant like a few have, I would have gladly featured them on my site. Crashing in on my Facebook page as they did was not appropriate. In fact, it was more like spam than promotion.

The same has happened here on this website. I’ve gotten comments left by authors responding to one of my posts. Only they are not really commenting on my posts. They’re leaving comments like this: “Buy my book! Here’s my Twitter handle! Like me on Facebook!” Again, authors resorting to spam promotion. Even worse, they are spamming on another author’s space.

Some self-published authors seem to really misunderstand how to promote their work. It could be ignorance or desperation. But either way, I can’t fathom why anyone would think hijacking another person’s platform is a good way to increase book sales.  It doesn’t at all, and they only make themselves look bad.  All they have to do is ask to do a guest blog post, offer their book for a review, and all the other networking strategies. Basically, asking for permission works, not stealing!

Learning to promote your book is simple. There are many websites and blogs that give great suggestions. Even I’ve given tips. If you’re going to self-publish your book, educate yourself. Don’t make a fool out of yourself or become disrespectful. Self-publishing isn’t easy and they are many who fail terribly because they made poor decisions. Don’t make yourself a statistic.