Spreading the Love on Social Media

Sharing social-media posts from your fellow authors is good for everyone.

Hi Authors.

Let’s face it, readers (the audience we authors are primarily concerned with) are far more interested in authors, and the books they write, than they are book publishers.

In a sense, it’s like movies and television. Lots of you probably follow some of your favorite actors and actresses on social media. Some of you may even follow the official accounts of some of your favorite movies or shows. But how many of you follow entertainment studios on social media? I’m guessing not many.

So, if you’re relying on your publisher to handle the social-media marketing of your book from their social-media accounts, you should probably consider that a lot of enthusiastic readers will likely never see those posts.

That’s why I always encourage authors to create (and be active on) their own social-media accounts. It makes for more effective brand-building, better discoverability, better engagement, and bigger audiences. Readers follow your accounts to connect with you on a somewhat personal level. That kind of connection doesn’t really exist between readers and faceless publishing companies.

As the social-media manager for a book publishing company, I spend a lot of time spreading word about other authors and their books. But when it comes to online promotion and capturing an audience, you are the stars, and the publisher plays a supporting role. It’s just a better formula for success.

We here at Book Marketing for Authors want to provide you with tools and tips for more effectively marketing yourself online. We’ve also received some great insight from you, the authors, about tools and techniques that you’ve found success with (which we’ll continue to share here).

But there’s one important tool, in the wide world of social media, that I haven’t talked about yet (at least not in today’s piece): each other.

When I, from my social-media account, share one of your posts, that post naturally receives more attention than it otherwise would have (even if it’s just a little more attention). It’s a simple numbers game. The louder the megaphone, the more people are going to hear it.

Likewise, if additional accounts share your post, the post will get even more attention. That’s how online virality works.

Next, imagine if, when you post something of particular interest on social media (like a sale on your book or an award it has won), even just a handful of your fellow authors sharing that post from their own account. The post could easily receive five or six times the attention it would have otherwise received. That’s definitely good for you and your book, and it’s good for the authors doing the sharing because they’ve just ingratiated themselves to you. And in the spirit of “you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours,” they’ve earned the favor of you sharing one of their social-media posts (now or in the future). 😉

Such partnership, of course, is based entirely on good will. None of you should feel obligated to share anything you don’t want to share. I’m just explaining how doing so (at least from time to time) ultimately benefits you.

What’s great is that with most social-media platforms, sharing a post is quick and painless. Facebook has a “Share” button below each public post. Twitter (“X”), Threads, and TikTok have the “repost” feature. Instagram lets you add someone else’s post to your own Instagram Story, or share that post on other social media platforms.

Now, some of you may be asking: If I share some other author’s post, aren’t I promoting my competition?

The answer to that is a big fat NO.

As authors, we’re not really competing against each other. Unlike other types of consumers, readers aren’t exactly shopping around for the best deal on a particular good or service. They typically don’t set a hard limit for how many books they purchase and read in a particular genre, or in an allotted time frame. They just pick up what looks or sounds interesting to them, and if they’re following you on social media, that means they’re already interested in you and your product. You don’t need to battle another author to win over their patronage, because you’ve already earned it.

Best of luck, everyone!