Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris

Writing about writing. Mostly.

  • Home
  • About
    • About This Blog
    • Ruth Harris
    • Anne R. Allen
    • Shirley S. Allen
  • Archives
  • Books
    • Books by Anne R. Allen
    • Books by Ruth Harris
  • Guest Bloggers
  • Contact
  • How To Get Your Book Published
  • Resources For Writers

September 11, 2016 By Anne R. Allen 61 Comments

Selling Books on Social Media: 4 Steps to Less Wasted Time

Selling Books on Social Media: 4 Steps to Less Wasted Time

 Selling books on social media can be a time-suck

by Chris Syme

A mind-boggling 78 percent of Americans have a social media profile. And a little over half of them are on more than one channel. It is a given that authors can develop loyal audiences and sell more books with the help of social media. But how many social media channels are enough?

Even though it may be true that you have potential readers on every social media channel, it is a waste of your time and resources to try to connect with people everywhere. As the emphasis in social media marketing switches from number of fans (reach) to connecting and building loyal fans (engagement), it’s time to build a social media strategy around developing a troop of engaged followers that will help carry your valuable content to their friends.

It’s time to learn how to get more engagement with less social media.

Four Steps to Less Wasted Social Media Time

There are four key steps to building this new less is more strategy with social media marketing: find your audience, designate your primary channel, build your outpost channels, and upgrade your content quality. Before we dig into the four steps, let me define the terms primary channel and outpost channel.

What is a Primary Channel?

In the less is more marketing system, the primary channel is the social media channel or platform where you personally engage with your readers. This is where you:

  • answer questions
  • have conversations
  • post interesting and valuable content
  • interact
  • earn the right to sell your books.

You only need one—I promise.

There are a couple genre-related exceptions to this one-channel guideline: nonfiction, Young Adult, and Children’s books. But for the most part, you only need one.

Despite what some authors and marketers say, don’t choose a primary channel based on where you like to be.

If you don’t care if you sell any books, that’s probably an okay strategy to use. But we’re talking about marketing, not just how to connect and have a good time. Engagement plus effective sales strategies sell more books.

What is an Outpost Channel?

A social media outpost is a channel where you maintain an updated presence that will coordinate with your current campaigns and direct your fans to your primary channel, your website, and be a channel where you can gather email addresses.

I will be the first one to say that this strategy feels incomplete, but trust me it works. Remember, we’re not shooting for engagement here. We are redirecting, or putting up an outpost.

Step #1: Find Your Audience

Before you can designate your primary channels for engagement and build your outpost channels, you need to define and find your audience.

I recommend using a simple formula I call the “3 W’s” to start out: who, where, and why.

Start with Who.

If you have a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, start by looking at the audience data each channel provides.

You’ll get a good picture of basic demographics: age, gender, location, and even likes and dislikes. When you get a basic picture, cross reference that information with the general demographics of all the social media channels you use—you can find that on the Pew Internet site here. Take note of the differences between the two, if any.

After demographics, you’ll want to look at the Where.

Reference those Pew Internet numbers again and find out how many people in your reader base are on each channel. Look at the engagement rates on your social media channels. Which channels match the demographics of your core reading audience the best? Which channels have the best user demographics worldwide?

Next, take a look at the Why.

What are people doing on those channels? What are the core behaviors there? Sharing? Buying? Real-time news watching? Getting recommendations? Each channel has its own core behaviors and strengths. Some are better for selling.

The point here is all social media channels are not created equal.

Dig Deeper

I also recommend doing more sophisticated audience research that includes a reader survey that you can promote on your social media pages and through your email list at least once a year. The research should ask your fans for basic demographics (age, gender, reading habits, book buying habits), where they connect on social media, what they do there, and how often they are on each channel. This will give you a much better idea of how to reach them.

Step #2: Designate Your Primary Channel(s) For Social Media Engagement

When it comes to designating your primary social media channel for engagement, we’re talking about a place where you can build loyal fans and sell more books. In marketing, those two go hand in hand. You can’t win the right to sell without building loyalty (offering value) first. That’s today’s internet buying culture in a nutshell. Trying to bypass the building value part and just broadcasting “buy my books” is a failure to understand how that buying culture works.

When looking for your primary social media channel, you want to find the best mix of five measures:

a) Find the best fit for your reader/audience demographics.

Go back to all the information you gleaned in step one and match your readers with the social media channel that is the best fit. Remember, this is only one of five measures to use.

b) Look for the channel with the best overall global numbers.

