Social Media for Writers: Marketing Strategies for Building Your Audience and Selling Books

by Tee Morris, Pip Ballantine

Maximize the Potential of Your Online Brand! Over the past decade, social media has transformed from a fad into a necessity for writers. But for the inexperienced author, trying to make sense of--much less master--the available platforms can be a frustrating experience. The variety of social media options alone is dizzying WordPress, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, and more. That's where this guide comes in. Whether you're just starting to create an audience or looking to refine your online presence, Social Media for Writers will equip you with the essential tools you'll need to succeed. In this book you'll learn how You'll also find appendixes that show you how to set up the major social media platforms and perform basic functions. With all of these strategies, techniques, and applicable information, Social Media for Writers is a comprehensive source for all your social media needs!

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Social Media, Business, Reference

277 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2015

About the author

Tee Morris began his writing career with his 2002 historical epic fantasy, MOREVI The Chronicles of Rafe & Askana. In 2005 Tee took MOREVI into the then-unknown podosphere, making his novel the first book podcast in its entirety. That experience led to the founding of Podiobooks.com and collaborating with Evo Terra and Chuck Tomasi on Podcasting for Dummies and its follow-up, Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies. He won acclaim and accolades for his cross-genre fantasy-detective Billibub Baddings Mysteries, the podcast of The Case of the Singing Sword winning him the 2008 Parsec Award for Best Audio Drama. Along with those titles, Tee has written articles and short stories for BenBella Books’s Farscape Forever: Sex, Drugs, and Killer Muppets, the podcast anthology VOICES: New Media Fiction, BenBella Books’ So Say We All: Collected Thoughts and Opinions of Battlestar Galactica, and Dragon Moon Press’ Podthology: The Pod Complex.

In 2011, Tee returned to his first love—fiction—with the steampunk romp Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel, co-authored with Philippa Ballantine. This debut novel from Harper Voyager won the 2011 Airship Award for Best Steampunk Literature. Now the series includes The Janus Affair (Harper Voyager), Dawn's Early Light (Ace Books), and the Ministry Protocol anthology (Imagine That! Studios). Find out more at ministryofpeculiaroccurrences.com.

When he is not writing, Tee enjoys life in Virginia alongside Philippa Ballantine, his daughter, and three cats.

Reviews

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good sturdy stuff. Practical information, of the kind I need.

[Ashley Earley · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone that struggles to stay active on social media (aside from Goodreads and Instagram), I found this to be pretty helpful.

The book suggests to pick 3 social media platforms to be active on so not to be overwhelmed by it all. I picked Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram (and Goodreads, of course. I can't give up Goodreads). After picking these 3 platforms, I started to focus on them and only them over a weekend. The response was surprising. I started to get more likes and follows on Tumblr and Twitter - my Instagram stayed about the same since I'm almost always active on it. I was pretty impressed by all the activity I was suddenly getting on my accounts.

While this book does give some pretty basic/"everyone knows that" information, there were some extra things that surprised me and worked great for me. I discovered new apps that the book suggested and I love them!

Also, if you are unfamiliar with any of the websites/apps that this book talks about, in the back, it gives you step-by-step instructions on how to navigate them. I could imagine this being very helpful for people that have never used them or have owned a flip phone up until recently ;)

I would recommend this book to writers that struggle with staying active on social media. I feel the same as most do, "Why would I take the time away from writing to post something on Twitter/Instagram/Tumblr?"

www.ashleyearley.com
www.ashleyearleybooks.tumblr.com
www.ashleyearleywrites.blogspot.com
-Ashley Earley

[Joany Vries · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dit boek is echt gericht op mensen die nog niks met social media hebben. Een technische infodump over de verschillende platforms en nog geen handvol praktische tips waar ik daadwerkelijk wat aan heb. Jammer.

[Lola]

I DNF'd this book at about 20-25%. This wasn't for me, the book is written more for those new to social media and blogging. There is step by step info about the platforms and how to set up your account. I skimmed through it and then just decided to DNF it as I wasn't getting anything out of it.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a reference book than a casual read, this is a useful guide for the social media novice. This is an especially valuable collection of techniques for writers to employ when trying to establish a brand. The book spells out the dos and don’ts of the major online resources and is a help and comfort to the timid. Meant for those dipping a toe into the stream, it is an effective tool and a comfortable place to start.

[H.R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice book filled with lots of helpful information for writers who might not be sure what all they can do with social media or what different social media platforms there are out there and all the options they have.

[L. M. Ransom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been using different social media for a while now, as most people have, but knew there were probably things I wasn't doing right, or more things I should be doing. As a writer who hopes to have a great indie career, I wanted to know more about using the different social media platforms that are available, and this was a terrific book for that. Tee Morris and his wife, Pip Ballantine, know what they're talking about, because they use a lot of the medias mentioned. I enjoyed their style of writing, and because of that, I will be looking up their steampunk series they write together, and hopefully listening to some of their podcasts they do from The Shared Desk.

If you're wondering which media to use, or just want more from the ones you already use, this book will help. The writing is conversational as well as instructional, and I appreciate their vast knowledge.

