A question I frequently get, and which I heard a lot this weekend at the Cape Fear Crime Festival, is “Does social media sell books?”
Many writers worry about spending time away from writing. Between the demands of job and family, it can be hard to even find time for writing. They want a good reason to invest time in social media.
What does social media give a writer? A platform.
Platform: When a writer has a healthy platform, it indicates to an agent or publisher the size of the potential audience that the writer can reach, promotion-wise, on their personal network. Or, as former literary agent Nathan Bransford put it:
Platform is the number of eyeballs you can summon as you promote your book.
The important thing, of course, is not to over-promote to this network you’ve established. That’s the fastest way to lose followers. A subtle approach is always better.
Your platform leads to a certain amount of name recognition: Let’s say there’s a writer named Bob. Bob worked for years writing a book, edited for ages, crafted a query, honed a synopsis and his publishing dream finally became a reality. Now his book is on the shelf and online with thousands of other books. What makes Bob’s book stand out from the others?
He did write a great book. Is it his reviews? Not too many readers follow reviews, though. Is it his back cover copy? His cover art? Those things do help…but what can help more than anything is name recognition for the book title or author or some recognition of the cover art. I’ve had readers email me that my book almost jumped off the shelf at them because the cover and my name were familiar—their eyes went right to it.
I’ve done the same thing myself. I took my daughter to the book store into the children’s and YA area in early December. She asked me to help her find a book—and we were in a rush, needing to get to another event. “Could you pick one out, Mama? I can’t decide,” she said. I scanned the shelves and one of Janice Hardy’s books seemed to leap at me. “Here you go,” I said. “Let’s give this one a go. Ms. Hardy is a great writer.” And off we went to the register.
Have I ever met Janice in person? No. I know Janice from the blogging and Twitter world. She writes amazing posts on the writing craft. Would I have gone right to her book—bypassing hundreds of other attractively-packaged children’s books that were nearby– without knowing Janet online? I think eventually we ‘d have discovered her wonderful books…but it would have taken us a lot longer.
I’ve heard writers worry over the fact that their social media is only reaching other writers—who are also promoting their own books. The only way I can answer that is to say that I’ve had very healthy sales and nearly sold-through my advance on pre-orders alone for last summer’s release. Who knew about my book before it came out? Writers did. They might have bought the book to support me or because of curiosity or because they thought a family member or friend might like it. But I believe that my strong numbers were nearly completely due to writers.
With social media, unless you’re tracking clicks over to a buy link, you may not have data to directly tie in your social media efforts to your sales. My data is limited to reports of sales that I’ve gotten from my network (messages from followers that they’d purchased a book), and sales in general.
But I believe that building a platform through social media results in sales. What’s more, my agent and editors believe it, too. These days, in fact, agents and editors will likely consider a writer’s platform as part of the overall package that includes their writing talent.
I know several of my regular readers have had great success with social media promoting. I know that even aside from promotion, that we all get a lot from our online network of writers. What is your impression of social media promo, either from what you’ve observed or what you’ve tried?
Elizabeth – Thanks for this discussion of how social media can help promote books. I think you’re 100% right when you discuss that delicate balance between using social media as a platform (great word choice, too!) and over-promoting. I’ve seen far, far too many author-created social media that does nothing but self-promote, and quite frankly it’s off-putting.
In my observation, social media is absolutely essential these days to selling books. And it does sell books. In my view, social media promotion that’s subtle but there, is one of the best ways to let others know about one’s work.
I think those like you, Elizabeth, who do it well consistently, will succeed. I don’t think a writer can succeed without it these days.
Karen
Good subject and well handled today, Liz!
Social Media is definitely a good ‘platform’ from which to gain rapid name recognition. Before becoming a blogger/facebooker/twitterer/Goodreader, etc., nobody knew who I was and nobody was buying my (at the time, one) book. Now when I Google “Marvin D Wilson” or “The Old Silly” I get pages of stuff popping up with links to blogs and sites I didn’t even know I was mentioned on.
And my books are selling better, too. But SM does not replace live and in person promo/marketing … you have to do it all. And ultimately you have to have a solid, short, and compelling answer to the BIG question:
“Why should anyone read my book?”
Marvin D Wilson
Well, let´s see. I just joined Twitter five minutes ago …. :D
In this day and age, if you’re not doing it, you’re sunk! We can only do so much in the physical and reach only so far. Online is 24/7 and all over the world. Who wouldn’t want that kind of reach?
Okay, that makes me feel a little better. :)
I know I couldn’t have done it without socializing online! What’s cool is it perpetuates itself. People continue to find me and my book from mentions, guest posts, and reviews. So obviously it;s still selling my book.