The answer to this is Facebook. The have over 70% of the people over 13 in the U.S. Nobody else comes close to their numbers across all ages. But remember, this is just one factor of five, albeit a powerful one.

c) Look for the channel with the best commerce tools without having to leave the platform.

Again, the answer to this one is Facebook. No other platform offers the variety of tools for action including buying your book, signing up for your email list, and many other actions without leaving the page. The advantage: there is always an opportunity to buy or sign up. You don’t have to be constantly posting “buy my book.” Also, when new readers come across you in search, they can buy a book or sign up for your email list right on your page.

d) Look for the channel with the best ability to aid search (new readers) and convert visitors to a sale.

According to the latest AOL/Marketo research, it is YouTube first, Facebook second. Since YouTube is an outlier of sorts for authors to sell their products, Facebook again becomes the go-to. See the data below. Notice the all channels excel in the blue: building awareness and word-of-mouth, but there is quite a difference when it comes to introduction (discoverability) and conversion (facilitating the sale).

Social media by funnel position Chris Syme

e) Look for the channel that is a good match for your genre.

The difference between this measure and number one is that every channel that matches your demographic might not be a good match for your genre. For instance, if you’re a fiction writer LinkedIn may fit your reader demographic by age and gender, but in reality it’s a worthless channel for fiction writers. It’s definitely in the outpost category for fiction.

Step #3: Designate Your Outpost Social Media Channels

An outpost channel is a social media channel that is a good fit for your reader demographics but doesn’t have the oomph for building loyalty and selling books like your primary channel does. Outpost channels have three purposes:

  • Send potential fans to your primary channel.
  • Promote your latest campaign
  • Maintain a vibrant presence so you can be found in search.

The outpost channel is a place where you maintain a current presence but where you are not actively engaging with potential fans.

Outpost channel cover photos, bios, and pinned posts (if available) are updated to reflect your current campaign but the channels are designed primarily to send people to a location where they can actively engage with you in conversation and develop a relationship.

You are not posting regularly there or interacting with fans. The channels are clearly a redirect billboard to a main channel and are maintained only for discoverability when people search for you on that channel.

How To Set Up An Outpost

Building an outpost requires three elements:

  1. a message
  2. an image
  3. an optimized profile

Your messages and images are coordinated with your promotions schedule. You want to show potential fans information that is current and relevant. The process weds together holding messages like pinned posts or tweets and images that include a call to action to point people to your primary channels, buy your current book, enter a contest, visit your website, or sign up for email updates.

Step #4: Create Social Media Content That Fans Crave

Putting together the kind of content that gets engagement is not an inherent skill. It takes a little bit of knowledge about the kinds of content that fans crave and some copywriting skill.

Content Fans Crave

I have a Social Media Success Checklist that gives you four categories of content that are proven to foster engagement based on marketing research:

  • The four most popular types of posts on social media
  • Six keys to what people want from you on social media
  • The six emotions that connect best on social media. People want to feel…
  • The four calls-to-action that open up the social media algorithms

When you use those four bullets as a checklist and make sure you understand what kinds of content people crave, you can start to put a system together for gathering and posting engaging social media content.

You’ll also want a content system that can collect online posts you find and pictures you want to share as you find them. Also remember the 80-20 rule. You’ll want to be giving more than you ask for to win the right to sell your books: 80 percent valuable content (look at the Success Checklist) and only 20 percent asking for that sale.

The key to more effective book marketing is getting more intentional in what you do. Be strategic. Remember, you don’t have to be on every social media channel, just the right ones.

by Chris Syme (@CKSyme) September 11, 2016

What about you, scriveners? Do you feel you spend too much time on social media? I sure do. I found this post so sensible. I’m going to start implementing Chris’s suggestions right away. Do you know what your primary channel is? Have you been trying to make outpost channels into primary ones? How much time do you average on social media? 

If you’d like to get notification of new blog posts in your email inbox every Sunday, we’ve got a handy-dandy subscription sign-up in the top of the sidebar. We don’t have a popup because we don’t like getting blocked by popups on other blogs and we like to follow the Golden Rule. You won’t be signing up for a newsletter or book ads or anything else. Just weekly announcements of new posts on this blog…Thanks! Anne

***

Chris Syme.jpgChris Syme has logged over 20 years in the communications industry and is the principal of the award-winning agency, CKSyme Media Group.

She the author of three books on social media including her newest SMART Social Media For Authors, now available on Audible.

