Addictive short video service TikTok might look like another nail in the coffin of traditional publishing, but there is a corner of that frenetic online realm that celebrates a love of reading. BookTok is a very popular and active sub-community on TikTok, an aggregation of accounts interested in books and reading. Books that achieve ‘buzz’ on Booktok often go on to very respectable sales, a development that the big publishers are acutely aware of and attempt to exploit. There is room in BookTok for savvy independent authors and several examples of impressive success. Wikipedia has a good summary with plenty of links.
Books Go Social service for Independent Authors
Books Go Social occupies a niche I have been interested in for a while — helping independent authors unfamiliar with social media to promote their books.
They offer:
Assistance with Amazon advertising
Editing of book descriptions
Netgalley campaigns
Assistance with email campaigns
Facebook advertising
Focus on the UK and US markets only, the two largest English speaking markets
According to their introduction: “Our Amazon and Facebook Ads for authors have received over three hundred million impressions (views) by readers. You will reach more readers with us. We advertise books on Amazon US and UK and have 11 Twitter accounts with 450,867 real followers (Nov, 2021 count). We also can email your book offers to 150,000+ readers. And our YouTube channel has 1,000+ followers who can see any book trailer or video interview you send us.”
“We know where the most effective places to run ads are for your book, and how to build your long-term monthly royalties and your career as a writer.”
Google Reviews are generally positive, and the business responds to comments. A representative sample: “I've used Books Go Social the past few years for a number of services, and they consistently over-deliver. The Books Go Social team is fast and efficient at helping authors figure out how to move their books into the marketplace and get them selling.”
The package prices are not exorbitant, and may be worth trying when you have done your due diligence…
A Backpackers Progress
Jason Rebello’s excellent Red Earth Diaries about his travels around Australia as a newlywed is due to launch soon, and he has left absolutely no stone unturned in placing information on all the social media services and print on demand and ebook services. Here are some of the links…
The book is available for preorder on the below online bookstores (more will be added in the coming days):
Amazon, Kobo, and Booktopia, Barnes and Noble, Google Books and Apple
Travel and Inspirational Blog: https://theevolvingbackpacker.com/
Author Website: https://evolvingwordsmith.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theevolvingbackpacker/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheEvolvingBackpacker
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wordsmith_jason (wordsmith_jason)
Social Proof Sells Books
Author advice guru David Gaughran has posted a very interesting column on the most powerful selling tool for books — personal recommendations and reviews, or “social proof”. If a potential reader receives a strong social signal via reviews or a personal recommendation from a friend, they are much more likely to purchase. It therefore follows that independent authors need to do all they can to foster and amplify such signalling for their own work.
Independent Publishing Promotional Options
We asked author Roger Mendelson, author of Eliyahu's Mistress, to jot down a few thoughts re. promoting his book in the age of social media:
"The days of publishers promoting novels are over, unless you are a high profile author. If you want to promote your book, you have to do it yourself. I am on this journey and despite my novel, Eliyahu’s Mistress winning the IPPY 2018 Bronze Award for best Australian/NZ fiction, am finding it difficult to gain momentum. There is no magic bullet. If you believe in your novel, you require more persistence with promoting it than writing it.I say this as someone with considerable business experience, so I can only imagine the frustration most authors must feel.
Traditional media is fast dying, so if you have a very low budget, social media is really the only option. For this to be effective, you need to define who your readership is likely to be and target this group. It needs to be very specific. Eg middle-aged country people, single older women, retired couples, young single men. I am not an effective Facebook user but I can see that with a very low budget, this really has to be the major medium to use."
Using Facebook to Sell Books (really)
Despite the presence of 'book' in the name of social media's behemoth, Facebook is usually not associated with book selling or promotion. But with 1.6 billion regular users (about which it knows a great deal), Facebook offers a massive opportunity to engage in savvy marketing. Digital Book World recently published an article by Mark Dawson, who describes himself as "pretty much the definition of a midlist author". He cites specific strategies, gives his own sales figures and engages with commenters. Well worth a read.