Using Social Media to Sell Books, a Post by R. Clint Peters

As independent authors, we provide our own publicity for our novels.  Half of my books are published by a legitimate publisher who provides several services, including an editor.  But, I have several books that are published by CreateSpace.  Those books are my responsibility.  If they aren’t selling, what can I do?  What can I do to get my books in front of potential readers?

When you want to publicize your website or book, where should you share it? How do you share it? What is the etiquette? How do you get people to buy your book?

What about social networking?  There are hundreds of social networks that can help get your book in front of readers.  Here are a few:

REDDIT —  It’s a free listing service that will allow you to list your books, promos and giveaways.  Links get shared quickly and reach a lot of people.  However, be ready for “haters”.  Many of the book categories are antagonistic to self-published authors.

WattPad — WattPad is a great site for writing a book with beta readers.  You will have constant feedback, and perhaps, pre-orders for the finished book.  It helps create a buzz as you write your book, but you need to continue sharing your writing to receive feedback.

Tumblr —Tumblr is a good social networking site for fashion, photo, and travels books, with a primary focus on images.  It is, however, tedious to set up and maintain.

StumbleUpon — StumbleUpon is an interesting social networking platform.  It’s best for discovering new information about books and the publishing process.  Use it primarily for blog posts of original content.

LinkedIn — LinkedIn is a business network, best used for networking book professionals and book services.  You’ll meet a lot of other authors, but you’ll also get friend requests from people looking for a job.

Storify — A good spot to discover what people are saying.  Use Storify to learn about social networking.

LibraryThing — Librarything has almost 2 million users.  It’s good for getting your book discovered by readers looking for something new in the genre they are already reading.

Google Plus — Google Plus is the least used of the Google family.  Because it’s Google, things get shared online quickly.  However, it’s the forgotten stepchild.  Perhaps it will take off, but until it does, there are other places to focus your time and energy.

Twitter — Twitter has been my favorite social networking platform, and has provided the most success for the Author’s Club.  Remember, tweets are flying across the screen at the speed of light, so it must be constantly fed.  The most successful accounts have a full-time staff posting tweets twenty-four hours a day.

Shelfari — Shelfari is an encyclopedia for book lovers.  You can create your own virtual bookshelf, connect with friends.  However, anyone can edit a bookshelf (like Wikipedia).

Facebook — Facebook is the biggest network on the Internet, and is good for sharing links with people who read for a hobby.  You’ll meet lots of other authors, but they aren’t your target — readers are your target.

Goodreads — Goodreads should be one of the social networks every author uses.  It’s great for finding new readers via Kindle.  Linking your outlets on one page is easy.  However, people can leave negative reviews and comments on your book pages, and profile set up will ALL your details before you launch a book.

When you’ve gone through all those sites, here are a few more to consider (Source:  Wikipedia):

Academia.edu — Social networking site for academics/researchers About.me — Social networking site aNobii — Books AsianAvenue — A social network for the Asian American community aSmallWorld — European jet set and social elite world-wide Bebo — General BlackPlanet — Black Americans Blauk — Anyone who wants to say something about a stranger or acquaintance Blogster — General Bolt.com — General CozyCot — East Asian and Southeast Asian women Cross.tv — Faith-based social network for Christian believers from around the world Cucumbertown — Networking for cooks Cyworld — General. Popular in South Korea. DailyBooth — Photo-blogging site where users upload a photo every day DailyStrength — Medical & emotional support community – physical health, mental health, support groups delicious — Social bookmarking allowing users to locate and save websites that match their own interests deviantART — Art community Disaboom — People with disabilities (amputees, cerebral palsy, MS, and other disabilities) douban — Chinese Web 2.0 website providing user review and recommendation services for movies, books, and music. Elftown — Community and wiki around fantasy and sci-fi. Ello — General Elixio — Business executives jet set and global elite. Experience Project — Life experiences Exploroo — Travel social networking. FledgeWing — Entrepreneurial community targeted towards worldwide university students Flickr — Photo sharing, commenting, photography related networking, worldwide Focus.com — Business-to-business, worldwide Foursquare — Location based mobile social network Fuelmyblog — Blogging community FullCircle — Geosocial networking and location-based services portal for mobile devices Gaia — Online Anime and games. Popular in USA, Canada and Europe. Moderately popular around Asia. Gather.com — Article, picture, and video sharing, as well as group discussions Gays.com — Social network for LGBT community, guide for LGBT bars, restaurants, clubs, shopping Geni.com— Families, genealogy GovLoop — For people in and around government. Ibibo — Talent-based social networking site that allows to promote oneself and also discover new talent. Most popular in India. Influenster — Online product sampling and review platform. Instagram — A photo and video sharing site. Itsmy — Mobile community worldwide, blogging, friends, personal TV-shows Jaiku — General. Microblogging. Owned by Google Kiwibox — General. Lafango — Talent-focused media sharing site LaiBhaari — Marathi social networking Lifeknot — Shared interests, hobbies LinkExpats — Social networking website for expatriates. 100+ countries. Meetup (website) General. — Used to plan offline meetings for people interested in various activities Meettheboss — Business and finance community, worldwide. MouthShut.com — Social network, social media, consumer reviews My Opera — Blogging, mobile blogging, photo sharing, connecting with friends, Opera Link and Opera Unite. Global Myspace — General Netlog — General. Popular in Europe, Turkey, the Arab world and Canada’s Québec province. Formerly known as Facebox and Redbox. Nexopia — Canada Ning — Users create their own social websites and social networks Open Diary — First online blogging community, founded in 1998 Orkut — General. Owned by Google Inc. Popular in India and Brazil. OUTeverywhere — Gay/LGBTQ community PatientsLikeMe O— nline community for patients with life-changing illnesses to find other patients like them, share their data with others, and learn more about their condition to improve their outcome. Plurk — Micro-blogging, RSS, updates. Very popular in Taiwan Poolwo — Social networking site from India Qapacity — A business-oriented social networking site and a business directory ScienceStage — Science-oriented multimedia platform and network for scientists Skoob — Collaborative social network for Brazilian readers Sonico.com — General. Popular in Latin America and Spanish and Portuguese speaking regions. StumbleUpon — Stumble through websites that match users’ selected interests Tagged — General. Talkbiznow — Business networking Taltopia — Online artistic community Taringa! — General (primarily Argentina) tribe.net — General Tuenti — Spanish-based university and high school social network. Uplike — Microblogging platform and social networking website. Vampirefreaks.com — Gothic and industrial subculture Vox — Blogging We Heart It — Image-based social network focused on inspiration, expression and creativity Wellwer — Community without borders, where sharing is everything. Wepolls.com — Social polling network Wer-kennt-wen — General weRead — Books XING — Business (primarily Europe : Germany, Austria, Switzerland) Yelp, Inc. — Local business review and talk Zooppa — Online community for creative talent (host of brand sponsored advertising contests)

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