As noted a few days ago, Brian Feinblum wrote a blog post on 22 things book authors should do in 2022 (https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2021/12/22-things-authors-should-do-in-2022.html). I thought I'd post his recommendations along with my riff on his ideas. Here are two more of his ideas.
8. Join online groups. Join LinkedIn and Facebook groups connected to writing books, especially those targeted to your genre or topic. There are writing groups for romance, science fiction, self-help, memoirs, travel, food, business, and more. Plus, of course, there are groups targeted to any topic you write about, groups that might not be about writing, but might bring in fans, advocates, bloggers, podcasters, etc.
Online groups are one of the best ways to discover insider secrets for researching, writing about, and publishing on your topic as well as marketing and promoting to your target audience or audiences.
Here are just a few of the writer groups on Facebook that I discovered several years ago. I joined many of them. Check them out and see if they work for you:
Creative Designers and Writers – 322,267 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativedesignerswriters – No rules, promotions allowed.
Writers’ Group – 40,572 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/memberswritersgroup – Writers of all skill levels and experience are encouraged to help each other through problem spots in their writing, bounce ideas off other members, and talk about the latest news affecting the industry/craft; exchange leads to discovery.
Content Writing, Writers – 37,993 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/copy.content – This is an exclusive place on Facebook for writing professionals into advertising, brand management, promotion and digital marketing to share and contribute with their experience and exposure in writing.
Books, Books and More Books!!! – 35,192 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/320356974732142 – Where authors and readers can post to help promote their books and giveaways.
English Writers – 33,823 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/English.Writers – Any post containing a link (and nothing else) will not be approved (when you post a link try to specify it to open in a new window so that it does not take the user away from the Facebook page). So not send quotes. A member can advertise his own book.
Writers Unite! – 32,576 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/145324212487752 – IF YOU HAVE A BOOK FOR SALE OR SERVICES TO OFFER (book cover, editing, etc.): we put up a bookstore on the pinned post that stays up from Friday morning until Monday morning. . . . IF YOU WANT TO POST A LINK TO: your blog/vlog, author's page, personal YouTube video, Facebook/Twitter page or anything of that ilk, post it in the comments of the pinned post from Monday through Thursday. Please remember, only one post per day for each link. You may post more than one link per day as long as it is not the same link. DO NOT POST LINKS IN THE REPLIES TO OTHER LINKS.
Book Promotion – 31,839 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/BookPromotion – The purpose of this group is to enable authors to promote their books, to readers of all tastes. What it is NOT for is the promotion and sale of anything other than books. If you post ads for anything else, you and your post will be removed – permanently. Author pages and other posts related to publishing and book business are permitted. (Operated by BestSeller Publishing; email: rebecca@bestsellerpublishing.org, Rebecca Grosch)
Authors – 30,575 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/179494068820033 – Anything about writing. Stories, experiences, advice and tips. Any new books, promotions or book cover designs.
Books, Blogs, Readers & Writers – 29,409 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/1738820499716120 – We are here to have crazy book lovers, amazing literary bloggers, avid readers and passionate writers, all at one place. Feel free to share your works (Literature), your reading experience... anything and everything related to LITERATURE!
Online Book Publicity Group – 28,556 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/online.book.publicity – Operated by Substance Books. But members can post about their books.
Amazon Kindle Goodreads – 25,125 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/kindle.goodreads – This group is for people who own Amazon Kindle and want to share their recommendations for books they recent read and liked, or chat about their favorite authors etc.
Promote KDBook! Free! – 24,128 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/promotekdbook – Promote Your Kindle Book. Glad to have you with us. Wishing you every continued success.
Indie Author Book Promotion Page – 23,797 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/571135069563269 – Welcome to the open group for Indie Author book promotions. Share the links for author pages and books on your wall as well!
Freelance Writers – 23,561 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/2351373470 – This group is for all the freelance writers out there. Please share experiences, works or job postings.
Authors and Book Lovers Discussion Group – 23,293 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/authorspostyourbooks – This is a discussion group for authors and book lovers to chat about their favorite books. All Authors are welcome to promote here!
Kindle Publishers – 23,211 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/512098985483106 – Kindle ebooks only. New members please do make an introductory post so we can all know who you are, what you do, where you are from, etc. Feel free to include contact information like website or email or facebook page links. I do allow, indeed I encourage, self–promotion, advertising links, even affiliate links, in most of my groups. If not, it is clearly stated in the pinned post (No second chances for those groups!), but those promotional posts, comments, or links must be on topic for the group. If it's relevant, feel free to share it, whether commercial or otherwise. If you post about the same book, theme, plugin, etc. more than once, do so only with reasonable frequency. Some groups have more traffic than others. Your book should not show up more than about once in 6 to 10 screens.
Book Reviews & Promotion – 22,232 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/148313988694907 – Post books, including those for sale (Sale Posts).
Authors, Reviewers, & Book Lovers – 22,142 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/BooksLuvers – Post only things that are book related, this includes book reviews, book promos as well as author sites, blogs, and Facebook pages, etc.