Check out her newest online class for authors, Turn Your Social Media Pages Into Shopping Channels, here.  She is on Twitter as @cksyme and also blogs at cksyme.com/blog.

Coming later in September: a new online class, SMART Book Marketing for Virtual Assistants. If you want to make sure your virtual assistants are doing the best job possible marketing your books, this is the class they need. Find out more at cksyme.com/onlineclasses .

You can connect with Chris and hundreds of other authors learning about book marketing in her private Facebook group, SMART Marketing For Authors. Learn how to sell more books and build loyal fans by clicking here.

OPPORTUNITY ALERTS

LARRY BROWN SHORT STORY AWARD $10 ENTRY FEE. Previously unpublished fiction up to 4,000 words. Prize $250 and publication in the January 2017 issue of Pithead Chapel literary magazine. Deadline October 31.

Zoetrope 20th Annual All-Story Fiction Contest. Literary fiction up to 5000 words. 1st prize $1000 and publication in Zoetrope (very prestigious) 2nd prize $500 and publication. Other prizes $20 fee. Deadline October 1st.

THE SUNDAY TIMES SHORT STORY AWARD NO ENTRY FEE Any story under 6,000 words. Five shortlisted runners-up get £1,000. First prize worth  £30,000. The Society of Authors is the sponsor. Author must have previous publications in the UK or Eire. Deadline September 29.

Bartleby Snopes Dialogue-Only Story Contest. $10 FEE for unlimited entries. Write a story under 2000 words, using only dialogue–no tags. No other restrictions. Prize: minimum of $300, more with more entries. All fees go into the prize pot.  Deadline September 15th.

Mystery Weekly Magazine is a paying market for mystery stories from 1000-10000 words. Must not have been previously published in print or online. No excessive violence or profanity. Submission form.

MYSTERY AUTHORS! Here’s a list of 15 small presses that specialize in mysteries and do not require an agent for submissions. It’s compiled by Authors Publish Newsletter.

ROMANCE AUTHORS! And a list of 31 small presses that specialize in romance and don’t require an agent. Also compiled by the Authors Publish Newsletter.

25 PUBLISHERS YOU CAN SUBMIT TO WITHOUT AN AGENT. These are respected, mostly independent publishing houses–vetted by the great people at Authors Publish. Do check out their newsletter

12 Small and Mid-Sized Presses that offer advances, but don’t always require an agent. More gems from Authors Publish

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • More
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window) Telegram

Like this:

Like Loading...

Filed Under: Social Media and Marketing For Writers Tagged With: Book Marketing, Chris Syme, How to sell books, self publishing, social media for authors, Social Media Marketing

Blog Archives

Search Anne & Ruth’s Blog

About Anne R. Allen

Anne writes funny mysteries and how-to-books for writers. She also writes poetry and short stories on occasion. Oh, yes, and she blogs. She's a contributor to Writer's Digest and the Novel and Short Story Writer's Market.

Her bestselling Camilla Randall Mystery RomCom Series features perennially down-on-her-luck former socialite Camilla Randall—who is a magnet for murder, mayhem and Mr. Wrong, but always solves the mystery in her quirky, but oh-so-polite way.

Anne lives on the Central Coast of California, near San Luis Obispo, the town Oprah called "The Happiest City in America."

Comments

  1. csperryess says

    September 11, 2016 at 10:25 am

    Hey Anne – I agree, this is a very helpful & thoughtful post. It certainly is easy to lose time on social media, & it’s easier still to lose writing time to all the myriad life-tasks barking at us (sweeping, cleaning, fixing, eating, sleeping). Thanks again for some great content.

    Reply
    • Anne R. Allen says

      September 11, 2016 at 1:46 pm

      CS–Thanks for the comment. It sure is easy to get lost down the rabbit hole of social media and discover your writing time is gone and you’ve wasted hours. And the dishes are not doing themselves. 🙂 Chris’s suggestions sure will help me!

      Reply
      • Chris Syme says

        September 11, 2016 at 4:37 pm

        CS- You’re right on. The purpose for having a system like less is more is that you can spend more time writing.

  2. Ruth Harris says

    September 11, 2016 at 10:47 am

    Chris—Thanks for the road map! Where do we find the audience data for Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram you refer to in Step #1?

