Hi, Mx Nascosta, I've been following you for a long while now and I really admire you as a writer and now as a published author. I'm currently editing my own paranormal book and I'm looking to get a headstart on marketing with social media. So far, I've been building a following on Twitter, but I was wondering if you had any tips or could share what you've been doing? Thank you!
Network, participate, make friends — rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. Becoming involved in a community is the quickest way to gain a foothold within said community. Social media is definitely a case study in reaping what you sow, effort-wise. Beyond that, don’t spread yourself so thin that you’re not able to make an organic impact.
I’ll use myself as an example: I have the best interactions with people here on Tumblr. This is the kindest social media platform for creators, I’ll fight anyone who claims differently. There are no funky algorithms, no blue check-marks, no influencers. The ability to engage directly with readers has been a gift over the past year and a half. I’ve put the most into this platform, between my masterlist (I posted content every single week during the first year of my blog, until I got sick,) the Monster Matches, my askbox, etc — and as a result, you guys have been wonderfully supportive, and I can’t thank this community enough.
The other platform I give my time to is Instagram (and I would really, super-duper love it if you guys followed me there as well!) My IG is only about a year old and it’s only in the last 6 months or so that I’ve been posting on it regularly. I followed a BUNCH of people--other writers, book bloggers, publishing houses, merch shops, etc--and I interacted on their posts, reblogged in my stories, etc. The more I shared and commented, the more other accounts interacted with my content and stories. I still don’t have a ton of followers there (like less than 500) but the engagement with other authors and bloggers and my patrons has been consistent, which makes up for the lack of reach. As a result, 50% of my ARC team came from IG and I’m still reaping the benefits of word-of-mouth within that community even though GW is almost 2 months old at this point.
(And just to change gears for a hot second...reach is important, obviously. That’s why it’s important to reblog vesus liking creator posts, but follower count isn’t everything and it’s folly to get too wrapped up in it. I have less than half the followers of some other writers in the Tumblr sphere, but quality engagement is what’s more important for me, and has had the biggest impact on the reach of my work. Don’t ever let yourself get too caught up in the follow counts and notes on posts. Find your tribe, the people who are passionate about the story you’re telling, and the numbers will follow!)
I put very little into Twitter and virtually nothing into FB, and as a result, I get very little back in return.
I’m going to write a post later this week about my learns in the wake of Girls Weekend, I’ll tag you in it, if you’d like! (I’m going to be posting Alder the Ghillie Dhue’s revisit in the next day or so and polishing that up is my first priority before I work on anything else... @tmnt-bucklover, I hope you really love Cambric Creek, because this is less of a “monster match revisit” and more of a “these characters are a permanent part of the community now, so get used to it” story.)
I will say this—Girls Weekend is almost 2 months old at this point, still technically a “new release” but also an old dinosaur in the world of Amazon publishing. As of today, it’s still in the top 100 of three different genre categories, I’ve sold copies every single day since release, I’ve sold out of book boxes twice, and I’ve not spent a single penny on advertising. It’s 100% because of the work I put into building relationships and readers in the community here and on IG—that means all of you guys—and my wonderful patrons. I would love to be able to tell you it wasn’t work, but that would be a *tremendous* lie. It causes my heart an ENORMOUS amount of joy to hear you’re already thinking ahead on that angle of publishing. One thing to keep in mind: you’re not on anyone’s timetable but your own if you’re publishing independently. You only get one release per book. Even if you’re done, even if you’re edited and formatted with a killer cover and you’ve worked on your blurb and are SO READY to publish...give yourself the time to do it right. If you make mistakes--and you will--good news: you can learn from them and do things differently with the next one. But there’s no one holding a clock to you, so if you feel like you want to work on building your community first, you have the latitude to do so.
Talk about your book, talk about your characters, be your own biggest fan. Your passion will attract the passion of others. And I’ve said this before, but I will repeat it a hundred thousand times—you guys can ALWAYS tag me on stuff you’d like boosted. I don't have the biggest platform, but it’s a damned good one with awesome followers and readers. Whether that’s a story, an announcement, artwork, cover reveals, contests—use me! I’m a free resource!
