A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Making Your Social Media Efforts More Potent

It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. 

Once again, we pick up the topic of book marketing and social media. If, as Lisa Angle contends, "Connection is the new world of marketing," then the question arises as to how to make social marketing more effective. What are the best do's and don't's? How can social media marketing time be best spent?

Start with understanding what drives social media marketing effectiveness

Readers who are likely to buy books typically are looking for that connection to the author that Lisa Angle has pointed out. Publishers can help with this, but authors must initiate and maintain this.

Readers are likely to buy books from authors they already "know." Readers who have purchased one book from an author to whom they feel connected are likely to buy another book from the same author.

Readers are likely to buy books that speak to them. That means content and personal connection.

Avoid the following ineffective uses of social media.

Don't talk down to readers, as if you are a guru and they are learning at your feet. 

Do not focus on you as the main player.

Don't assume that your book (or even its content) is the most important part of your message.

Helping readers be more receptive to your social media efforts.

Treat readers as friends, colleagues, partners. Rather than telling them something, share something with them. That point of view approach can be much more effective. Same content, different narrative style.

Focus on the reader as the main player. What does your book offer to the reader that the reader needs? State that, share that, reveal that, but don't try to sell that. 

Figure out the essence of your message, keeping in mind that it is not your book but rather something that the reader/purchaser might need.

Educate your reader. Many come to the internet, looking for ways to learn more about the things that interest them (or looking for new things to interest them). Pull out nuggets from your book for sharing. Remember, the best educators facilitate learning; they do not fill up empty goblets but rather provide several goblets for choosing or several bottles from which to fill one's own goblet.

Entertain your reader. Some folks come to the Internet as an escape. 

• Humor is one way of entertaining. You do not need a humor book to present even serious material in a lighter vein. 
• Emotional attraction is another way of entertaining. You do not need to have a spy thrilled to draw in a reader emotionally to the point of not being able to put down a book (or wanting to purchase it in the belief that they will not be able to put it down) or scrambling to read all of your blog posts. 
• Storytelling is yet another way of entertaining. Everyone loves a good story. You do not need a novel to tell a good story. You can transport them to another realm--a break from their own reality, which they are often seeking in coming to the Internet--or you warm their hearts with a story to which they can readily relate from their own lives.

Energize your reader.

• Share inspirational stories.
• From your book.
• From your life.
• From your own reading/listening.
• Tantalize your readers with what comes next or what might be the bigger picture.
• Use an excerpt to inspire interest in your book.
• Use sequences of actions taken from your book's plot to build anticipation. This technique can be used whether your book is already published or still being written.

   

Learn from what readers are telling you.

Identify your most popular blog posts. Isolate what they have in common. Use these elements in your future blog posts.

Bottom line: While publishers can create some of the sense of "connection" with potential book purchasers in their social marketing efforts, authors can be far more effective by entering the social media world themselves and making social media efforts more potent, in particular by focusing on the potential book purchaser's needs and sense of importance.

See more Publisher Conversations with Authors HERE.

 Learn more about publishing from an acquisitions editor -- how to get your book proposal accepted, why proposals are turned down/accepted, and how to find the right publisher for your book. On special sale for $5 while inventory lasts at MSI Press webstore. Also available as an e-book and an audiobook.

The Tuesday talks reflect real discussions between the management of MSI Press LLC and our own authors or those would-be authors who come through our doors but don't make the cut--yet. If you have a topic that you would like addressed, leave the question in the comment section. Chances are, in our 18 years of publishing first-time and experiences authors, we have had a conversation with one of our authors that we can share with you.

                             

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