So, you’ve written a book. It may have taken you years and years and you are very proud of it, understandably.
Now, you want it to reach as many people as possible and you will need to do some extra work. But this part of the journey is going to be fun and your enthusiasm will carry you forward.
Family and Friends
Firstly, all your friends and family will want to support you. But only if they know that you wrote a book.
This is the key element here. Telling people. If they don’t know that you wrote a book, then they won’t know to buy it. My book was published 5 weeks ago and I have sold almost a hundred copies. Probably half of those were people that I know. The other half, I will explain in a bit.
How are you going to let them know? You can tell your immediate circle, but what about that friend who moved to New Zealand? Yes, I do have friends in New Zealand and you probably have friends in other countries. What about your old neighbour who moved to Yorkshire, yes, I have one of those too, as you probably do.
Social Media
To reach all these people you are going to have to use social media.
My preferred platform is Facebook, so I will start there.
You need to go into your regular Facebook and add a page. You need to decide if it’s going to be the title of the book or your author name. I personally went for my author name: PaulaRooneyAuthor
Put out a welcome post that can be ‘pinned’ to the top of your page, so it’s the first post people will see.
You are going to have to set a tone. Start looking at other people’s pages, and be more tuned in about the content that others share. Watch YouTube videos on how to set up a Facebook business page, there are many out there.
Now you need to think about what to write about on your page. What is your book about, and why would people want to read it? Who is your audience, and who is it going to appeal to? You will learn from the videos. You can invite people to like your page. They will get a notification and hopefully join.
My book is about my interrailing journey, aged 55. So, I am able to share photos of my trip to go alongside the book. I can talk about travelling so late in life.
To start with you want to be enthusiastic and get everyone you know to buy your book.
Then when you get some reviews come in, you can post these as well. You need to keep the page interesting, not just promote your book. Tell people why it’s a great book. What will they get from reading your book? Do they have friends who would enjoy it?
To start with as you won’t have many people on your author page as it’s new. Write a post on your new page, and then share it on your personal page, and then politely ask all your friends to share it on their pages. It will start to grow.
—- joining Facebook groups to do with your book and interacting
— sharing rankings from Amazon
— available in Waterstones,
— selling direct
—Growth Hub
— tiktok
— business cards
— tagging people places in all your posts
— competitions
Paula Rooney is the author of I Hope There’s a Kettle in my Room. Available on Amazon.
