How to promote book-in-progress on social media?

mypetduk

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I have a question I haven't (yet) found a clear answer for, and hope someone can offer some advice or point me to other resources that can.


I'm writing a memoir. I've researched social media marketing enough to understand the importance of socially promoting my book -- on Twitter, Facebook, a personal blog, etc. -- sooner rather than later.


What I haven't yet found is sound advice on *when* to proceed with a social media marketing campaign, or whether there is a time that is actually too early. For example, I don't yet have a working title or a brief synopsis (lots of contenders for both, but nothing firm...yet).


I also seek ideas about *how* to proceed. For example, my hunch is that, absent even a working title, I would socially market myself under my own name, so as to build name recognition. And I have some ideas of what I can blog or tweet about -- relevant research I come across, for example -- but am less clear about what to blog about in terms of actual draft copy.


This isn't intended to be a "blog-to-book" project, yet naturally I want to engage readers in advance of publication -- especially since the journalistic approach I plan to take to this memoir might benefit from input from my potential audience.


If it helps to know, I plan to *attempt* taking the traditional route of finding an agent and publisher.


If anyone can offer any advice for when to start blogging about a book-in-progress and how best to proceed, I would greatly appreciate it.


Best...
 

Maryn

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I'm not an expert, but my initial take on this is that it's fine, even desirable, to have an online presence, which includes a platform on whatever issues arise in the memoir, before your book is complete, but that you don't promote it until its release is imminent. You want to save whatever momentum you can create for the time when people are actually able to order the book.

I strongly advise against posting any content. When and if you get a commercial publication offer, two things will happen (among many other things): One, someone will edit your work, making it the best it can be. Maybe they make a lot of changes, so any excerpt you've posted will not be what's actually in the book. And Two, your contract is likely to specify exactly how much (and perhaps what) you can excerpt to your blog or other social media.

It's worth remembering, too, that posting online counts as publication, and you don't want to sully the rights available for sale by having used up first publication rights on your own work.

Instead, talk the issue(s), share links, reflect on going forward, whatever is appropriate. Forge the connections within the existing online communities who care about the topic(s) in your memoir, because they're not only your potential readership but your built-in audience. ("Hey, I know this person! I'm getting the book.")

Maryn, knowing the experts will be along shortly
 
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mypetduk

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I'm not an expert, but my initial take on this is that it's fine, even desirable, to have an online presence, which includes a platform on whatever issues arise in the memoir, before your book is complete, but that you don't promote it until its release is imminent. You want to save whatever momentum you can create for the time when people are actually able to order the book.

I strongly advise against posting any content. When and if you get a commercial publication offer, two things will happen (among many other things): One, someone will edit your work, making it the best it can be. Maybe they make a lot of changes, so any excerpt you've posted will not be what's actually in the book. And Two, your contract is likely to specify exactly how much (and perhaps what) you can excerpt to your blog or other social media.

It's worth remembering, too, that posting online counts as publication, and you don't want to sully the rights available for sale by having used up first publication rights on your own work.

Instead, talk the issue(s), share links, reflect on going forward, whatever is appropriate. Forge the connections within the existing online communities who care about the topic(s) in your memoir, because they're not only your potential readership but your built-in audience. ("Hey, I know this person! I'm getting the book.")

Maryn, knowing the experts will be along shortly

Thank you Maryn, this is great information. I hadn't thought about some of the realities you mention. Fortunately, I also wasn't planning this to be a "blog-to-book" project, so it doesn't offset any initial thoughts I had.

Would you suggest I set it up somehow like "I'm writing a memoir about Topic X. This blog is to document my journey toward publication, including posts about A, B, C, blah blah blah," and then thereafter simply post any relevant, non-book-content information I deem worth sharing?
 

Maryn

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Nope. I'd recommend setting up a blog about the topic/problem/situation which prompted you to write the memoir. Only other writers are likely to care about your travails in the attempt to complete the book and get it published.

Making it up on the fly: Say, for instance, you think a memoir is apt because you were raised by wolves. Readers might be interested in day-to-day life in the den, how you dealt with your dad the alpha male, what it was like sing in the school chorus with your pack pacing in the back of the auditorium and howling at the end.

Write about those experiences on your blog, picking a single topic per post. Don't duplicate anything directly from the memoir. Maybe you want a different tone, almost chatty and personal, or humorous, something which might not sustain a book well but works great for a blog post.

Maryn, who would not read a blog about writing and publishing
 

mypetduk

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Nope. I'd recommend setting up a blog about the topic/problem/situation which prompted you to write the memoir. Only other writers are likely to care about your travails in the attempt to complete the book and get it published.

Making it up on the fly: Say, for instance, you think a memoir is apt because you were raised by wolves. Readers might be interested in day-to-day life in the den, how you dealt with your dad the alpha male, what it was like sing in the school chorus with your pack pacing in the back of the auditorium and howling at the end.

Write about those experiences on your blog, picking a single topic per post. Don't duplicate anything directly from the memoir. Maybe you want a different tone, almost chatty and personal, or humorous, something which might not sustain a book well but works great for a blog post.

Maryn, who would not read a blog about writing and publishing

That's actually more or less what I meant, but I didn't state it very clearly. Still, your advice helps keep me on track, a good reminder -- I did such a blog some years ago when I first started working on the memoir, but alas I didn't keep it going.

