Social Media Just for Writers: The Best Online Marketing Tips for Selling Your Books

by Frances Caballo

You wrote your book and sold copies to family members, friends, and colleagues. Now you want to reach readers around the state, across the country, or on the other side of the world. But how? With social media, you can build your platform and reach markets you never imagined possible before. In this book you will learn how your Facebook fan page and initiate active engagement with your readers, use a myriad of Twitter applications to help you economize your time while expanding your tribe, optimize your LinkedIn profile with keywords, tackle Google+ with renewed confidence, build Pinterest pinboards and use them to promote your books and blog, and round out your online strategies with offline marketing techniques.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

142 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 9, 2012

About the author

Frances Caballo is an author and social media strategist and manager for writers.

She’s written several social media books including The Author’s Guide to Goodreads, Social Media Just for Writers, and Social Media in 30 Minutes a Day. Her focus is on helping authors surmount the barriers that keep them from flourishing online, building their platform, finding new readers, and selling more books. Her clients include authors of every genre and writers’ conferences.

Not sure how you’re doing online? Sign up for her free email course at http://www.SocialMediaJustforWriters.com

Reviews

[Stina Lindenblatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

It doesn’t matter if your books are traditionally published or self-published (or both), you’re the main force responsible for marketing them. One of the best forms of marketing available is social media. But with so many different ones available, how do we know which will benefit us the most when promoting our books, and how do use them for maximum benefit?
In her book Social Media Just for Writers, Frances Caballo focuses on several popular social media sites*. She explains how each one works and the ins and outs of them, provides step-by-step instructions for setting them up (including screen shots so you know what she’s talking about), and shares tips for promoting your books through the individual sites. Her advice is sound and I liked that she’s against spamming. She warns you when certain activities are considered spamming. Some of this is subjective. There are a few things that she suggested that I prefer authors don’t do. For example, I’m tired of the countless number of Facebook or Goodreads event invites that land in my inbox. Most are deleted unread.

One thing I appreciated with this book is the easy to follow format. This is perfect if you are not technically inclined. Also, Frances includes lists of apps for each of the social media sites and explains the pros and cons of them. Until Social Media Just for Writers, I didn’t realize there were so many of them. For those of you who blog, there is a list of resources you can use for locating royalty free photos. This is very important if you don’t want to end up being sued by the owner of copyrighted material.

In addition to the chapters on social media, there is a chapter on offline promotion with some helpful suggestions. A glossary has also been included to make your life easier when figuring out the different terms associated with the different social media sites.

Overall, I loved this book and am thankful I had the opportunity to review it. I recommend it to everyone who is a writer, no matter where they are in the publication process. The sooner you get started being seen the better.

*The following are covered in the book: Facebook, Facebook author pages, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Picasso and Pinterest, and blogs. Unfortunately she doesn’t cover Tumblr, which is now popular with teens.

[Wendy H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this may be a rather niche book it certainly packs a punch for all those writers who want to extend their social media reach. It does not try to overextend itself but focuses on the following social media channels
Facebook
Twitter,
LinkedIn
Google+
Blogging
I think this is a good thing as it goes into each of those in depth. This means that you will be able to use each of these social media channels to their full extent if you follow the advice.

The book takes you through each of these in clear stages outlining ways in which the writer can maximise their use for reaching readers and marketing. The book drills down as far as how to change settings to ensure that each channel is optimised for maximum reach. However, it does not do this at the expense of privacy.

For each social media setting there is also a list of apps which can be used to support their use by writers. These can be free to expensive but an explanation is given for each. The author is not trying to sell you on any one of these but merely explains how they can help.

Hints and tips are given throughout the book and their are clear and detailed screen shots to support the text. Social media etiquette is also covered and particularly how this relates to writers. I thought the hints and tips on all chapters were excellent but the section on blogging was particularly good.

The last chapter goes further than social media and talks about other ways in which you can market your books. This again is choc full of good advice.

This book is available in kindle and print versions. In this case I would recommend the print version as the screen shots would be difficult to see in kindle. However, whatever version you choose, you will not regret it. This is a superb book and I cannot recommend it highly enough

[C. McKenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only negative thing I have to say about Social Media Just for Writers is it should have been published sooner. The book is divided into the major online media marketing tools and describes the overall best use for each. It lists the features and how to maximize them to get the most out of the time you spend setting up your pages, profiles etc. and interacting with your connections. I loved the clever tie in the author made between famous people and each media marketing tool: Facebook & Nicholas Sparks; LinkedIn & Agatha Christie; Google+ & Hemingway; Picasso & Pinteret.

For beginners, there's an excellent Glossary of terms that I would have given anything to have when I started in this business. Caballo offers other bonuses as well. In Chapter 10, "The Angles of Offline Promotion," readers will find such help as a template for a Press Release, tips for Business Cards and suggestions for how to make your website do the best job for you.

