30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 20 – (your) social media doesn't sell books
September 6 2023 marks 5 years since my first novel was released 😲
I’ve now published 6, and have 2 more under contract.
To celebrate, I’m sharing a new post about what I’ve learnt from being published EVERY DAY throughout the month. This post is part of that series!
Click here for the rest →
Let me start this post by saying that, contrary to popular belief, I don’t hate social media. I know I tend to give it a hard time but you might think I’m a bit of a hypocrite in doing so, because, as you might have noticed, I’m all over it myself.
You can find me on Twitter (still refusing to call it X), Instagram, Facebook and even Threads. I also have a TikTok account but I don’t post on there.
I use them all regularly (except TikTok because it just makes me depressed every time I go on there because everyone is younger than me and seems really sad or stressed and it makes me worried for my daughter’s future tbh. Sorry, TMI!).
I like social media. I really do. I think it is an incredibly powerful tool in an author’s career. However, I don’t think it sells books.
Let me clarify a bit.
I think social media is a fantastic way to engage with readers, network within the publishing and writing communities and share behind-the-scenes content with your fans.
But I don’t think, directly, it sells books.
Maybe it would be clearer to say that it’s not a direct sales tool.
Many of my author website clients come to me fresh out of getting their debut book deal and they are incredibly het up about the fact that they’ve never really used social media before.
They feel totally overwhelmed by all the new ‘tasks’ they’ve added to their own plates since getting signed by a publisher, and are often convinced that if they don’t do ALL of them, then they’ll somehow be letting their book and their publisher down.
I really enjoy telling these authors to take a breath and not to worry about social media for now.
In my experience, what social media really does is help fuel the fire of the Hype Train (more on the Hype Train phenomena in a later post…).
It helps create buzz and noise around your book, which I suppose, inadvertently, does contribute to sales. But it’s a brand awareness tool, not a direct sales tool!
The chance of someone random stumbling across your Instagram page, viewing a post where you’re promoting your book and then immediately clicking off to buy it is VERY slim.
Even less likely is a sale from a tweet that says ‘My book is now available on Amazon, here’s a link to buy it’.
Especially when that tweet is posted five times a week and the author’s Twitter feed is nothing but BUY MY BOOK posts repeated over and over again.
(please don’t do this - it’s worse than having no social media at all!)
Why am I telling you this?
Because I want to let you off the hook. I know many, many authors who are natural introverts and absolutely HATE social media. And they feel so guilty about it.
But the truth is, forcing yourself to be on social media and posting begrudgingly will never work out long-term.
You will hate the experience, and people will be able to tell, and the result will never be positive for either you or your books.
Being authentic is the key to creating an engaging platform online.
Being stiff, salesy or pushy will ultimately turn readers off.
So try to approach social media differently. See it as an opportunity to talk to directly to your readers, to engage with your fellow writers and to network within the publishing industry.
All of these things will ultimately help your career, I have no doubt about it.
But don’t feel you need to spam your feeds with constant links to your books on Amazon or other retailers. Don’t feel you need to keep reminding people that your book is available to buy.
Instead, if you do want to get involved, then see it as a place to hang out and chat about books in general, and you’ll have a much better time, I promise.
If you want more advice on using social media effectively, then take a look at Katie Morwenna’s services →
