BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE

This is the second most important tip I can give you — be your own advocate! 

Being a brand new debut author can be super scary and overwhelming! What I noticed going through my publishing journey was that a lot of authors felt like they were inconveniencing their agent/editor/publishing team and would stress themselves trying to find answers because they were too scared to ask.

Your team is here to support YOU! They want you and your book to be just as successful as you do! If you have questions, do your best to work up some courage and ask. Transparency and communication is vital in this industry, and initiating a space where you can ask questions and get answers is going to help you IMMENSELY in the long run. I’m constantly emailing my team asking them questions and clarifications, especially when I first started because I knew NOTHING! I know it’s scary and intimidating, but your team is here to help you out!

SOCIAL MEDIA

We’re going to go over different types of social media platforms, figure out which works best for you, and then talk about some basic tips.

To start with, if you have multiple social media accounts, be sure to use the SAME handle for each account! This sets up a sort of “brand recognition” and makes it easy for readers to find you across multiple platforms.

Please keep in mind that the advice below is based on my personal observations and opinions in May 2021 and should not be taken as cold hard facts.

Why is social media important?

There’s this old marketing adage from hella long ago that says a person needs to see your product at least 7 times before they buy it. Nowadays, that number is more like 14. Social media helps you hit that number by getting your book (and especially its cover) in front of people and enticed to buy it.

“What Social Media Platform Should I Use?”

Aside from using the ones you like, it depends on what kind of audience you want to reach and what kind of content you enjoy creating! Here’s a quick and dirty rundown of the Big Ones (keep in mind this is just my personal observations):

• Twitter has more “publishing professionals” (like agents, editors, etc.) and authors, with a moderate amount of readers. Posts are more word focused and limited to 280 characters, but you can attach images. People hate on Twitter a lot for being a dumpster fire, but I’d argue they aren’t curating their feed enough. Follow people and accounts you like, don’t follow or mute the ones you don’t

• Instagram has less industry folks, lots of authors, and much more readers than Twitter. Instagram is focused on images (good for people who love taking pictures or making graphics!) and also lets you write a whopping 2,220 characters for captions.

• TikTok has THE most readers of any platform (specifically teens), the number of authors is going up now that people are finally seeing the power young adults wield with just their cleverness and an iPhone, and has the least amount of industry folks (I’ve seen a couple of agents but that’s about it). TikTok is probably my favorite platform because it’s so fun and chaotic. The best advice I can give you is to not post 10 videos a day that are only about your book and selling your book — teens can smell inauthenticity from a mile away and they’re not going to like constantly being sold to.

• Tumblr — I KNOW! But people are STILL using Tumblr! Who are they? I have no idea, but books are still going viral on Tumblr and I’d argue it has the best fandom bases than any other social media. They’re constantly producing content, and Tumblr is awesome because you can do text, videos, pictures, and combinations of all three!

Streamline Everything!!!

People’s attention spans are short to nonexistent these days, especially on social media, so it’s important to streamline information as much as possible. For whichever social media you’re using, your bio/profile should have:

• Your Name 

• Your book(s) (with limited character space, prioritize what’s coming out next)

• Buy links

ALWAYS STREAMLINE THE PATH BETWEEN SOMEONE BEING ON YOUR PAGE TO BUYING YOUR BOOK. THE FEWER CLICKS, THE BETTER! Sometimes people will just link to their websites because that’s where all the info is, but each time someone has to click a link to get to a buy page, you lose a huge percentage of click throughs.

Linktree

Linktree is, hands down, the best way to streamline the process of readers getting to your book! This is basically a landing page where you can have ALL your author/book information ready for readers to explore with just one click!
Linktree is also FREE, with a paid option that lets you do fancy headers (see images below) and customizations, but the free version is more than good enough.

Here’s a recent example of mine:

As you can see, it has important information and direct links for not only purchasing my books, but finding my social media pages, the current campaign I’m pushing for, and other important stuff. Linktree is great because it’s all in one place and easy to navigate.

EDITED: 12/22/22

Now you can have direct buy links to your books!