    Reply
    • Chris Syme says

      September 11, 2016 at 4:28 pm

      You’re welcome Ruth! Facebook Insights are accessed on your Facebook page (top men). Twitter analytics–easiest way is to Google Twitter Analytics-just make sure you’re logged in to Twitter. Instagram doesn’t offer any site analytics that I know of but you can get them through third party tools like Sprout Social or Buffer. Pinterest has analytics if you have a business page (you should have a business page if you are Pinterest). The link is at the top left of your page.

      Reply
      • Chris Syme says

        September 11, 2016 at 4:49 pm

        That should be top left of the page on Facebook Insights, not top men. Where did that come from?

  3. Louis Shalako says

    September 11, 2016 at 10:50 am

    I would say that I engage on Facebook, which is mostly for my own pleasure. I post to other sites, but spend virtually no time there.

    Reply
    • Chris Syme says

      September 11, 2016 at 4:34 pm

      I think that’s a good strategy Louis. When you are getting ready to launch books or another short term campaign like email list building just make sure you change out your cover photos and pin a tweet (if you’re on Twitter). Keep on keepin’ on.

      Reply
  4. Icy Sedgwick says

    September 11, 2016 at 12:33 pm

    I’ve found that I get more engagement on Twitter, but according to Google Analytics most of my blog traffic comes from Facebook…and my blog is where I get most of my sign ups so I guess that tells me where I need to be!

    Reply
    • Chris Syme says

      September 11, 2016 at 4:28 pm

      That sounds good Icy.

      Reply
  5. Alex J. Cavanaugh (@AlexJCavanaugh) says

    September 11, 2016 at 1:02 pm

    Well, I’m not on Facebook. (I know, I know! Just more than I can handle right now.) So blogging would be my primary with Twitter the secondary. Although my book trailers are all on YouTube, so I might find a way to use that more.
    Thanks, I’ll be doing some research tonight!

    Reply
    • Chris Syme says

      September 11, 2016 at 4:33 pm

      Hi Alex- My advice is to make sure you are spending time in places where you can actually sell books in addition to engaging. That is what I am hoping authors take away. You can engage anywhere if you work hard enough at it but not every channel is good for selling.

      Reply
  6. Anne R. Allen says

    September 11, 2016 at 1:47 pm

    Thanks for your comments, everybody. Chris is on the road this afternoon and should be by to answer your comments later today!

    Reply
  7. Sue Coletta says

    September 11, 2016 at 2:04 pm

    I agree. Chris really nailed it with this post. For me, Facebook far exceeds all other channels. I’d love to veer into YouTube, and I plan to, just as soon as I have a second to figure out how best to make it work for me. I can’t seem to view the checklist. Is there another link? It might be my browser. Sometimes Chrome makes things go wonky. I’ll try using a different browser.

    Thank you both!

    Reply
    • Chris Syme says

      September 11, 2016 at 4:51 pm

      Sorry about the checklist Sue. The link works for me. I am curious. What is your goal on You Tube?

      Reply
      • Sue Coletta says

        September 13, 2016 at 9:32 am

        My ultimate goal is more exposure for my books, but obviously that won’t be my main objective. And there’s where I’m stumped. On Twitter I founded #ACrimeChat where eight of my law enforcement friends and I answer questions for crime writers, so I was thinking maybe something along those lines. Or something fun for readers, which I haven’t figured out yet. Any ideas?

    • David B says

      September 11, 2016 at 4:54 pm

      Hi Sue
      The link is a PDF so you need something that will open PDFs. Easiest would be to right-click the link and select Save As (or similar). Then you can use the PDF software on your computer. (like Acrobat Reader or PDF Xchange)

      Reply
      • Chris Syme says

        September 11, 2016 at 6:30 pm

        Thanks David.

      • Sue Coletta says

        September 13, 2016 at 9:33 am

        Thank you, David! I was able to view the pdf in Explorer, so you’re absolutely right. Thanks for the tip.

  8. Kassandra Lamb says

    September 11, 2016 at 4:31 pm

    Thanks, Chris and Anne. Great info!

    Reply
    • Chris Syme says

      September 11, 2016 at 4:53 pm

      You are welcome Kassandra

      Reply
  9. David B says

    September 11, 2016 at 5:00 pm

    Thanks, Chris. Great tips. I use a blog and the posts are automatically fed to Twitter. I attract a younger audience there. I also have set up some details and sample links on LinkedIn and plan to on Google+ but don’t actively post to either.

    I write non-fiction. Is there something simple you can mention about that exception?

