AtlasBooks Distribution Blog

Social media can produce results for authors. I know, because I used it to promote my own award-winning book to the top of Amazon’s charts for two straight years. I was a pioneer in my industry and got publicity because of it.

I now develop social media campaigns for small businesses, including authors and other creative professionals, and in a series of six blog posts, I’ll share with you what you need to know, whether you decide to do it yourself or hire a pro.

Before you begin a social media campaign for your book, you need to identify six elements of your strategy: who, what, when, where, why, and how?

Today we’ll tackle the first element: who is your audience?

You would be surprised at the number of authors who don’t know the answer to this question. Or, if they do, they are often too vague. Be obsessively specific here. While we all would love to think everyone will want our books, it just isn’t so. Identify your potential readers down to their:

• age
• sex
• education level
• income level
• what publications they read
• what websites they visit
• what their budget is
• are they local or nationwide

Even when you think you’ve identified buyers as much as possible, go further.

If this step is difficult for you, try it this way: who wouldn’t be interested in your book, and why? Sometimes identifying the negatives is easier than pinning down the positives, and it helps to further narrow down your audience.

Next we’ll be looking at the second element of your social media campaign: What?

If you’d like to learn more about social media to promote your books, sign up for my monthly email newsletter here.

Maria Peagler is the author and publisher of Color Mastery: 10 Principles for Creating Stunning Quilts, a Benjamin Franklin award winner for Best Craft Book of 2010.