As you can see in the examples above, you can add your book and it’ll give viewers the options between hardcover, ebook, audiobook, and whatever other versions it comes in! It let’s viewers not only see your cover, your synopsis AND prices across different platforms, but you can prioritize them as well!

LinkTree only has Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million available for this feature, but hopefully they’ll be expanding to other in the near future!

Here’s some important information to include in your Linktree, ordered by importance:

1. Any sort of giveaways or promotions for your book you’re running (like your preorder campaign!)

2. Direct buy links for your book (I gave both Bookshop and Amazon because Bookshop helps support independent bookstores, but most teens are going to buy your book from Amazon because it tends to be most affordable and ships the fastest)

3. Goodreads link (this one is important because getting adds on Goodreads before your book comes out helps draw buzz from not only readers, but industry professionals and helps your book get onto “most anticipated” lists! My Goodreads link is under “Upcoming Books” but for a debut, it should have its own specified link that says “Add on Goodreads”.)

4. Website Link 

   1. A quick note about websites, they’re a great marketing tool but not necessary, especially with the existence of Linktree. Anything you’d have on your website can be easily listed in a Linktree. They tend to be expensive so if you can’t afford one, it’s not the end of the world!

5. Social media accounts so people can find you across different platforms

Twitter

Having a pinned tweet is absolutely critical for this platform! It sticks to the top of your pages, so whenever someone clicks over to your profile, it’s the first thing they see.

Your pinned tweet should include:

• Title of your book 

• Release date 

• Something about the book to get readers/ attention, like an elevator pitch (more on this later!)

• Preorder campaign link

• Buy and/or Goodreads link

• Header image promoting your book (commissioning an artist is always great, but you can also create one yourself, more on this later!)

Note: There’s a place on your Twitter profile where you can do a website link, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND putting your Linktree there!

Here’s an example of what my Twitter profile and pinned tweet looked like recently:

As you can see, I’ve got a header image with my books (made by the incredibles Mars Lauderbaugh! @mmarsloud), Linktree as my website and personal info about me in my profile. And my pinned tweet hits all the important beats I listed above! Adding some kind of image also helps to grab people's attention while they’re endlessly scrolling.

Tips for Twitter

• If you’re going to make a thread about your book with multiple tweets, always frontload with the most interesting information in order to get folks to click through and read the whole thing. Think of it like writing the first page of your book — start with a hook!

• Character count is always the biggest hurdle for this platform. If you want to post links but also save word count, I recommend turning your links into shortened links. Bit.ly does this for free!

• If you’re posting a single picture on Twitter, the ideal ratio is 16:9. If it’s 2 pictures, the ideal ratio is 8:9 for each picture.

Instagram

Instagram doesn’t have a pinned post feature and very limited space for a bio at only 150 characters, so you have to be economical about it.

Here’s what my Instagram looked like recently:

The profile here is tiny with only critical information, but then I’ve got good ol’ Linktree right there and waiting with everything else!

Tips for Instagram

• The worst thing about Instagram is that links don’t work in posts, which is why Linktree is so handy! In your posts you can just tell people to “check out the Linktree in my profile!” You can have links in your stories, but in order to do that you have to either have over 10,000 followers and be switched to a Professional account (which is free) or have a verified account.

• Since Instagram is image-focused, you should get a high quality image of your cover so you can use that to make graphics with (more on this later!).

• Instagram lives are the best and easiest way to do virtual events! Team up with other authors to conduct interviews or any kind of virtual conversations!

• The default ratio for images on Instagram is 1:1.

TikTok

Tiktok is another platform with a deplorably small word count for profiles at only 80 characters. Again, be economical, get your book title down and then use the website section to house your important links with a Linktree.

EDITED 12/22/22:

You can link viewers directly to your books on TikTok now! YAY!
But it’s only for Penguin Random House, because Capitalism! Boo!

I assume RPH funded the integration and that’s why, but it still sucks. But for you PRH folks, it’s pretty easy to set up! I’ll walk you through it!

