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Whether you're a self-published author or you've got a contract with a publishing company, promoting your book (or books!) yourself is an everyday reality for authors in the twenty-first century.
Promoting your books has always been part of being an author, or at least a successful one; the idea that it was ever otherwise is largely a myth.
While it can seem daunting to get into the world of book promotion yourself, keep in mind that it can be a very rewarding experience. Every new person you reach is a chance for your work to have an impact on sometime's life, to build your online following, and of course, to enhance your own personal income.
There's tons of advice out there on how to do social media as a book author, or more broadly as a content creator. Here's some of ours:
Start By Picking the Right Channels or Platforms for Beginners
If you're totally new to posting yourself on social media, the easiest and least-stressful way to get started is by just posting text-based messages.
We recommend you start with the more conventional channels and platforms for the different kinds of posting you'll be doing, like Twitter/X and Facebook.
All platforms will come with problems, and if they don't have any now, they could in the future. We recommend you start with the big-name ones both because they set the stage for social media historically, and because they copy all successful newcomers, so if nothing else, they're good places to learn.
(Currently the best alternative to Twitter/X is Bluesky, which is open to new users after being invite-only for a long time. It's basically a Twitter clone, with the intention of doing more content moderation, basically.)
Follow Authors, Influencers, and Experts in Your Area
When you sign up for a social media platform, typically you can "follow" other people on the platform, one way or another.
Now, most platforms will prompt you to follow corporate accounts, or people with paid accounts.
When you sign up, the first thing we recommend you do is skip their recommendations, and search yourself for authors, influencers, and experts in your subject area (or your genre, if you're writing fiction).
Starting out by following real people like this has a few benefits:
1. You can see what people who are successful on the platform actually do on the platform. One thing to keep in mind is that succeeding on a platform, unless you're already famous, only happens if you actually, genuinely do what needs to be done to get big on that platform.
At the same time, the platform is itself "watching" what works, and will reward new patterns of successful behavior that people on the platform discover, or just stumble upon.
It might seem kind of anti-climactic, but just copying what successful users do is the key to getting to know the platform, and succeeding there.
A note about copying what succesful people on a platform are doing:
We're not saying you specifically copy what they're specifically saying and doing!
We're saying you should copy their approach.
For example, if successful users on the platform whom you follow are posting about a topic, we recommend you post about it too.
Coming Soon: Your Social Media Posting Schedule
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