[Marsha Breazeale · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a an excellent book for anyone wanting to self-publish. Actually, today, it probably is a good book for authors published through an agent, too--since many of the publishing houses no longer do the all-out marketing they once did decades ago. This book pretty much covers how to access and use virtually all of the social media. Keep in mind it was written in 2015, so according to Moore's Law, it's already outdated. But it's an excellent place to start. Well written, easy to read. My only criticism: it assumes the reader is already proficient in using mobile devices. I'm still working on acquiring that skill. I wish the book contained a step-by-step "how to" so someone like me could more easily do what they talk about in the book. But definitely, this book is a terrific reference for any getting-started writer.

[Tammie Painter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be an excellent book for someone completely unfamiliar with social media. It covers the features and "point of" all the major social media outlets and a few smaller ones, as well as giving you a guide for how to set up accounts with a few of the biggies. There are a few hints on topics for your blog or Tumblr, but I was kind of hoping for something a little more in-depth on how to present your book and work, maybe even a book launch schedule. If you're not already on social media as a writer, I'd say this would be a four-, maybe even five-star book, but if you're already on social media you may find you already know most of this stuff. Still, it did make me keen to try out Tumblr as a middle ground between blogging and Twitter and Facebook.

[Jeni Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tee Morris wrote "Social Media for Writers" to teach them how to utilize the social media to form a writer's platform and to use that platform for marketing purposes. This book is just not made for independent writers. I have published in both markets, and I find that it is quite useful in both worlds. Morris divides his book by social media outlets, dedicating a chapter to each. Here Morris teachers writers proper etiquette skills when publishing on social media. This book is well worth the buy, and I personally have seen a growth in my social media outlets.

[Cyliena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an assigned text for a BA in English & Creative Writing class.

Good tips, especially for those completely new to social media. There is limited value for those already experienced. Be aware that the constant evolution of social media has made some facts outdated. As long as you do the extra work to realize that Twitter now has double the character limit, Vine no longer exists, and so on, this book still serves its purpose.

[M. Mundy]

If you want to write and sell your work, start here. I wish I had read this book before I finished my first novel. Now, I feel like I'm playing catch up. Even so, thanks to Tee Morris, I have some guidance on how to turn things around.

Worth the read for authors who want to publish their works to get readers, a traditional publishers interest, or to self-publish.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the advice of this book. It’s pretty simple to follow and the appendix at the back makes the technical parts easier. Of course any book on social media seems to be extinct a few years later but I think much of the advice can reach beyond that.

[Stacia Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of information and well organized.

[Douglas Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of unrealistic to think that an author has time to do all this stuff, but it's a good list of things to contemplate doing - whenever you get a spare 30 minutes!

[Linda Runnebaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!!!

[Lisa Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a good book with a lot of useful information. It will be helpful to someone who is trying to learn about social media.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outdated, as it must inevitably be after 7 years, but still useful, thought provoking, and more engagingly written than most books of this sort.

[Paula Marais · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book, but I read it on Audible and I feel I may have lost one or two points without having had them written down. Also there were a few issues with the quality of the reading, as one could pick up a few areas where there were hesitations that might have been edited out.

That said, the authors know their stuff. They address everything from Wordpress to Periscope, giving tips specifically related to writers, which were really helpful. I would consider buying the Kindle book to reread and highlight certain pages and I don't often buy a book twice.

So I would highly recommend this book (if you are as clueless about a lot of social media as I am and intend to build your knowledge as I do). A great resource. And I confess they talk a lot about steampunk, which has piqued my interest...

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Packed with helpful information for the writer who is new to using social media for the purposes of promoting work and connecting with readers. Redundant at times, but overall a decent read. If you are looking to learn more about the popular social media platforms - and how to better utilize them - I recommend picking this up and giving it a read.

3.5 stars

[Lilly Rosemeade · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who has been at social media for years (both in a writer capacity and personal) this all seemed like very basic information. If you were just starting out and had never used Facebook or Twitter or were looking to start a blog for the very first time in your life this might be useful. But otherwise this is all just very generic, very basic stuff.

[Lyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great resource for me to set up different platforms to get my own book out there. It breaks down each media with simple instructions to establish your presence from Facebook to Tumblr. I particularly found the breakdown of WordPress the most helpful. I recommend this for anyone trying to establish their presence on the web not just writers.

[Lisa Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book with a general overlay of a variety of social media tools. I will need to look at it again when I'm ready to start things like a Twitter and Facebook writer's account. Until then, I skimmed through sections I didn't need at the moment. Good reference tool for writer's trying to create their social presence.

[Kirk Hanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides an overview of all the social media websites and tools available for writers. None of them are covered in great depth and it can be a bit repetitive at times, but this guide is a good place for an author to begin building a platform.

[Daleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a need to read for all authors out there. Easy to skip through and find the platform you want to learn about or to read cover to cover and learn about all of them.

[Diana Stout · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good how-to information for beginning writers or those starting to do their own promotions. Nice details about the various social media platforms.

[Joey · Rating 3 out of 5]

My primary purpose for reading this was to gain a fundamental understanding of the social media offerings out there and assess if they may be of use or of interest. In this regard, this book met this need. However, some of the content seemed a bit subjective when assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the offerings so I would have preferred it to be an entirely objective take on the topic concerned.