Twitter For Authors: The Ultimate Guide

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book marketing, Manoj Rupareliya, Twitter for authors

I haven’t written about Twitter in a while, so I hope you’ll enjoy this post. If you want to read more on the subject, check out this older post, Show, Don’t Tell, on Twitter.

Manoj Rupareliya, an Online Marketing Expert and Blogger, has kindly written for us this guide for authors using Twitter. Manoj is an experienced writer himself, specializing in the fields of technology, blockchain, crypto, AI, Digital Marketing, and SEO. All his posts are aimed at providing credible help and insights for readers who want to stay updated all the time. Connect with him on Linkedin and Twitter.

Writing a book is like creating a world, whether it is fiction, non-fiction or even a mentoring book. But with digital evolution, book readers have changed their reading habits. You will now find them on digital platforms such as mobile phones and websites instead of bookstores.

While this is an opportunity for many new writers and creators to reach readers beyond the hassles of publishing houses, it has also made it harder for writers to promote their books more effectively.

Social Media has gained more power through continuous user engagements in creating robust platforms for advertisers and marketers. But, when it comes to book promotion, a Social Media platform that is more of text-based can help you promote your book quite well. Twitter can be such a platform.

Why is Twitter a good platform for your book?

This micro-blogging platform has everything that makes for a promotional platform with an excellent network of intellectuals, writers, readers, and many more. 

Not only that this platform provides the right people to convey your book to, it also has a record of successful promotions. Twitter has 330 million monthly active users and 134 million daily users. Thus, this platform is the right place to reach more people for your book promotion.

On average, a person in the US spends over 2 hours daily on their smartphone and from those 3.39 minutes are used on Twitter per session. You may think this is a short span, but the average life of a tweet is 15-20 minutes. Considering these statistics, a peek of over 3 minutes can surely help promoters promote on Twitter.

So, how can Twitter help you promote your book?

How to use Twitter for book promotion?

Twitter has a restriction of 280 characters at present. Using this restriction to your advantage is how Twitter promotion works wonders. There have been many such examples of success, with one of the most popular Twitter users being J.K. Rowling. The famous author of the Harry Potter series has been the leading example of using Twitter with some over the top promotions.

Here are some ideas to get you started on Twitter.

Book Website linking with a Twitter account

Your twitter account is your billboard, so to speak. So, it is important for you to link it with your book page. Use your profile as your advertising canvas. For example, you can use your book cover as the cover image of your Twitter account. This way, anyone who visits your Twitter profile will get to know about your book and an actionable link on the profile can lead readers to your book’s site.

Promotion through engagement

Engage your readers and book fans with tweets and posts that keep them hooked. The best strategy here is to initiate a discussion on any of the important aspects covered in your book. For example, if you are promoting a book on time management, engage readers through poll tweets like, “which is the best practice for time management?”

Provide options and as the readers provide their opinions the poll gets constant engagement. This is an effective marketing strategy used by many marketers in partnership with a mobile app development company to create digital engagements through so-called gamification.

As you can see, I have successfully created a poll that will be updated regularly once any reader shares their opinion. This way, it continuously keeps readers and other twitter users on my profile engaged with this tweet.

Trending tweets

Using trending tweets to promote your books is another great trick. You can always find what is trending on Twitter using the hashtag symbol on the sidebar.

Use trending words or tweets for your book promotion by engaging in discussions and other trending polls. Sharing your opinion can make a difference to your readers and followers.

Following other authors

Follow other authors to tap into their readership for your books. A mutual admiration can certainly help your cause and there is nothing wrong in doing so. If your book is reviewed or recommended by other authors on Twitter, it certainly authenticates your promotion and your readers will have a credible source to rely on.

You can also look to follow writer groups and associations as they can help you promote your book to their readerships and even have it recommended by their member authors.

List the people you want to target

Listing the people you want to target through your Twitter account will help you focus your efforts in the right direction. There are two types of list that you need to develop:

1. Ones who you need to pay attention to.
2. Ones who need to pay attention to you.

Once you list these people, try to interact with them in friendly banter. This will induce engagement, which is vital for your book promotion. 

Tap reviewers through Twitter

Find potential reviewers through Twitter and offer them ARC (book copies for review).

This will help generate a buzz around your book organically as these reviewers will tweet reviews and other important elements of your books from their own profiles.

You can later retweet these reviews to help your readers find those reviews easily and allow them to tweet their own take on the reviews. This technique ensures reader participation and is quite effective in book promotion.

Tweet your Insta

Link your Twitter account to your Instagram account and post stories and pictures related to the book launch and other book promotion-related events regularly.

Whenever you post images, videos or any other book-related stuff, you will be asked if you want them to be shared as a tweet on your Twitter account. Just tap the button and let your readers know more of you through your Instagram account.

Tweet, Engage & Keep Going

You can use Twitter to help with a new release launch. Here are some techniques:

Spoiler Alerts:  Provide your readers with spoilers to induce curiosity about your book (but warn them beforehand). 

Use aspects and elements of your book and tweet them on a regular basis until the book is launched. After the launch, tweet polls and relative opinions from different sections of readers, reviewers, and critics.

Twitter Ads

All the above tricks and tools are free. However, you can also use a paid tool: Twitter Ads. Twitter Ads can help you get noticed. They are specifically designed for promotional and marketing activities on any Twitter account. They provide a variety of features and packages helpful in the promotion of your books.

• Twitter Analytics:
  Twitter analytics has several features that can help you measure the promotional outcomes of your Twitter Ads. Starting with Audience Insights, they provide valuable insights into aspects like demographics, lifestyle, consumer behavior, etc. 

Other important insights that it offers are information on buyer personas, spending patterns, reader’s interests, etc. These insights are vital to your promotional campaign as it allows you to make necessary changes to alter the final outcome.

• Activity Tracking:
  You can track your twitter activity through this feature. It will help you to gauge the tweeting promotions that you have been doing. You can get insights on top tweets, engagement rates and even track number of impressions by your tweets.

• Events Tracker:
  if you have hosted any Twitter events for your book promotion, you can track engagement rates and impressions on those events, you can also track video activities regarding your videos posted along with the tweets during the promotional event.

 

• Dedicated Dashboard:
  A dedicated dashboard provided on the homepage of the account that lets you know the tweet percentage, engagement percentage, impressions percentage, with a dedicated monthly summary of all the tweeting activities to monitor and improve them for better promotions.

Conclusion

Promoting your book on Twitter can be hard work. However, it doesn’t have to be tedious or boring. If this medium appeals to you, engaging with fellow writers and readers can be fun.

So, if you have a great storyline to tell with your book, then start engaging with your readers on Twitter!