    Reply
    • Chris Syme says

      September 11, 2016 at 6:34 pm

      I think you have your nonfiction bases covered David. LinkedIn is a great place to have a platform for nonfiction. I usually copy and paste my blog posts to LinkedIn’s publishing platform. It takes me about two minutes max. Twitter is good for nonfiction if your a writer that wants to establish expertise in your sector. It’s not really great for fiction.

      Reply
      • David B says

        September 11, 2016 at 9:06 pm

        Thanks, Chris. Much appreciated!

  10. dianawilder says

    September 11, 2016 at 7:03 pm

    Thank you, Chris Syme (and Anne Allen) for a thought-provoking post. I do have one question: I have a Facebook presence. I did have a Facebook page as an author but it is inactive because of duplication. Do you suggest having two separate pages? Somehow, while my hobbies are interesting, they don’t necessarily dovetail well with historical fiction. Thank you —

    Diana Wilder

    Reply
    • Anne R. Allen says

      September 12, 2016 at 10:12 am

      Diana–Chris may have a more up-to-date answer, but I do keep two FB pages. I keep my “personal” page to get chatty with personal friends and fans who want to talk about more than books. I post cat videos and funny stuff. I use the “author” page for sharing articles about the industry and news and maybe book sales by authors I recommend. The author page doesn’t have the reach it used to, but I think it still keeps readers engaged between blogposts.

      Reply
      • Chris Syme says

        September 12, 2016 at 11:52 am

        Yes I recommend two separate pages. And I think Anne has the right formula. Mostly because you cannot sell or get the commerce tools with a personal profile. But I am a huge proponent of keeping personal and business social media separated. When you do too much connecting with readers on your profile you have no personal space for family or friends. But mostly I recommend a page for selling. Just remember you have to connect first before you sell. It is a process and I understand a lot of people don’t want to do it.

  11. Melodie Campbell says

    September 11, 2016 at 7:12 pm

    I’m dizzy! How things have changed, Chris. When I first started selling novels in 2011 (I’m with a traditional publisher) about 80% of my ebook sales came from Twitter. I’d send one tweet and get at least one sale from it. The whole market has changed since then. As well, in those days, I would do a guest blog (I’ve done over 200) and make at least five sales. I’m finding Facebook more valuable now. Great post!

    Reply
    • Chris Syme says

      September 12, 2016 at 5:58 am

      Interesting comment about Twitter Melodie. Your post made me think about return for time spent. I was think as wonderful as social media marketing can be, email marketing is still the golden ticket. I hope everyone here is building an email list too!

      Reply
      • Chris Syme says

        September 12, 2016 at 5:59 am

        Sorry about that typo. Not enough coffee yet.

  12. Sarah Brentyn says

    September 11, 2016 at 8:09 pm

    I absolutely love this post. “more engagement with less social media.” That’s what I like to hear. 🙂 Really, if you have 15 social media site and 12 are inactive… ? I think it’s good to have fewer and engage on them. (At least that’s what I tell myself. I’m struggling to find which few I’ll be on.) I’m mostly on Twitter but I don’t think it’s a great place to sell books.Still, I enjoy it.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Chris Syme says

      September 12, 2016 at 6:01 am

      Sarah- good thoughts. Wouldn’t it be great if all the sites we really liked were also the same ones that were better at selling?

      Reply
  13. dgkaye says

    September 11, 2016 at 9:22 pm

    Great post Chris and Anne. Good to know I’m on the right track! I send my ‘outpost’ to all my social sites, but find most of my social activity and engagement on Facebook and Twitter. 🙂

    Reply
    • Chris Syme says

      September 12, 2016 at 6:02 am

      Sounds like a good plan.

      Reply
  14. Anastasia Vitsky says

    September 12, 2016 at 1:33 am

    I used to have an active blog and great engagement with readers there. Then I tried to develop my Facebook audience. I’ve found that the blog has gotten neglected as a result. I have Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, Google+, etc, but Facebook is now my primary channel. I’ve been trying to make my blog more active again, but it takes such enormous quantities of time (that i don’t have).

    I think it’s hard to do more than one at a time, or at least to have a regular, interactive presence. I’m glad you recommend Facebook as that’s become my most comfortable place to interact. Does it sell books? I don’t look at the data as often as I should, but I know I’ve received opportunities through networking there.

    Thank you for all of this practical, concrete advice. I may not be able to implement all (or most) of it, at least not yet, but it’s clear and sensible. Will be bookmarking this post for future reference.