Thanks again for the advice. Now I gotta come up with a catchy and relevant blog title that won't be a likely contender for the book title.
 
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Laer Carroll

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There are two issues here, and so two answers to your general question.

It is never too early to establish an author's site. Creating and keeping up a site is an art and a craft, and will take time to do to your satisfaction. It will also take time to build up a fan base. Best to get your experiments out of the way early.

Publishing parts of your work in progress presents several problems. Muddying the rights is not one of them. Your works are your own and you can do what you want with them - including putting them on your web site.

As a practical matter, however, best not to put an entire manuscript on your site. Else readers will have no reason to buy your book, and no reason for a publisher to buy it. Put up the first 10%, or less, and Amazon will have no problem if you self-publish with them. They put up on their site the first 10% of their self-published books and many if not most books published by other publishers. Those chapters are part of the advertising for your book. Just be sure to put a link at the end of the sample to where your book can be bought.

IF an author can deliver frequent updates to their book on their site, fine. But not good if s/he cannot. Readers who liked the first sample will usually get disgusted and go elsewhere. If they remember the author at all, it's likely to be with annoyance that s/he teased them but didn't follow through on a promise.

That is not true for an episodic form, such as a travelogue, as long as each episode is complete in itself and doesn't leave important threads dangling. Except, perhaps, something of the following. "And that's how we survived our Bangkok adventure. Next we explored the Japanese highlands. And true to our nature, we barely survived THAT experience!"
 

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I'm only a year into the platform-building adventure, so far from an expert. I took the advice of more experienced writers and started setting up social media accounts in advance of publishing.

This week, I'm celebrating that I have more than 1,000 followers on Twitter. Tiny compared to many authors, yet a milestone for an introvert. Best of all, I have many engaged followers.

Maryn makes a good point about sharing material of interest to potential readers. I have some posts in progress connected to the historical background and folklore for my series and forthcoming novel. They're both set in the 19th century and I've had fun with the fact-checking. At the outset of my blog, I was more involved in the process of trying to publish short fiction. On social media, I started networking with other writers and people who caught my interest and then looked for ways to connect with readers.

It's been awkward creating an online presence for my fiction so early. I'm glad I have it all set up, though. I like WordPress and Goodreads. Twitter has become too much like Facebook, yet I enjoy keeping up with favorite authors and people who share my interests. Google+ has been slow for me -- but I get thousands of views on it. I just added Tumblr and I have an Amazon author page.

It helps to think of it more as connecting, instead of as marketing.
 
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Laer Carroll

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I'm a software engineer and I studied Search Engine Optimization extensively as part of my job at Boeing. I've never come across a shorter or clearer discussion of the subject of internet promotion than that of Medievalist. Old Hack's adjective "Brilliant" is exactly right.

Be sure to follow at least a little of the discussion afterward. Some very smart people expand on the original post.
 

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I note that the first post in this thread asked how to promote a book-in-progress on social media: to be honest, I wouldn't bother. There's little point in promoting a book which doesn't yet exist: wait until you know it's done, and how and where people can get hold of it, and then you'll have something to promote. If you promote before that point you'll be wasting a lot of your efforts.
 

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I note that the first post in this thread asked how to promote a book-in-progress on social media: to be honest, I wouldn't bother.

I quite agree, on the subject of promoting a book-in-progress.

But on the wider question of promotion with social media I suggest getting started with social media as soon as one is comfortable. It takes a while to learn how to use each form and to find one that suits a writer's way of working. Some may find Facebook works better for them. Some might find a web site or a blog works better.

Too, authors eventually end up promoting themselves more than specific books, or series. That's where the SOCIAL comes in. We engage with others, and learn from them as much as they learn from us. Over time we become part of small communities, and the larger communities to which they belong.

In those communities we discuss the topics and issues important to us, and so will end up in our works in one way or another. People who care about the same topics will come to find us, and eventually find our books. Then when it comes the time to promote a specific book we already have a platform to do that.
 
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Deirdre

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I note that the first post in this thread asked how to promote a book-in-progress on social media: to be honest, I wouldn't bother. There's little point in promoting a book which doesn't yet exist: wait until you know it's done, and how and where people can get hold of it, and then you'll have something to promote. If you promote before that point you'll be wasting a lot of your efforts.

One of the things that most bugs me about some authors' social media accounts: there's no person there. There is a lot of book marketing for themselves and others.

I'm of the "connection" school of thought about marketing. Social media is about connecting with people who share your interests, some of which many involve your writing.

Especially with a memoir (I'm writing one of those at present, in fact): it's about all (or a significant chunk) of you.

I'd definitely wait until the book is done to promote it. Oh, sure, I write my own mystery clues about what I'm writing on social media just like everyone else. That's not for marketing reasons, though. It's connecting with other writers about the frustrations and joys of writing at all.
 

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This week, I'm celebrating that I have more than 1,000 followers on Twitter.

That's a LOT. Wow. I've had my Twitter a long time and haven't even hit 500 yet. Can I ask how you accomplished this? I'm very active on Twitter and my followers are constantly on the rise, but it's slow.
 

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I have a few thousand followers on Twitter, and all I did was have fun there, and engage with people.

I had a quick look at your Twitter feed and it seems to be mostly you making statements, rather than engaging with other people and having conversations with them.