I think you nailed it. Especially that ‘don’t overpromote’–I have unfriended and unfollowed for that. I think the reason this works with just a bunch of writers is because we sort of all get to take turns, and we’re all happy to do it because it makes us feel like our turn is coming.
I dunno about it selling books, but it sure does get your name out there. If other, more established authors have read your stuff, and like it, sometimes they’re willing to mention you on their blogs, in interviews, on Twitter…wherever. That’s the kind of relationship social networking makes possible.
So yeah. I think it helps.
#PreachingToTheChoir
:)
Dorte – And I am now following you. Lol.
Elizabeth – Thank you for tackling this issue so concisely. That includes the post from yesterday with a friendly primer for authors new to social networking.
The most important thing an author can do is write a good book. The next: publish with a house that can place that book on as many shelves as possible. A lead title with a six figure advance may enjoy the benefit of a major marketing plan by a publishing house. A winning lottery ticket is also a nice thing to contemplate. In the meantime, I’ll continue to work on building my audience, being there for them at my tribal fire (on my web site, facebook page, and blog), and working on my craft. What I appreciate most about the worldwide web of social networking is interacting with readers. I am grateful for the opportunity to hear their thoughts and ideas on characters that have come to mean as much to them as they do to me. What a wonderful thing for a new author to do — set up a global communication system for that interaction. Cheers!
~ Cleo Coffeehouse Mystery.com
Cleo Coyle on Twitter
Thanks for the sane, level-headed take on a common question!
I agree that social media is a great way to commune (and communicate) with other writers, and just other like-minded people at large. It’s a great resource for expanding beyond yourself, which is what all writers need to do anyway. Gaining a support system, people who root for you and want to help you succeed makes it even more worthwhile.
I’ve stepped into the deep end of the pool as to building a network via social media – mainly twitter – @thetrustnovel – but so far I have been impressed at how a little work seems to be paying off. People are visiting my website and I am drawing more followers. It’s work that keeps me from writing, but it is impacting how many people I reach so hopefully I can keep writing.
Excellent post. I agree completely. I’m a big believer in the value of social media!
I’m a writer, but I’m also a reader. I don’t know how many of my books have sold because of social media. I do know, however, that I have bought quite a few books from authors I’ve met through social networks.
Margot–I agree..subtle is soooo much better than hitting folks over the head with it.
The Old Silly–It really does all boil down to the book in the end, doesn’t it? If we have a lousy book then nothing will sell it.
Karen–Good point–there is a consistency that’s needed, too. You handle it well.
Diane–And with the cost of things like gasoline going up, I don’t see the expense of physical touring going down anytime soon.
Alex–You’re the one I was thinking about when I wrote this post! You’ve had tremendous success with social media promo by being a friend to writers.
Hart–It’s true–we can’t be the birthday kid every day! And no one needs to have to deal with what is basically a commercial from an author every day. Release time, of course…well, that’s different. :) But even then, there’s a saturation point that gets reached.
Simon–I’ve been on the receiving end of that, too, and it’s very nice. And I appreciate the RTs and mentions you’ve given me. :)
Dorte–Thanks for following me! Just returned the follow. :)
Patricia–Ha! I know what you mean–you and I spend a LOT of time online!
Cleo, you’re one of the most successful social networkers that I know. For one thing, everything you do is very genuine. I’ve seen you do shout-outs and mentions for a huge variety of different readers–from writers (you just tweeted me a little while ago, which I appreciate), to folks who tried a recipe on Mystery Lovers Kitchen, to book bloggers. You’ve sort of followed the Golden Rule of social media…treat others as you’d like to be treated.
See Elle Oh–You’re so right–social media means a tremendous support network for writers. The fact that sales also follow is icing on the cake!
Sean—You bring up a good point there. It *does* take us away from our writing…but if we don’t promote then we won’t sell books and our publishers will drop us!
Jill–I know I’m preaching to the choir on my blog–y’all have been online for ages. But there’s so many writers out there who just really haven’t embraced social media. It surprises me every time!
Jane–Exactly! And I’ve done the same…I’ve got yours on my bookshelf, too! For me, it’s a treat to read books by people I know.
You make a god point about making sales on pre-orders. I was barely getting a Website when I first released Breakthrough. But for my next two books I’ll focus hard on presales.
Excellent post. I write literary fiction and poetry which sells differently from mysteries, but still social media is the absolute foundation of all my promotion. It is what has given me whatever small recognition and following I have. But it’s best to add personal appearances on top of that. Just this week I spoke to a group at a local library and sold more books there than ever.