    Reply
    • Chris Syme says

      September 12, 2016 at 6:05 am

      Yes Facebook sells books but you need to make sure your page is set up (optimized) for all the commerce tools Facebook has to sell books directly and gather email addresses. I have a free course on how to do this if you interested. It is on Teachable here: http://chris-syme.teachable.com/courses/quick-tips-to-sell-more-books-on-facebook The course itself is only about 60 minutes long. It shows how to set up all those selling tools.

      Reply
    • David B says

      September 12, 2016 at 12:17 pm

      Hi Anastasia
      A friend of mine has a very active web presence and blog through which she promotes books. But it takes a lot of time and she hadn’t moved into social media. One of her students ended up setting up and moderating a Facebook site for her.

      So if you have students or the budget for an assistant, thats one way to be active on more than one platform. (laughs) Otherwise, I’d stick to the advice Chris has given.

      Just be sure your choice is based on her advice, not “more comfortable”. 🙂

      Reply
  15. chemistken says

    September 12, 2016 at 8:47 am

    I can see why Facebook would be better for engaging with your readers, but in the long run I agree that it’s main purpose should be to direct them to your website and email list.

    Reply
    • Chris Syme says

      September 12, 2016 at 10:05 am

      Ken- I would agree only if you sell books from your website. If I don’t sell books on my website I am not going to direct people there when I can sell them directly from Facebook with a bookstore app.

      Reply
    • David B says

      September 12, 2016 at 12:07 pm

      Myself, I’d agree with Ken. By making your web site the key selling point you centralize on a platform you control and use social media to feed there.

      I can appreciate why some would find selling via Facebook easier but if you have more than one book to sell and plan a long term presence, I’d suggest a web site base. With a modular platform like WordPress, the potential is huge and you’re not constrained by tools. It’s not hard to add Paypal and even a full ecommerce store is modular.

      With Facebook, you don’t control the content nor the ads readers see. But it is a huge community worth taping into.

      Reply
      • Chris Syme says

        September 12, 2016 at 2:51 pm

        It’s not a one or the other question, David. The discussion should not be about the best selling point, it should be about the best selling points: email marketing (which trumps website sales any day of the week in conversion rates), website, and some social media. Each has their strengths, each has their purposes. The downside of a website is that there is not engagement there. If you motivate people to buy on Facebook through valuable content, you want to give them a buy button right there, not a link to go to another buy button.

      • Anne R. Allen says

        September 12, 2016 at 3:11 pm

        Chris–I’m going to jump in here with a heretical question. You’ve repeated the dogma of marketing that says “blogs are not interactive, but email is.”

        The opposite seems true for me. What am I missing? Blogs involve lots of engagement in my experience. Look at the comments right here. This blog allows engagement with the author, the guest, AND all the readers.

        Email is simply broadcast to thousands of recipients. They can’t engage with each other or with the author except by private email. Are these authors answering questions emailed privately from all these thousands of email recipients? Every time emails go out does the author spend days answering responses? Is this the “engagement” they are talking about? Because i’ve never seen it. What am I missing?

      • David B says

        September 12, 2016 at 3:34 pm

        Thanks, Chris. From a marketing standpoint, you make great points.
        I simply have a preference to be able to manage what my readers see. Thats not what social media is designed for.

        Like Anne, I get most of my engagement through my blog(s). I suspect by “web site”, you may mean static site. Blogs are of course a different animal and are treated differently by Google, etc too.

        When I post articles, email subscribers get a short synopsis, drawing them to the site and sometimes bringing engagement. Twitter gets the same but I get less engagement there even though the number of subscribers is climbing faster.

        The main issue I find with Twitter is volume – most people are over-subscribed and some sites swamp feeds with repeats, so your content gets a little lost. I don’t keep up with my own subscribes.

        Using an email subscribe service (some are free for average sites) gives way more management and stats than Blogger or WordPress itself so its a good idea to use those services (like MailChimp or MadMimi). Just seeing the % that open your emails is very valuable.

      • Chris Syme says

        September 12, 2016 at 6:26 pm

        Anne–Not sure I said blogs were not engaging. I think I said websites were not. If I said blogs, I misspoke. I think the trouble comes when people lump websites and blogs together but they are two different entities. A website can host a blog and a blog can be a standalone “website”, but traditional websites and blogs are not one in the same in my thinking. Too many authors choose not to have blogs anymore. I would also add that email can be very engaging. I know authors who invite email followers to reply to their emails and get lots of engagement that way.

