Hello, and welcome back to my blog! Today I’m going to be talking about some simple ways to network with other authors and potential readers.

First, the truth is that if you don’t want to use social media, this is going to be ridiculously hard. I’ve seen people trying to sell their books in front of places like Target, which seems like a good idea because you’re communicating with people face to face, but the fact is that soliciting your book online will not only be received better most of the time, but you will reach more people. So, my tips in this article are really only about online networking at this time.

A good start is making a Twitter, Instagram and Facebook page dedicated to yourself. Sounds vain, right? Well, although you could theoretically make an account solely about your book, it would be annoying for the author and readers to not be able to access information about all of your upcoming books in one easy location.

Now, this is only based on my experience, and many people would argue differently, but I had better luck with Instagram ads than I did with Facebook ads! Not only did my Instagram ads garnish around 200 likes on average for around $5, but I had several follows and comments. Now, with my Facebook ad, I paid $10 for…one like. TO be honest, I don’t personally use my Facebook page very often. The most luck I’ve had with networking has been in Instagram and then Twitter.

What I’ve done with my accounts has been to keep them both professional but ‘real.’ I use a clean looking and well lit profile picture, I mainly post about my book, but I also try to help other authors out. On Twitter, there is a hashtag called #writingcommunity. If you post or like things with that hashtag, you can gain many follows from fellow authors. This can be helpful when you have a question about what direction you should take with your writing or questions about the publishing community, as many other authors are very happy to help out.

On Instagram, maintaining a pleasant looking feed that fits the theme of your writing can be a good idea. For instance, I try to keep my colors on the darker scale, as I’m a horror novelist. Admittingly, I could make it look better though, and I plan to study how to make a cleaner look feed. You might be thinking, who cares about that? The truth is, it’s not necessary, but people just peeking at your profile will be more likely to follow if they know exactly what your content is about.

As for networking, a great thing to do on both Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, is to reach out to other authors who write things in your genre, and offer to do a free review for a review in return. Essentially, you both send each other a copy of your book, most likely in kindle format, and then post about it on your social media feeds with an honest review. You could also do this with somebody who is not author, in which case you’ll want to search out people who have read books similar to yours. For instance, if I wanted to find somebody to read my novel for free in return for a review and repost, I would search #horrornovel, #bookworm #horrorreview #bookreview, since I am trying to find people who enjoy horror and won’t just take off a star because they don’t like blood.

Lastly, although writing is not a multilevel marketing scheme…the truth is your friends and family are a good place to start. Nobody will buy a book without a review(Unless they’re a brave soul), so word of mouth at the start is a good way to get a few sales up and get the ball rolling. The more reviews I have, the more sales I get, the more reviews I get, and so on…

(Although honestly, sales have been a bit low since I’ve taken a break from marketing…oops) One of the most important things to remember is that your first book will probably not be a constant seller! You need to keep writing and putting more content out, if a reader likes what you wrote, they’re likely to look for more of your work. Don’t disappoint them!

Hopefully these simple starting tips are able to help you map out a good marketing plan. If you’re interested in more writing tips, follow my blog! Or peep my socials, as the cool kids say, on Instagram or Twitter @Idiocyreleased

Have a lovely day!