Tina Gayle is an author with over thirty novels published by indie press.
You may have noticed Tina participating in discussions on Inkitt’s groups where she has been advising writers about effective ways of marketing their work to grow their readership for the StoryPeak Novel Contest. Tina had some great advice about setting up an Author Facebook Page in order to engage with your readers.
Let’s hear what she had to say!
One of the first things you learn as a new author is the need to promote yourself and your book. Some people have no problem with this whatsoever. Others, like me, only want to write books, publish them, and start the next book.
Unfortunately, that is not how the publishing industry works. Authors have to work just as hard to promote their books as they do to create them. For those of us who aren’t familiar with marketing, this is what appears to be an insurmountable challenge.
My first venture into the world of exposing myself to the world started with setting up a Facebook page. Not wanting to expose my young family to unnecessary harm, I choose to use my author name. Yes, I used my picture and be-friended other authors who I had met through Romance Writers of America.
The first big hurdle came in what to share with my new friends. Did anyone care that I took a trip to the Grand Canyon? That my dog was cute? That my recipe for peach cobbler was divine?
Questioning every post, I scanned other people’s topics and found that they were sharing the same basic things. Was this bad? Or did it help us find common ground?
The latter is the case. People enjoy hearing about what other people are doing. It connects them in a fundamental way.
Taking the time to learn what I enjoyed sharing and what I didn’t, I slowly began to relax and get to know other people on Facebook. I told them when I had a new book coming out or a sale but didn’t bombard them with promotional material.
Then when Facebook allowed authors to set up a fan page, I had the skills to see how I could reach a bigger audience and get my books more attention by providing links to my website and my Amazon author page.
Yes, venturing onto social media is a little unnerving at first, but it can also be fun. If you can enjoy the journey, you’ll have a blast on the way to success.
Some of Inkitt’s authors have already set up Author Pages! You can check them out below.