      • Anne R. Allen says

        September 12, 2016 at 8:13 pm

        Chris–I think it was Jane Friedman who said blogs are not as interactive as email, and that is certainly the general mood these days. I guess that may be because of the movement away from blogging and social media and the return to exclusively email marketing. I think we lose a lot by giving up blogging, but that’s another discussion. Thanks!

      • Chris Syme says

        September 13, 2016 at 5:27 am

        I’m not as sure about the fiction world but in the nonfiction world, blogs are not going away any time soon. If the discussion is strictly about sales, then email is going to trump blogs all the time, I would imagine. I think fiction writers are trying to spend more time on what returns engagement and sales, not just engagement. Your advantage is you’ve been at it a while and have a nice audience built. For authors who are trying to break into blogging today, it’s tougher to build an audience I think.

      • David B says

        September 13, 2016 at 11:31 am

        You’re right, Chris. It took years for my blogs to gain much audience. I’d certainly recommend getting that started sooner rather than later. ie: don’t want until your book is published. A new web site is virtually invisible on the web. And some appropriate marketing (which I didn’t do) helps.

        Facebook does have a bit more advantage there.

        There is one other caveat about Facebook to keep in mind. It’s effectively a closed system. You can’t by books on Facebook unless you have a Facebook account. So do your market research. If your market isn’t on Facebook, it would be a bad choice even if its easier.

        (even public Facebook pages get covered by login requests by Facebook now)

      • Chris Syme says

        September 13, 2016 at 2:30 pm

        David I’m going to stick my neck out and say if your audience is not on Facebook, you must not be writing books for 71% of online users ages of 18 up. What’s hard is finding them–that’s the audience research you talked about. The thing to remember here is we’re not looking for Facebook to replace Amazon or be a place we will catch everyone, just to find the best place where you can engage and sell on the same platform in enough numbers that it’s worthwhile taking time to be there and develop engagement. It’s far from email or Amazon, iBooks or Kobo, but it is the best overall social media channel for engaging and selling on the same platform. I think we’re all on the same page here (pun not intended). If you write books for audiences that aren’t the strongest on Facebook (YA & New Adult), you need to have a secondary channel of engagement. And, I’m sorry to say, that if you’re just coming to social media now, it’s going to be tough to get heard or seen anywhere. The competition for eyeballs is too fierce unless you are a celebrity or NY Times author everybody wants to follow.

  16. Eldonna Edwards says

    September 12, 2016 at 11:20 am

    I am in love with this post. I think with an audience that is mostly baby-boomers, Facebook works best for me so reading these analytics is very validating. I also link to my blog on FB. I don’t get twitter, I just don’t. It feels like a long list of ads peppered with the occasional “personal” tweet. I’m there, but I don’t really use it. And I don’t think most of my audience does. One of the challenges I face is that I’m moving from a self-pubbed memoir to traditionally published fiction. Some of my current audience (those that read my book because they identified with kidney disease/donation) might not be a fit with my fiction but my hope is that those who enjoyed the writing as much as the content will. Starting over with a brand new brand is challenging. Thanks so much for this valuable advice and info!

    Reply
  17. Chris Syme says

    September 12, 2016 at 11:56 am

    What a great adventure Eldonna. Make sure you’re collecting email addresses for your new platform.

    Reply
  18. Lissa Johnston says

    September 12, 2016 at 12:58 pm

    Very sensible and logical advice. I’m working hard to apply my time to channels that will work for me as opposed to social media sites I enjoy personally. For instance, Twitter is my favorite social media by far, but FB is where I spend most of my time and marketing efforts (even though some days it is just unbearable to slog through). The main piece I’m just not feeling is my author website. I’ll be transitioning to self-hosting soon, but I just can’t get excited about blogging. So I’m thinking of setting up a more or less static placeholder site as an outpost, and continuing my dynamic efforts on FB.

    Reply
  19. Chris Syme says

    September 12, 2016 at 2:54 pm

    Lissa- Websites are not required to have a blog. You need a website for SEO and discoverability. In addition, if you have a site that supports commerce (selling your books), the more the better. Most website platforms now support an embedded Facebook or Twitter widget that can run your feed live there to show people you do have an engagement side. You need the website but it is, by far, the most static of the big three.

    Reply
    • Lissa Johnston says

      September 13, 2016 at 5:30 am

      The difference between website and blog is one of the many benefits I’m looking forward to when I migrate to self-hosting. I’m at Blogspot now, and obvs blogging is the main impetus there. Don’t get me wrong – I love it and enjoy learning the process there – for free! – but over time I’ve learned I want to focus my writing more on the book side. Also I’m closing in on one year having a FB Page and I def get more interaction there with my posts than I ever have on my blog.