Disclosure: I received this book free, but the review reflects my honest opinion. I'm going through it and taking advantage of all the great tips and strategies in its pages.

[Nancy Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the review I did for TLC book tours which posted to my blog at http://nancysthompson.blogspot.com/ on 01.24.13:

It’s hard being a neophyte at anything, especially something tech-based. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a total Luddite—I embrace technology as much as the next guy—but I also struggle with it at times. Mix that lack of knowledge with my abhorrence for all things related to marketing, and you have an author drowning in dread.

I’ve done many of the things an author is supposed to do to build a platform—I blog, do Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Goodreads—but I’m not always the best at using them. Then there’s LinkedIn and Google+, which I’m on, but do not use. There’s also Pinterest, which I haven’t even attempted yet. It’s all a major time-suck, and they each require a level of expertise to master and make productive.

So while I hardly had the time, when Trish Collins, owner of TLC Book Tours, asked, I jumped at the chance to review Social Media Just Writers for Writers – The Best Online Marketing Tips for Selling Your Books by Frances Caballo.

After all the time I spent writing and polishing my novel, then finding a publisher and getting it ready to be released, I wasn’t even remotely prepared for all the hands-on marketing I’d have to do. And even though I already had a presence in some of the most popular social outlets, I wasn’t entirely sure how to best use them. But Social Media Just Writers for Writers clarifies much of it, makes it easier to understand and use.

This book delves straightaway into the monster that is Facebook, how to join, create a profile, start a fan page, and manage security and settings. Caballo also advises on how to best use it to help sell your book using SEO and effective posts. While I already had a firm grasp on Facebook, she explains quite a few features I wasn’t even aware of, including the creation of tabs, measuring results, the plethora of third party applications, and the best practices for writers. There were a few inaccurate numbers in there, though, like the total number of Facebook users. It’s not 900,000, but more like 1,000,000,000. That’s billion, not million.

Next, Twitter. Oy, I hate Twitter. Seems like so much work to put into something that literally only last a few seconds before it’s buried in an avalanche of new tweets. Caballo explains, however, exactly why it is the place to be, and goes into detail about all the basics on tweeting and retweeting, following and unfollowing, linking and hashtags, DM and @replies, proper lingo and etiquette.

She takes you step-by-step on how to setup an account, develop a profile, and show some style. She dissects everything you need to know about the dashboard and how to navigate it, lists the most popular and helpful hashtags for writers, and provides tips to get started. After that, it’s all about the apps, the best to use for whatever purpose and how they work, though she didn’t discuss how some are not entirely accurate, like the unfollow apps, ManageFlitter to be precise.

I was a bit overwhelmed by this app portion. It would have been nice if she had rated these apps in some way, but I did find some awesome new ones to help me pre-schedule, flush out unfollowers, and find old tweets. Best of all, Caballo provides twelve tips on tweeting with your tweeps, though I must say, I do not agree on her stance of not cross-posting to Twitter andFacebook. As long as you compose it properly, what’s the big deal?

Then there’s LinkedIn. I joined this platform years ago, so my profile was tailored primarily for my design business. I realize I could start a new one just for my publishing and editing career, but in all honesty, I don’t see the point. It’s too technical and has more of a Job Fair atmosphere to me. But Caballo fully explains its usefulness, how to setup and use it, useful applications, and a dozen best practices. Personally, while I do keep my account updated, I really only use it for the groups.

Next comes Google+. While Caballo gives a bunch of good reasons why to use it—like its connection to the most widely used search engine in the world—I’m with the majority on this one. It was nice to get an invitation when it was in beta, but it’s too unwieldy of a site. I have a Google+ account, but most everyone I know has abandoned it. When I land on someone’s G+ page, I’m not sure how to use it and exit as quickly as I can. But Caballo explains all the ins and outs and features of G+ that make it worth a look at least, including why it works better than Facebook in some ways. So if you want to know more, she has a lot to say, but even that confused me, because G+ is just all around confusing and not very user-friendly.

And then comes Pinterest. My thought when Pinterest first blew up was, oh God, not another social media platform. You’d think I, an artist and designer, would embrace it, but I already spend so much time on the others that I didn’t want to get sucked into it. And I’ve heard it is very addictive. Great, just what I need. But, actually, I’m thinking of giving it a try, of using images to tell the story of my book, The Mistaken. That could be fun and productive. My publisher swears by it. So when I’m ready, I know I can refer to Caballo’s instructions on how to setup and use it. Dry reading about this, however, without any prior knowledge or use of the site, left me a little confused. She used lingo that meant nothing to me and I was left scratching my head, but I’m sure it would make more sense if you were actually doing it play-by-play.

