Written by Along with marketing your book on your regular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter you should also be concentrating some of your efforts on the following book social network sites.
These sites allow you to sign up for a free account and then start talking about books. Most of them let you sign up as an author and list the book or books that you have written. But you can also list what you are reading, write reviews, rate the books you have read, join groups, make friends etc… You may wonder why you would want to do this if all you are interested in is marketing your book. You don’t always want to be in everyone’s face saying HEY LOOK AT ME I’M AN AUTHOR AND HERE IS MY BOOK, HOW MANY COPIES DO YOU WANT? You want to give to the communities on sites like these just as you would give a speech or free training at a school, local bookstore, library etc… You give a little and get exposure which is the name of the game.
Sites like these give you a good advantage over regular social networking sites since everyone there is there because of books. Sites like these give you a targeted market to participate and comingle with.
Goodreads.com is probably the premier site for book social networking. They have an author program in place that allows authors to promote their books free of charge. You can advertise your book, give away copies to drum up excitement and interest, share upcoming events, post a video, write a quiz about your book etc… you can even download a widget to add to your personal site or blog.
Shelfari.com is another one that lets authors create a page about themselves and do some self promotion by posting a video or adding an excerpt from your book. There are some well recognized authors here like Suzanne Collins, Steig Larsson, Jodi Picoult and others. You can be right here with them.
Librarything.com is another good site for many of the same activities and they have over 1.2 million users. They offer a program that lets members do early reviews which would be a good way to get a jump start on your book launch. They also have groups that you can join that may pertain to your particular genre.
Here are a few more that you should check into:
I’m not suggesting that you join every one of these but please sign up and participate in at least two of them. If you do sign up for only two then I suggest Goodreads.com since they are the biggest and will give you the most exposure for your time spent. The second one I will leave up to you since none of the sites are identical.
Just think networking when you are participating in any of these great sites and don’t talk only about your book. Nobody likes to listen to a stuck record anyway. Have fun with it.
Mike Webb
This site is very informative and useful, for aspiring authors as myself.
Thank You
Colishia Benjamin
Great post. I enjoyed the information and new sites to find authors. I love reading and reviewing the books on my blog as well as writing. Look forward to following your site and learning more. Thank you.
Donna McBroom-Theriot
Louisiana