How to promote your book

[pls]

I am seeing more and more posts from authors who indicate that Twitter is the place to be when it comes to book promotion, much more so than Facebook, Goodreads, or any other social network.

*Sigh* - another time hog. Maybe when I get past the massive projects I have going now - all involving publications, none involving creative writing - I'll get going on Twitter, too.

However, I still refuse to blog. And I pulled out of a semi-local group which requires many posts on a Word Press site with a complicated calendar and posting schedule for topics which I'm not involved in.

[b.sherman]

I am seeing more and more posts from authors who indicate that Twitter is the place to be when it comes to book promotion, much more so than Facebook, Goodreads, or any other social network.

*Sigh* - another time hog. Maybe when I get past the massive projects I have going now - all involving publications, none involving creative writing - I'll get going on Twitter, too.

However, I still refuse to blog. And I pulled out of a semi-local group which requires many posts on a Word Press site with a complicated calendar and posting schedule for topics which I'm not involved in.

I am starting to think the same way about Twitter. I use Facebook because I already had a very active personal side with a large professional network from my day job, so I think that helped with my initial book launch. I added in a Facebook fanpage and have tried to utilize it in the same manner I do my personal page--I post things I find funny, interesting, or thought provoking. It's kinda a joke amongst my friends that my Fanpage is the same old "me", just filtered.
So I did what many people recommended and linked a Twitter page to my FB, so that if I post to Twitter it updates my FB pages as well, saving me the work of constantly keeping them both active. Well, I enjoy FB and spend 99% of my time there. It is easier to talk to fans and I just find it more fun. When I go on Twitter, however, my news feed is filled with promotional posts. It's like a non-stop advertising feed that I lose interest trying to wade through. So I stop looking at it. I find it cumbersome, and I do not think it has affected my book sales in the least. Some of my FB fans have carried over to Twitter, but many of my Twitter followers are authors trying to spread the word about their own books. I love seeing what everyone else is writing, and I learn a ton about the industry, so I do like it in that respect. It think it is a good thing to limit the amount of time you spend promoting. After all, the absolute best advice for promotion is to get another book out. That is a simple, straightforward task that everyone can do to build their reader fanbase.
Of all the things I have learned so far, I wish I knew in the beginning about how important your NEXT book is. I thought it was my dream come true when the first fan emailed me to rave about my book...then she wanted #2 in the series RIGHT NOW. Haha, lesson learned, eh?
Good luck with your promoting, but just use your time wisely. The best use of your time will ALWAYS be writing the next book.

**edited because I can't speel. Thank god for spell check.

[pls]

…When I go on Twitter, however, my news feed is filled with promotional posts. It's like a non-stop advertising feed …
Good luck with your promoting, but just use your time wisely. The best use of your time will ALWAYS be writing the next book. …

*Sigh*. Twitterspam. Why am I not surprised? And I agree with your wise statement, which I emphasized in case someone might have missed it.

[EccentricKim]

I use Twitter, but it's more of an afterthought than anything. But I do have more followers on there than any other format, so I should probably try to tweet more often. Or whatever.

I put out my first ad this week! It's on page 3 of Windy City Times here: http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/imag ... urrent.pdf

Now to see if this makes any change. It might run another week, and there is also an email blaze which they run, and they asked me for a link to use, so I sent them the link to my publishers site which lists all my works to date.

[jbcameron]

I'm late jumping onto the Twitter bandwagon myself, but I do notice one benefit that it has that seems to be largely overlooked. On the topic of updating content to keep your readers coming back for more, I'm beginning to realize that Retweets to writing sites that have previously published my online short stories are quite an attractive feature. It requires very little effort to add in the link back to the story on the publisher's website, can be incorporated into your Facebook page, and keeps your content fresh while driving new readers to your existing body of work. Not bad for a few seconds of work.