1. You start by making a TikTok same as usual (I just chose a random image on my camera roll lmao). Since I don’t have a RPH book, I picked one of my favorites — “How to Succeed at Witchcraft” by Aislinn Brophy! (If you haven’t read it yet, DO IT. DO IT NOW. YOU WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED!)

2. Tap “Add link”, then “Books.

3. Search the RPH title you want to use and tap it!

4. Post the video!

As you can see, it gives a nifty little link where you can view more about the book, including the synopsis, review it with a star rating, AND it’ll show you other videos people have posted about it! IT’S SO COOL!!!

Tips for TikTok

• Get a professional Public Figure account! It’s free and let’s you track analytics and set up a Q&A where readers can ask questions and you can create easy content by answering them!

• Make a TikTok pitching your book! Use an elevator pitch, describe the plot AND your characters, and include any tropes if you’ve got in them (readers LOVE tropes!).

• If you have a preorder campaign, make a TikTok advertising it and showing off all the cool swag readers can get if they preorder your book.

• Trends are huge on TikTok so scroll through your For You Page, see what trends/sounds are popular and have fun using them to show off your book!

I’m going to end this section with a disclaimer — social media is a great tool to use for promoting your book because it has the potential of reaching wider audiences! That being said, there’s a very important rule to follow (that I WILL bring up again) and that’s to only use social media platforms if you actually enjoy using said platform.

There’s two main reasons for this. 1) People can always tell if you’re being disingenuous on social media and 2) You’re going to spend so much time promoting your books and if it’s on a platform you don’t like, it’s going to be torture for you.

Another important thing to remember when it comes to social media is to not ONLY be trying to sell your book to people 24/7. If you’re only trying to talk people into buying your book, people aren’t going to engage with you/get bored/get tired of it. So, let people get to know you as a person/author! Posting about your writing process, interests, passions and even those muffins you totally goofed up trying to bake over the weekend lets your audience get to know you and makes it so they don’t feel like they’re not just following an ad account.

PREORDER CAMPAIGNS

So, why are preorders important? Preorders let the publisher know that readers are interested in a book, which means more promotion for the book and the author, because the publisher now knows that it’s a safe investment. Preorders also let retailers know that there’s demand for the book, which means that they’re going to stock is on their shelves and more people will see it and thus buy it. Preorders also count toward first week sales, which means they increase the chances of a book debuting on bestsellers lists, which is a huge boost for the book sales and the author!

On the very rare occasion, a publisher will run a preorder campaign for you, but for the most part, it’s up to us.

How to increase preorders

The easiest and cheapest way to get more preorders is by advertising your book on social media platforms, like we’ve already gone over! Figure out who your audience is, what platform you want to use, and then be creative! 

I think there’s a weird stigma on social media where authors are apprehensive to really share what their books are about. I don’t know if it’s because people don’t want to give away spoilers, or maybe they don’t want someone to take their ideas, but I’ve personally found that the more someone knows about your book, the more interested in, or more importantly, INVESTED, they are in your story and protagonists, and thus more likely to buy your book. SO TALK ABOUT IT!

What’s a preorder campaign?

A preorder campaign is basically where you give incentives to readers for preordering your book in order to ramp up those first week’s sales. Campaigns can range from virtual incentives that cost you nothing, or can be super expensive with physical gifts you send out, it all depends on how much time and money you’re willing to devote to it.

When should I run my preorder campaign?

You should launch your preorder campaign 3 - 6 months ahead of your pub date. A longer campaign just means more time for you to accumulate preorder sales. I ran my CEMETERY BOYS campaign for 6 months, while LOST IN THE NEVER WOODS was only 3 months. Your preorder campaign should also run THROUGH the first week your book is out in the world for optimal sales.

Things to consider

• Time

  • I got way more preorders than I expected and it took me literal months to get everything sent out. You’d be surprised how long it takes to sign bookplates, stuff envelopes and slap on stamps!

• Budget

  • I’ll go through this more in depth, but figuring out your budget is super important. Like I mentioned, I got way more preorders for CEMETERY BOYS than I expected and actually had to save up and even borrow money, which added to how long it took me to send everything out to readers! 

