Sex
sells. At least that’s what we hear over and over again, and it does to
an extent. Erotica sells quite well to a specific audience, but then
mystery sells well to a specific audience, too. With over 950 books
being published every day in the USA alone, the trick is getting your
book seen by that specific audience. The key to Twitter and any social
network is finding that specific, or niche, audience and making a
personal connection with each and every person. The more you can
identify and connect with your niche market, the more successful you
will be. The more you can build and maintain relationships with that
following, the better your sales will be.
I’ve
been on Twitter since 2009. Under my original name, @christinerose, I
made the top 100 authors on Twitter for 2009, sharing that title with
names like Neil Gaiman and Meg Cabot. It was quite the honor. I learned
how to use Twitter relatively early, before it became the massive social
network it is today. I now have over 10,000 followers on both that
account and @omgrey.
Since
2009, social networking has become part of daily life, both
professionally and personally, for millions of people around the globe.
A
harsh reality: No one cares you wrote a book unless you are already a
well-known author. However, the people who already care about you as a
person or colleague are interested that you wrote a book. Social
networking is building an extended family and professional base, people
who care about YOU. When they care about you, they’ll be interested in
your books.
Social
networking isn’t about marketing your book. It’s about marketing YOU.
Brand yourself, not your book, as it won’t be your only book, likely.
Your Twitter name, FB profile/page, blog, etc., should all be your
author name, not your books. Not your characters. YOU.
The
best strategy in Twitter, as in all social networks, is to be yourself
and focus on your strengths. Again, social networking is about making a
*personal* connection with readers and followers. Although we’re talking
mostly about Twitter today, your complete social networking marketing
strategy should all lead back to your blog and/or website. I advise in
my Publishing & Marketing Realities for the Emerging Author
book to turn your blog into your website. Two in one. This is for SEO
(Search Engine Optimization) placement and frequent new content, which
helps new readers find you and keep others coming back, respectively.
The optimum plan is to update your blog three times a week, but at the
very least once. Don’t blog about your book, except very rarely for
announcements like a new review or new release or an award. Don’t blog
from you character’s POV. Don’t blog about the writing process.
Blog
about what your niche audience would be interested in. As a writer of
romance and erotica, choose one day a week, for example Wednesdays, to
post relationship advice, a sexy picture of the week, how to spice up
one’s sex life, or tips on deepening intimacy with your spouse. Choose
another day, like Mondays, to post something about you, your book, or a
free steamy short story or piece of flash fiction. Then, on the third
day, say Fridays, post reviews of other romance/erotica books. This
helps build author networks for cross promotion (Cross Promotion is
GOLD) and helps new readers of romance/erotica find your site. You want
your blog to service and benefit your readers, not you. Have very
visible links to purchase your books on the sidebars with big, beautiful
cover images leading directly to Amazon using your Amazon Associates,
so you make a few pennies whether the reader buys your book or something
else on Amazon. More detailed and step-by-step information on how to do
all of this in my Publishing & Marketing Realities book, written under Christine Rose.
Now, Twitter. This along with Facebook, Goodreads, Tumblr, LinkedIn, whatever-other-network-you-like
all lead back to your hub: your blog/website. Similarly, with Twitter
you can’t just post links to your books and hound people to buy buy buy.
You can’t only talk about your characters or your plot. You must build
relationships.
Twitter
is like a big party, the biggest party in the world with millions and
millions of people all talking about different things at the same time.
You cannot talk to everybody; your voice will get lost in the din. You
must find the clique of people talking about BDSM or LGBT or Historical
Romance or whatever. You do this by using #Hashtags and joining ongoing
conversations that discuss things relating to your niche audience.
You
must not tweet every five minutes, or even every hour, about your book.
People shut you out. This is about creating a human, personal
connection with other human beings.
I
developed my 4-Fold Twitter Approach to build and maintain
relationships with your target audience on Twitter while letting them
know you are an author, you have a great book for sale, and you have
much to add to the conversation.
Personal Tweets.
These can be anything about you, as a person. Tweet about enjoying that
frothy mocha at Starbucks. Tweet about being stuck in traffic. How your
cat is interrupting your typing by laying on your keyboard. This is how
people get to know you. Use your strengths, especially if you have the
gift of humor. These tweets, remarkably, get the most replies because
people can identify with needing a cup of coffee or treating oneself to a
mocha or being frustrated and late for a meeting. People can relate to
not being able to work because the kids are screaming. When people can
relate, you’ve just made a personal connection.
ReTweets.
This is when you tweet someone else’s tweet, essential because it shows
you are paying attention to what other people tweet and showing the
value of their words by reposting them. This also makes a connection. It
says: I see you. When you see them, they see you.
@Replies, or Mentions.
This is similar to tagging in Facebook when you mention a person in
your tweet or it starts a one-on-one conversation between you and that
other person. Again: I see you. What you say is important, valid, valuable.
Even moreso, it’s joining in on the conversation. It’s deepening that
initial connection by forming a relationship through dialogue and
sharing ideas, thoughts, dreams, experiences, complaints, whatever.
Marketing Tweets.
You obviously have to have some marketing tweets, otherwise, no one
will know you wrote a book or where to buy them, but it is only one
prong of the 4-Fold Twitter Approach and should not be more than 25% of
your tweets. Many of these tweets can be automated, and I go into great
detail about the time-saving benefits of automation in my Publishing & Marketing Realities book. After all, you still need time to write.
By using this strategy, a NY Agent found me and my Steampunk Erotica novel Avalon Revisited,
which went on to be on Amazon’s Gothic Romance Bestseller list for four
months. Because of Twitter, I have representation in NY. Because of
Twitter, I get hundreds of new hits on my blog every day. Because of the
content on my blog, which benefits my readers more than me, I have
readers come back for more and more.
Happy Tweeting.
-_Q
Olivia M. Grey writes Steamy Steampunk, like the Amazon Gothic Romance bestseller Avalon Revisited. Her short stories and poetry have been published in various magazines and anthologies, like SNM Horror Magazine and How the West Was Wicked. Ms.
Grey also blogs and podcasts relationship essays covering such topics
as alternative lifestyles, deepening intimacy, ending a relationship
with love and respect, and other deliciously dark and decadent matters
of the heart and soul.
