Follow Buttons for Your Author Website

A mother duck swims through a pond with her ducklings behind her.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I think it’s pretty easy for our readers to miss out on our releases. We all have very busy lives and all get bombarded each day by advertising and emails. I have several releases a year and know they must slip by a good number of readers.

Naturally, the first line of defense for preventing this from happening is to have readers join our email newsletter.  Even then, though, emails can get lost in the tidal wave that hits our inboxes each day.

To help keep this from happening, I have a few other ways for readers to keep up with what I’m up to.

Obviously, readers who follow me on Facebook and Instagram will get updates as I  release information  on those sites.

But it’s also nice for readers to be updated without my having to send out notifications/spam. That’s why I’ve added some follow buttons to my site.

One of them is from my author profile page on Amazon.  Readers who follow writers on Amazon receive notifications of their new releases. The process is automatic.

Another is BookBub. Even if you don’t advertise through their service, you can still set up an author profile there.  Readers will be notified of your new releases (you must go on the site and add your new release…this won’t be automatic).  To set up your profile, click here.

A third is a button that connects readers to my Goodreads profile.  If readers follow me there (as opposed to friending me), they receive updates on my releases.  Claim your author profile on Goodreads here.

I simply save the logos for the companies and then add the saved images to my site (linking the web addresses for my profiles as I add the media). It ended up looking like this:

Follow me for release updates: 

It didn’t take long and made me feel as though I was giving readers another way to keep up with me and my books.

How do you keep readers updated on your releases?

Photo credit: hedera.baltica on Visual hunt / CC BY-SA

Elizabeth Spann Craig

View posts by Elizabeth Spann Craig
Elizabeth writes the Memphis Barbeque series (as Riley Adams) and the Southern Quilting mysteries for Penguin and writes the Myrtle Clover series for Midnight Ink and independently. She also has a blog, which was named by Writer’s Digest as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers. There she posts on the writing craft, finding inspiration in everyday life, and fitting writing into a busy schedule.

6 Comments

  1. Alex J. CavanaughMay 11, 2018

    By not confusing them with an actual book release!
    Kidding.
    I never thought about adding my author profile link. I’ll take care of that this weekend.

    1. Elizabeth Spann CraigMay 11, 2018

      Ha! Well, I’m convinced that you’re just taking a break and will return to writing again (maybe in a few years?)

      Hope you have a great weekend!

  2. Margot KinbergMay 11, 2018

    I think it’s a great idea to have ‘follow’ buttons, Elizabeth. I’m not (yet) a part of BookBub, ‘though I’ve been thinking about it. But I do have buttons for Amazon, Goodreads, and my social media places. And I think readers appreciate that. It helps them to connect with an author, even if there isn’t a new book out.

    1. Elizabeth Spann CraigMay 11, 2018

      It’s nice to be connected, between books, for sure!

  3. L. Diane WolfeMay 11, 2018

    I have links in my sidebar but not actual buttons.

    1. Elizabeth Spann CraigMay 11, 2018

      The links work, too! Hope you have a great weekend!

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