Social media ‘gems’ are snippets about your work which you can use on social media to attract readers to your Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest profiles to find out more about you. If they’re too long most people won’t actually read them and you’re probably not going to sell a lot of books. So, what’s an author to do to get noticed in this ever-increasing world of indie authors who need to promote their own work?

Fear not. We have a plan.

As you write your epic novel or ebook, start gathering your social media gems (as we teach in our ‘From – To’ Writing Courses). If you do this each time you write a page or a chapter, you’ll soon have a treasure trove for your social media platforms. These little gems can be quotes from your own book, other authors, images and interesting tidbits about your genre, and they become tools to promote your amazing book.

How often should you share? Too often is just being pushy and followers may skip over you or drop you altogether. Too seldom and they may forget who you are.

It’s best to use the 80/20 rule of engagement. That means 80% is other things your reader would find interesting, and 20% about your work.

What do I mean? Here’s an example:

• Monday you tweet a quote from your book twice–one am, one pm. Choose an epic sentence.
• Tuesday you tweet a fun fact about your genre—“All Elves have pointy ears.”
• Wednesday you tweet a quote from another author. Famous deceased authors are a good place to start.
• Thursday you tweet about great places to read a book like yours—“A woodland area is a perfect spot to read a fantasy book.”
• Friday you tweet about a writing event, such as a conference, a book signing by a colleague, a movie release in your genre, something that inspired you that week.
• Saturday you tweet another amazing quote from your book.

I know, this is 60/20 but there’re only seven days in a week and we all need a day off. The point is that this is social media. Talking about yourself and your own book all day online with little regard for bringing value to your readers can be detrimental to building a fan base.

Stand out with images

If you’re not a design expert, use Canva. (We promise we’re not affiliated with them!) They figure out things like proper design layout for you. I use them for my own blog and social media posts at my author website.

With Pinterest and Instagram, you need an image to post and on other platforms they’re often crucial for getting noticed. There’re a lot of posts from other people you can share so save the ones you like and refer back to them as the subject fits. Use the same method as with Twitter, and please create a professional ‘Author’ page for your followers to ‘like’ and follow your work rather than sharing from a personal social media account.

For my fantasy book pre-publishing gems (still in progress), I collect posts on Writing Fantasy, anything on Races such as Elves and Goblins, Quotes From Authors Who Write Fantasy, Inspirational Images, and I create two quotes per week from my book and add an image to go along with it.

Pinterest is amazing for authors because it allows you to pin at your heart’s content and whenever, and will even suggest pins for you once it knows what you’re looking for. I love Pinterest!

Remember to add your website, blog or Facebook Author page to everything so people know where they can sign up for book updates  or follow you, and add topic-related words such as ‘Writing Fantasy’ and ‘Places To Read’ that will identify you to your ideal reader.

If you’re still in progress of writing a book like I am and you want to start marketing your book before you’ve published it, check out our past blog post on doing that.

Have fun with your social media gems. Treat them as if you’re sharing with a friend who’s really interested in your work and you’ll enjoy marketing your books.

Lynne