Then Caballo dives into blogs, how useful they are, and the best way to utilize them to increase sales. However, she didn’t go into the different sites where one can setup a blog, only mentioning WordPress a few times as her preference. I disagree on this somewhat. If you’re a beginner, Blogger is the perfect site. It’s where almost all my thousands of blogger friends reside. It’s easier to use, yet she doesn’t go into it at all. But there is a lot of good info in there, including prompts, using keyword-rich articles and titles, applications, plug-ins, and resources for photographs to make your posts richer and easier on the eye, and ideas on how to make your blog successful.

Lastly, Caballo discusses the angles of offline promotion, though several of the items listed, like email, websites, author networks and hangouts, are all online. One platform she didn’t discuss enough was Goodreads, an invaluable tool for any author today. It’s the best way to directly connect with your readers and potential readers. It is the platform for readers. Other than that, Caballo discusses actual shelf space (something that’s not always an option,) bookmarks, fliers, CDs, book fairs and festivals, business cards, ads, press releases, media kits, PR directories, radio and TV, reviewers, and Amazon and Listmania. A lot of the work I’ve been doing recently is in these areas so I found this section particularly helpful.

All in all, this book is chock full of info, ideas, and tips on how to connect with readers and help sell your book. The instructions were typically easy to understand. Even the most experienced and savvy will find new things to learn and experiment with. And there are so many resources listed that you are sure to find something to help with whichever social media platform you use. One thing though, I wish throughout this book that the author would have taken novelists more into consideration when giving tips. Most were geared toward non-fiction writers. But still, I can tailor most everything to fit my needs.

So if you’re a writer and as overwhelmed as I am by social media, this book is worth a look and the $16 you have to pay for the paperback.

[Meradeth Houston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Social Media is a how-to book for setting up and managing the different giants that exist in the world of, well, social media. Frances Caballo goes over the worlds of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, LinkedIn, and blogging. For those who are really new to any of these areas, Caballo spends some time going over the basics of getting everything set-up, and set-up right (the first time--seriously, I really wish I'd known about these things before I stumbled through it all the first time around). Caballo then spends time going over the additional programs and add-ins that help make these different websites more manageable, targeted, and fun. This was probably the most useful aspect of the book for me, as I've spent ages searching through different programs on the web to find decent ones (like sites to add tabs to Facebook, or figure out who unfollowed me on Twitter), so having a nice list with the pros and cons of each was incredibly handy. I totally spent several afternoons playing with all the new tools :)

On top of all this, Caballo has tips on the most effective way to actually go about using the social media giants--the best times to post, the kinds of posts that are most effective, and ways to build an online following.

I seriously found this book to be incredibly helpful in many different ways, and highly recommend it!

[Allison Renner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has chapters on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, blogging, and even Pinterest - as well as sections within each one on how to connect these all together (have a Twitter feed on your blog, coordinate everything with apps, etc). For each platform, she walks you through how to set up a profile and/or fan page, provides a glossary of relevant terms, and suggests schedules and topics to help you garner the best audience - and not bug the crap out of them with frequently boring updates. The last chapter is all about offline marketing - book clubs, promotional materials, media kits, writing press releases, and book tours that won't break the bank. Everything is spelled out and explained in such a way that it doesn't seem like a daunting task.

See a more in-depth review at www.allisonwrites.com

[Sharon Porter-Moxley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must for authors who want to sell their books. It provides easy instructions for reaching potential readers. It is well illustrated and has some grabby titles such as Be as Gutsy as Nora Ephron, The Agatha Christie of Social Media and Twitter is its own Universe-Its a Twitterverse.

For those of you who are new to the practice of selling your book this book will help you understand and provide easy access to social media. Its a cook book for accessing the internet and telling the world about your beloved,newly published masterpiece.

[Andy N · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for specialist and non-specialists of social media with great tips and strategies for social media management.

Frances Cabello outlines in 140 pages the details on setting a profile, develop a healthy network and gain a digital presence in order to promote books. As she uses different authors, strategies and tools to compare and recommend different possibilities, Cabello takes her readers on a simple, comprehensive journey through the best social media skills needed to have literary digital success.

The style of writing is simple, fluid and easy to follow. Together with the great organisation of the topics, Cabello created the perfect guide to navigate through social media.

The digital channels outlined in the book are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, blogs and offline marketing. All the instructions are presented with screenshots and tips that are easy to understand. The level of knowledge develops through the chapters, going from creating profiles on the digital channels to which types of post are more effective and analysis of posts, followers and types of audience. Additionally, the author chooses dedication in pointing out add-ins, programs that give a boost to the reader’s knowledge.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for new strategies and simple tricks to boost their digital traffic and for writers looking for tips on how to sell their books more efficiently.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher ACT Communications and the author for allowing me to read and review a digital copy of this book.

