Social Media
If you’re a writer, and you want people to read your work, common advice is to build a platform. If you write nonfiction this includes other things–credentials and such–but for fiction writers, a good starting place is social media.
I’m not a social media expert, but I’ve learned some lessons along the way. Everything that was important enough to be shared I’ve posted here, as I learned it. I have tips on:
Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, and blogging.
Author Newsletter
Learning how to maintain a healthy newsletter is imperative for authors. Newletters come with a formidable advantage over social media–they simply show up in readers’ inboxes. Social media requires a reader to do something first–they have to go to Twitter, Pinterest, or Facebook, and then remember to check out your posts. Far better if your missives simply appear, but when they do, they need to either inform or entertain.
Here are my tips for building a newsletter audience:
Why You Might Want to Publish Your Reader Magnet
Nicholas Erik’s Ultimate Guide to Email Lists for Authors
How to Add a Mailchimp Newsletter to a WordPress.com Blog–with Style!
Newsletter Promotions
Your personal author newsletter is important, but you’ll also need to find new readers. One way you can do this is to either borrow or rent a space in someone else’s newsletter.
Many newsletters will provide this service, with names you’ve probably heard of, like Freebooksy, BookBub, and BookBarbarian. Some will charge, and some will provide this service for free, but they all have one thing in common–for effective newsletter promotion, you’ll need to mark your book down to cheap or free. Readers have no incentive to allow promotions into their already crowded inboxes unless they’re getting a good deal. Full-price books usually do better with pay-per-click advertising.
Free Books: Why You Might Want to Give Your Work Away
A Totally Free Promo for Little Fish and/or the Financially Impaired
Free Promos Part 2–Promoting a Book the Second Time
Free Promos Part 3–The Quest for Rank
Cathleen Townsend 