TheSpectraBooks: Marketing with Twitter

How do you use twitter to market books?

The most important thing to remember about all social media is that people use it primarily to express themselves. Connecting with others is secondary. So, if you want a lot of engagement on social media platforms, look for ways to help people express themselves. Ask questions. Take polls. Post relatable content. Interact with other people on their posts. Keep in mind what your audience is looking for.

Next, set up your own profile so that people know what to expect from you. Pick one picture and stick with it. Add something about writing in your "about me" section, and include a link.

I use the same handle on every social media platform to simplify things. No matter which platform you use, you can find TheSpectraBooks.

Now to get followers. The quickest way to get a lot of followers is to find people with similar interests and follow them. Once a month-ish, go through and unfollow everyone who didn't follow you back. You can find writer people by searching for the hashtags #writerslift or #writerscommunity. Search for organizations like NaNoWriMo or famous authors you admire and follow people who follow them.

This will get you a large number of follows quickly, but keep in mind that they won't be engaged followers unless you follow the first step: help people express themselves.

If your goal is to have as many people as possible see your post (for instance, if you have a free deal or a new release), here's how to get a lot of exposure. First, make a post on your own profile. Include a link, and leave space (maybe 20 characters or so) for hashtags. Example:

Now, you're going to copy that post onto other posts that are specifically asking you to share links. Every time you copy your post, change the hashtag. Here are some good hashtags to get you started: #BooksToRead #MustRead #BookRecommendation #WhatToRead #IndieBooksBeSeen #BookTwt #ReadingForPleasure. Don't forget to look at genre-specific hashtags too. Are you in #KindleUnlimited or #KindleVella? #ebook or #paperback? All good hashtags to try.

I've noticed that this method works really well with bookfunnel promotions and newsletter builders. These promotions count the number of times someone clicks on your link, which is a handy way to judge if this type of twitter usage is working. For most promotions, I can get around 20 clicks per hour with this writerslift/hashtage method.

Where do you find posts looking for links? There are plenty.

Search for the hashtags #writerslift or #ShamelessSelfPromo (plus the day of the week--this one is especially good on Saturdays). If you happen to be doing this during the month of April, #IndieApril is huge. I timed my 2021 and 2022 books to release in April just to take advantage of #IndieApril. I had huge spikes in sales in 2019 and 2020:

This method will get you a lot of exposure, but it's not really designed to get you a lot of sales. You're posting to a "cold audience" (one that is busy with their own thing and not actively looking for books). But there are ways to find a "hot audience" that is looking for books like yours. You just have to find them. I like to use the search bar and type in "fantasy book recommend". Sometimes I'll mix it up a little, with "fantasy book suggest" or something like that. The goal is to get as specific to your book as you can. You're looking for posts like this:

Now you need the perfect response. I like to start with "May I recommend my own?" to be polite, so I don't sound overbearing. I've only ever had one person say no, and I promptly deleted my post.

Next, share one or two sentences about your book, and include a link. If you can, include a bit about why your book fits what they're looking for. I keep my responses in an excel sheet so that I just have to copy, paste, and personalize.

People often respond positively! It's impossible to tell which sales come from this method, but I have definitely seen an increase, as well as positive feedback.