      Reply
  20. Nina Badzin says

    September 14, 2016 at 8:52 pm

    Great tips!

    Reply
    • Chris Syme says

      September 15, 2016 at 2:29 pm

      Thanks Nina!

      Reply
  21. Dean Kutzler says

    September 19, 2016 at 2:11 pm

    Thanks for the valuable article, Anne! I’m still struggling with the content. Any other ideas on offering free content from a genre fiction writer other than, free book/stories or discounts?

    Reply
  22. RM says

    November 15, 2016 at 5:05 am

    I am so glad I ran across this post. I have been driving myself crazy trying to keep up with multiple platforms. Thank you for such informed advice. I struggle with knowing what to say to engage fans on these sites.

    Reply
    • Dean Kutzler says

      November 15, 2016 at 6:36 am

      It’s simple, RM. Just be yourself on those platforms. Just make sure you pass the WIBBOW test… But if you’re yourself…readers that relate will organically gravitate towards you. With that in mind, make sure your tailor comments accordingly in order to gently push sales.

      Reply
      • Anne R. Allen says

        November 15, 2016 at 9:53 am

        Dean–That’s the way to do it: be real. The thing so many social media marketers forget is that social media is social. 🙂

    • Anne R. Allen says

      November 15, 2016 at 9:51 am

      RM–If you want to know more about Chris’s tips for selling more books with less social media, I’ll be giving away 3 copies of the HARD COPY version of her new book SELLING MORE BOOKS WITH LESS SOCIAL MEDIA, which comes with a free webinar–this Sunday, November 20th on the blog. Do stop by!

      Reply
      • RM says

        November 16, 2016 at 1:28 pm

        Thanks so much!

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

Subscribe
Subscribe now and receive our weekly blog!
100% Privacy. We don't spam.

Anne's Latest Book

The Hour of the Moth

The Hour of the Moth
Buy from Amazon

Ruth's Latest Book

Diamonds Are For Now

Diamonds Are For Now
Buy from Amazon
Buy from Barnes and Noble
Buy from Apple Books
Buy from Kobo
Buy from Google Play

Follow Anne

  • Bluesky
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Follow Ruth

  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Follow Anne Here

Follow Anne Here

Follow Ruth Here

Follow Ruth Here
writers digest 101 best websites for writers award

Anne R. AllenAnne R. Allen writes funny mysteries and how-to-books for writers. She also writes poetry and short stories on occasion. She’s a contributor to Writer’s Digest and the Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market.

Her bestselling Camilla Randall Mystery Series features perennially down-on-her-luck former socialite Camilla Randall—who is a magnet for murder, mayhem and Mr. Wrong, but always solves the mystery in her quirky, but oh-so-polite way.

Ruth Harris NYT best selling authorRuth is a million-copy New York Times bestselling author, Romantic Times award winner, former Big 5 editor, publisher, and news junkie.

Her emotional, entertaining women’s fiction and critically praised novels have sold millions of copies in hard cover, paperback and ebook editions, been translated into 19 languages, sold in 30 countries, and were prominent selections of leading book clubs including the Literary Guild and the Book Of The Month Club.

The best SEO books of all time

50 Kickass Resources

50 Kickass Resources

Thanks, Author Marketing Resources!

The best Blogging books of all time

Follow Anne

Follow Anne

Categories

Best Writing Blogs in 2018

Best Writing Blogs in 2018

Top 50 Writing Blogs

Top 30 Websites for Indies


Top 30 Websites for Indies

Thanks, AME!

Annual Bloggers Bash Awards Nominee Best Blogging Writing Blog

Annual Bloggers Bash Awards Nominee Best Blogging Writing Blog
  • Privacy Policy
Subscribe
Subscribe now and receive our weekly blog!
100% Privacy. We don't spam.

This site is designed and maintained by:

This site is designed and maintained by:

RSS Anne R Allen’s Blog With Ruth Harris

  • Why Do We Read Murder Mysteries? May 25, 2025 Anne R. Allen
  • About
  • Books by Anne R. Allen
  • Books by Ruth Harris
  • Shirley S. Allen
  • Guest Bloggers
  • HOW TO GET YOUR BOOK PUBLISHED
  • Contact

Copyright © 2025 Anne R Allen and respective authors · Site Maintained by Nate Hoffelder

%d