Book Promotions – 21,961 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/623206594363552 – This group is for promoting books of all kinds. Including poetry. Feel free to put up any book you have written or like.
Where Authors Begin – 21,273 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/516756898457588 – No promo posts – this is a group to support the writing process, not to promote your books. Posting covers of your books are also considered promo. If you want to share the art, share the art, but if you post the full cover, regardless of its context, it will be deleted. Blog post links about the writing craft allowed.
Ebooks N Books Promos Group – 20,359 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/eBooksBooksPromo – The purpose of this group is to enable authors to promote their books, to readers of all tastes. What it is NOT for is the promotion and sale of anything other than books. If you post ads for anything else, you and your post will be removed – permanently. Author pages and other posts related to publishing and book business are permitted. (Operated by BestSeller Publishing; email: rebecca@bestsellerpublishing.org, Rebecca Grosch).
Writers and Readers – 20,335 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/writersandreaders – Post questions about books and recommend books and where writers can interact with readers.
Novelspot Readers – 19,589 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/NovelspotRecommendsbooks – We're all about the books? Authors, your brags go here! Contests you're in! BUT If you're an author and want to TALK WRITING with authors, publishers and editors, join Novelspot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Novelspotters.
Author Promo and Book Sales Group – 19,453 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/147716185430164 – Post your book covers, links to where the book can be purchased, as well as a log line of what your book is about to try to get readers interested.
Creative Writing – 19,448 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/wherecreativitylives – No rules.
Promote Kindle Book++ – 18,740 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/1084582441578359 – Promote your Kindle book free.
Writers Helping Writers – 18,565 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/mikegeffnerpresentswritershelpingwriter – New members are encouraged to introduce themselves, tell a little about yourself, how you got started writing, the type of genre you work in (sci–fi? romance? historical fiction? non–fiction?) and other interesting trivia, but no links to your books or "please buy my book" posts will be allowed.
Authors Promoting Authors – 18,498 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/apablog – Authors Promoting Authors community group. This group serves as a forum for discussion, promotion and sharing. Please be respectful.
Authors, Agents, and Aspiring Writers – 18,349 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/204725947524 – You are free to promo new releases, your books, your writing blogs, your thoughts on writing and asking for help from others to improve your craft. If you have information that you think will be beneficial to writers, please share. Please do not post the same link/cover/promo more than once a day. This includes promotional services. If you post six different authors in a day, you're flooding the wall and making your promo more like spam.
Books, Readers and Authors – 17,903 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/BOOKS.READERS.and.AUTHORS – All of us are either readers, reviewers, or authors. Let’s celebrate our reading experiences and out books!
There’s an eBook in the Room – 17,659 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/126014020784739 – A room full of eBook enthusiasts and their eReaders. Featuring the very best in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, There's an eBook in the Room is your guide to great reading!
Cheekypee Promote Your Books – 17,519 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/2friendspromatewithauthors – This is a UK based group. Feel free to advertise your book/books, but please DO NOT SPAM the group with post after post with your books. Respect others in the group. Everyone wants to advertise their books, so please do not bump posts or arrange your friends to do so. People are FREE TO COMMENT on your post but not by prior arrangement just to move your post up. We do not endorse or encourage REVIEW SWAPS within this group, what you do outside of this group is up to you.
Amazon Kindle/eBook Readers – 17,477 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/129536203777715 – The group promotes not only ebooks but also paperback copies...some recommended reads.
Celebrating Authors – 16,721 members – https://www.facebook.com/groups/157960580960255 – In this group, shameless SELF–PROMOTION is not only welcomed, it’s encouraged––and the point! Give a hook line and the link to your book.
There are, of course, more such groups, some of which have grown much larger in the past few years.
LinkedIn also offers many similar groups that you can join.
In any group you join, don’t be mercenary. Share first. Answer questions from others. Ask questions. Become a real member of the group. Talk about your book only within the legitimate answers you give to other people’s questions.
And, of course, where allowed, you can always include an author signature with every post. Something like: John Kremer, author, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books
For more Facebook group links and other resources, download the following Facebook Links PDF: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/wp-content/uploads/Facebook-Links-1.pdf
9. Boost your social media posts. In other words, pay to get more people to see your social media posts and click through on them.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of this suggestion. But that’s just because I’m cheap. I hate paying for traffic when I can get the traffic for free.
On the other hand, I do understand that with many social media, the only way you’ll get much traffic is to pay for it. Facebook definitely works that way for most users. You have to pay for traffic. And it’s certainly still worth it to test Facebook ads to see if they will pay off for you in sending traffic to your sales pages.
You will also get more traffic on Instagram and LinkedIn if you pay for that traffic.
In my experience, you can get a ton of traffic from Pinterest without paying for it, but ads on Pinterest could be very effective in selling your books or other products. I would certainly test ads on all social media, including Pinterest.
Facebook Ad Options:
22 Book Marketing Actions to Take in 2022, Episode 3