As we discussed in my last post, one of the first questions I’m asked by newly published authors is “What social networking sites should I use to market my book– Facebook? Twitter? LinkedIn? Blogs?” As I emphasized in the article, think it through, start early (preferably before your book is published), and start slowly.

Once you’ve crossed that threshold, the next question–and rightfully so–is often something along the lines of “Now that I’m on site (XYZ), what should I talk about?” The obvious answer is “Talk about your book!”, but as always there are many approaches to tackling this challenge, which again depend on your book’s market and your own personality.

Also, strangely enough, it seems that we authors often get stuck in a mental rut when it comes to communicating as authors to potential customers. There seem to be two sides of this dilemma. For one, we’ve written our book–it’s done–so what more needs to be said? (”It’s all there in the book, stupid–just buy it and read it!”). Secondly, we’re insecure about our marketing approach and don’t want to come off sounding like a used car salesman. How many times will “BUY MY BOOK!” work as a marketing ploy, anyway?

Fortunately, there’s a lot of middle ground to play around in when it comes to communicating with your audience, which permits you to effectively apply the soft sell, hard sell, and even the “no sell” marketing techniques when the situation is right. And remember–especially if this is your first book–that almost no one knows anything about your book yet or even that you’re an author, so job one is to build and interact with an exciting and growing community of potential readers and peers. Over time you’ll learn which marketing/sales approach works best, but I’ve found that a friendly and inviting demeanor almost always wins out when it comes to gaining new buyers and maintaining a vibrant community of readers and fans.

Facebook, for example, makes it easy to find and identify groups and individuals that might be interested in your book. It won’t happen overnight, but if you efficiently invest your time and effort on Facebook you can achieve very positive results in terms of credibility, popularity and sales. I’ve seen it happen many times with many authors.

And, although you may not realize it now there’s an endless list of topics to discuss on your Facebook profile that can make your book marketing efforts easier and more successful. Here’s a few to get started with:

• Blog tour: If you’ve got a new book you should be on a (perpetual) blog tour, so talk about what blogs you’ll be featured on and prompt your friends to comment and ask questions.
• Book signings: Let the world know if you’ve got a book signing coming up, and then follow-up with photos and anecdotes of the event. Finally, make a request at the book signing that your readers leave a review of your book on your Facebook page!
• Background of your book: Talk about what led you to write your book and the publishing decisions you made along the way.
• Supplemental content: Are there anecdotes, case studies, or other story lines/plot points that weren’t necessarily in the final version of your book? Just like movie and TV DVDs, some in your audience might be interested in or helped by these little extra tidbits.
• Book excerpts: The Facebook Notes application is especially useful for introducing your book to your existing friends and friends yet-to-be. It also gives them a taste for your book as a whole, hopefully prompting them to make a purchase.
• Press releases/reviews: If you get some visibility in the media or some positive Amazon reviews don’t hesitate to share that with your Facebook community. The world deserves to know!
• Topical content: If there’s anything happening locally, regionally, or even world-wide that’s relevant to your book, use it as a vehicle to bring your book into a wider Facebook discussion.
• Peer-driven responses: Has another author written or posted something that relates to your book? If so, take advantage of the situation by providing your perspective on the topic–whether you agree or not.
• Your next book: You’re working on another book, aren’t you? While you’re building an audience around your existing book it’s always to your benefit to make your audience aware of your upcoming works. The same is true for new editions or new versions (ebook, audiobook, etc) of your current book.

As you can see above, this isn’t rocket science–it’s simply effective social marketing. Yes, you might be selling your book “one friend at a time”–especially at first–but that’s the typical situation facing newly self-published authors. You’ve got to start somewhere, and the great thing about Facebook is that it’s free! It just takes time, and after a while you might just find that you’re having fun…

Give it a try and let me know how it works for you. If you have questions just shoot me an email or comment below. And, until next time–keep publishing!

Henry Hutton
PublishandSell.com