[Loren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was published in 2012. I bought it in 2016, unaware it was going to be updated in December. Make sure you by the most recent version.

She persuaded me to join LinkedIn, but I needed more examples of what I should be writing on my profile. I'm not sure how to apply the instructions she gives to the redesign of LinkedIn, but if I had a model of what my profile should look like, I could match it.

I fully admit that I am tech-challenged, but I've managed to set up and update my Facebook, Twitter, and blog on my own years ago. I was hoping that the book would be more inspirational and less technical, particularly since the tech changes so quickly. Examples of good tweets and great Facebook updates would have been useful.

Maybe that's in the new edition.

[Ginae B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Social Media Just for Writers is a beginner's book for those who are wanting to know more about social media. It's just the basics. There was very little for one who has been using social media for so many years now.

However, it didn't hurt to just have a look at some of the information. We tend to forget details, as they overwhelm us. So, it was good to have a look at them. There were some bits that we didn't know about.

Social Media Just for Writers is better geared for authors, rather than bloggers or other content creators. Here again, this doesn't mean that it's useless. It's not. For example, there was a mention of the slight importance of joining a writer's community (via Triberr).

We've joined Triberr. But, we still haven't figured out how to dig in there and really use it to our betterment. Joining and taking part in such communities involves a lot of details. You need to know the norms and nuances, so that you don't tick someone off and ruin any good thing that you could of had.

The bases are covered. One should not assume that one knows it all. One should have a look for themselves. Just sayin'.

[Kimmarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

very informative without being intimidating. lots of step by step how tos

[Jim Rossi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, concise look at applying social media marketing for writers that is helping me a lot as I finish CRUCIBLE: The Mojave & the Future of Solar Energy. I do wish (1) it was geared a bit more to the experienced, serious nonfiction writer such as myself, as well as fiction writers. (2) Also some of the recommendations - like posting on Twitter 4-8 times per day as I recall, sound highly counterproductive. Many colleagues/potential readers said they would find this extremely off-putting. That being said, it's better to have instructions that go "all the way up to 11" so you have options. "Marketing," said Peter Drucker, "is seeing the business through the customer's eyes." Again, this is a very useful book in service of that goal.

I still have zero idea what value Twitter adds to public discourse, however, otherwise I'd give it 5 stars.

[Rivka Levy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read SO many books on social media and book marketing, but this one really stands out as being full of useful, and mostly FREE stuff (don't you just love that word?)

It takes you through everything from Facebook (which I hate...) to Linked In (that I don't mind...) to blogging (which I love...) and everything in between.

I try to avoid spending a lot of time online, so having some useful sites to go to that could do me high-quality FREE (that word again!) banners for Twitter etc was really useful, as was all the additional tips of how to make Linked In etc pack a real punch.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to give their social media knowledge a boost, book author or not.

[Afton Rorvik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is oozing with information. I have a long list of apps to investigate and lots of ideas about scheduling and prioritizing various types of social media. I'll be returning to this book again and again. As a debut author the mandate to "use social media" made my head spin. Where to start? How often to tweet, post, pin, blog? Does it really matter? After reading this book, I'm feeling less alone on the journey, which I often equate to trying to learn Italian. Whew!

Favorite quotation:s "Create content readers want" (page 98).
"Don't become discouraged" (page 98).

[Kyle Atwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an impressive guidebook for authors who are NEW to the world of social media. So for a beginner's book, this gives some very thoughtful insights. I personally liked the useful hashtags included in the book.

[Allynn Riggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the information is four or more years old but it still has a lot of information that makes getting started less intimidating. The step-by-step instructions with screen shots works for me because I like to know "exactly" where to look on the screen for the little box to check. Some of her suggestions have led me to take a second look at what I have done in the past year to see how I might update and improve. It's a good basic to intermediate instruction book. Even if some sections could use updating it was ALL useful and very learnable.

[Julie Thomason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had been dipping in and out of this book for ages but decided just to sit and read it cover to cover. The style is straightforward but a bit i am telling you at times. All the information can be found on line and some of it is a bit dated but it is good to have a book where you can look at it and follow while working on screen. I like teh irony of print copy being more effective for online use. I can now dip into as i need.

[Kristina Von · Rating 5 out of 5]

Social Media for writers makes the process clear

I have been struggling to make use of social media. At last I found this resource to follow to set
up an on line campaign in order to market my recently released memoir.

[Steven Atwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great info

This is a fantastic collection of actionable ideas and methods on how to use social media. If you want to market our social media, check this out.

[David Bossert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read and much of it you may already know but there are some good tips for using social media.