• Shipping

  • Hands down the most expensive part of a campaign is the postage. There’s a few ways you can save costs, like only giving out book swag that can fit inside an envelope and be shipped with one stamp. If you want to send enamel pins, that’s going to be a huge price jump to (currently) $4. 

  • One way I saved costs was by having 50 “limited edition pins” randomly given out to randomly chosen U.S. entrants, while my separate international preorder campaign was just cards that fit into an envelope and could be shipped with one international stamp.

    • Remember, postage to our friends in Puerto Rico costs the SAME as shipping within the continental U.S.!

• Accessibility 

  • Accessibility is always super important to me. Not everyone can afford hardback books, especially teens, so a great way to make your campaign more accessible is to let people enter your campaign if they request a copy at their local library. 

• Book Swag

  • Alright, let’s get down to the nitty gritty and talk about what kind of book swag people like, broken down by cost.

    • High Cost Swag

      • Enamel pins, keychains, necklaces.

      • Enamel pins are SUPER popular and can be SO COOL! I recommend using GS-JJ because if you can give them a long lead time, they’ll give you a discount. The best discount they have available is a 40 day lead time for 40% off. You can customize the crap out of them, including getting glow in the dark enamel and personalized backer cards!

    • Mid Cost Swag

      • Character art (don’t forget to factor in artist commission costs!)

        • This is probably the BEST kind of swag to get for your preorder campaign. Why? Because it helps introduce your characters to readers, which loops back to my point of getting your readers invested in your characters before your book even comes out! It’s also awesome to team up with a small artist, and even MORE AWESOME to see your characters come to life!

        • These should be small enough to be comfortable tucked into your book since that’s where most readers are going to keep them.

        • In general, getting smaller cardstock prints are pretty dang affordable.

        • If you’re looking for an artist to commission, Mars Lauderbaugh (@mmarsloud) and Gibby (@Gibb_Arts) did character art for my books and they were both absolute dreams to work with.

    • Low Cost Swag

      • Bookplates 

        • Bookplates are really cool because readers get to have a signed copy without having to meet you in person, which is especially handy during a pandemic. 

        • If you’re feeling generous, you can even offer personalizations! But remember this will add time.

        • A good size for this is 3”x4”, horizontal or vertical depending on how you want them to look.

        • This is a great thing to commission an artist for, but you can also very easily design your own bookplate with — you guessed it — Canva!

    • Free Swag (yes, at zero cost to you!)

      • Phone lockscreens, laptop backgrounds/wallpapers and printable bookmarks.

      • These are all SUPER easy to design yourself, but definitely hit up your publishing team to get assets (book cover, title in font, etc.) so it matches your book.

• Campaign Submissions

  • I recommend using Google Forms because it’s free and pretty easy to use.

  • When collecting responses and creating the form, this is the important information you need to collect:

    • Full name

    • Email address

    • Mailing address

      • People are always gonna mess this up, you can check via Google Maps or just email the individual

    • I also add a field asking them if they double-checked their address

    • Lastly, add a field for them to upload “proof of purchase.” I ask folks for just a screenshot of their order confirmation with the confirmation number as well as the date they purchased it, or just a screenshot of their library request

      • How strict you are with this is up to you!

EVENTS

Events are a great opportunity to reach wider audiences! 

Virtual Events

One of the very few positive things about the pandemic is that a lot of book events have been virtual, making them more accessible to more people, including authors. Twitter is a great way to be on the lookout for upcoming events you could be a part of! You can also run your own virtual events by teaming up with a book blogger or a fellow debut author on Instagram, YouTube or TikTok. 

In Person Events

Reaching out to your local bookstore is the perfect way to host in person events. This can be a Barnes & Noble or an independent bookstore. Cold calling/emailing is scary but if you build up the courage, you can do it!

Launch Event

Your launch event is typically the afternoon/evening of your publication day — the big party to kick things off as your book finally enters the world. Launch events are great to team up with an already established author for, especially if their book(s) are similar/in conversation with your book. Your marketing/PR team should help you set this one up. This is your time to aim high and try contacting one of your favorite authors! SHOOT YOUR SHOT!