Marketing Mayhem: 7 Effective Ways to Market Yourself on Social Media as a Writer

Knowing how to market yourself as a writer is an invaluable skill. You’d probably like to just focus on writing your book, and not have to worry about pesky social media, right? But these days, being able to market yourself as a writer is a must, long before you even reach the publishing stage (and definitely after you’re published!). While you technically could avoid social media as a writer, it’s not recommended. Marketing yourself online will give you a wider reach with fellow authors, agents, editors, and potential readers. So, read on for some effective tips on how to market yourself on social media as a writer. 

1. Know your platform

To effectively market yourself as a writer, you need to tailor your approach to the functions of each social media platform. 

• Instagram: Image based. Focus on creating eye-catching photos and videos. You should still craft great captions, but these are secondary to the visuals! 
• Threads: Text based. This platform focuses on text-based posts.
• TikTok: Video based. You can create videos using trending sounds or craft your own and set it to the music of your choice. 
• Facebook: Facebook continues to dominate the social media landscape (70% of internet users in the UK use Facebook compared to 56% for Instagram) and accommodates image, video, and text based posts.

While it’s important to understand these platforms, be selective about where you choose to market yourself as a writer. Consistent posting is an essential part of growing your social media audience, but if you’re on too many platforms at once, you may struggle to keep up. Choose two social media platforms that you feel best fit how you want to market yourself as a writer and focus on creating quality content over quantity.

2. Choose your niche

Part of marketing yourself as a writer is knowing what you can contribute to both the writing and literary communities. Essentially, find your niche (and be consistent with it). Here are a few ideas: 

• Do a weekly book review of what you’re reading.
• Create behind the scenes videos of your writing process, how you focus before you write, or your typical writing routine. 
• Make inspirational content for other writers. You can feature quotes from famous authors and do short writing pep talks. Talk about how you approach common writing hurdles such as making your book more marketable or writing a great ending.
• If you already have a published book out there, a fun way to market yourself on social media is by re-enacting scenes from your book. Or make a video about the popular tropes featured in your book (e.g. ‘enemies to lovers’, ‘unassuming suspect’, etc.). This is a great way to pique reader interest.
• Promote your book by posting reviews of other books in the genre and tying them to yours. 
• Collaborate with other authors and  interview each other. 

3. Follow the 80/20 rule

You have to strike a balance when you market yourself as a writer on social media. Too much self-promotion can put people off, while too little means your book doesn’t get seen! If in doubt about whether you’re doing too much or not enough, try to stick to the 80/20 rule. 

The 80/20 rule is the go-to standard to market yourself as a writer. This means 80% of what you post should be new or useful content and 20% should be promoting yourself or your book. Your followers don’t want to feel like they’re constantly being sold something. A lot of quality content and a little marketing and promoting is the best way to keep them around. 

4. The 3-to-7 rule

Another go-to when you market yourself as a writer is the 3-to-7 rule. 

• Use 3-to-7 Hooks: These are personal interests/hobbies that you’d like to feature on your social media. For example, maybe you like hiking, visiting breweries, and you own a cat.
• Use 3-to-7 Angles: These are repetitive angles you use in photos or when filming videos. For example, your desk, bookshelf, or even your face (always from the same perspective) count as angles. 

We understand not all authors like to show their face online or social media but we recommend at least trying. Your followers want to feel like they know you. Seeing your face is one way to market yourself as a writer who is also a friend!

5. Post consistently

People like to know what they should expect, so posting consistently is absolutely key. Your followers will come to expect and look forward to your posts, which is important if you want to keep them around! 

• Set up a schedule for posting on social media. Platforms like Canva have social media post planners to help you stay organised. 
• Platforms like Buffer allow you to schedule multiple posts at once. Buffer will post them on whatever timeline you want, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting.
• The algorithm doesn’t always favour social media posts that stick to a rigid schedule. It’s good to mix in a little spontaneity! 

6. React to what does well

Don’t be afraid to reuse templates! If one of your posts does really well, make it into a series or use it as a template for future content. You don’t have to go viral for a post to do well, and what makes a ‘good’ post will vary from person to person. 

The number of likes isn’t the only gauge of how well a post is doing. How many comments do you have? How many people saved your post to come back to later? It’s easier to hit the like button and scroll on than to stop and take the time to leave a comment or save a post.

7. Interact

When you market yourself as a writer on social media, you aren’t just putting content out into the world. You have to interact with other people and their content, too! For example: 

• Share what you’re reading and be sure to tag the authors! An author is more likely to repost you if you tag them. 
• Find other writers through #writingcommunity. Follow, share, and comment on their posts. (Social media is also a great place to find a writing group if you haven’t already.) 
• Seek out published authors in your genre and comment on their posts. This is a great place to ‘socialise’ with potential readers. Look at it as your virtual water cooler. 
• Respond to EVERYTHING. Interaction is how you grow your platform, so respond to any and every comment or DM you receive (unless it’s something inappropriate or makes you uncomfortable, of course. In this case don’t be afraid to block!). By interacting with potential readers and other authors, they’ll be more likely to want to read and champion your book later.

Do I need thousands of followers to get published?

It certainly won’t hurt as an author to have a large online following. After all, followers can translate into book sales. However, the expectations can vary depending on what type of book you’re writing, what publishing route you’re pursuing, and the agent or publishers you’re interested in. 

• Non-fiction: Many modern-day agents and publishers like their non-fiction authors to have an online following of 5k or more. One way to show you’re an expert in your field is through sharing useful content in your subject matter and showing that you have a large number of followers who are interested in what you have to say. 

• Fiction: While not all agents and publishers will require you to market yourself as a writer on social media, it’s becoming more and more the norm. Most will want to see that you are contributing and interacting with the literary community, putting up consistent content, and willing to use social media as a tool to promote your work.  

• Self-publishing: This is the one branch of publishing where a strong social media following is absolutely necessary, regardless of whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction. As a self-published author, you are the writer, publisher, and marketer rolled into one, so you need to know how to market yourself as a writer. 

At the end of the day, quality over quantity is what matters. It’s better to have 400 followers but consistent engagement on your posts (i.e. comments and interactions) than to have 10k followers and no comments at all.

Oh, and these days, it’s possible for agents and publishers to check if you’ve purchased followers and how many are real people, so no cheating! 

What if I don’t want to use social media? 

It’s completely normal to feel overwhelmed (or even repulsed) by social media. But with so many options out there, it’s easier than ever to find a way to market yourself as a writer that works for you. If Instagram and Facebook aren’t your jam, you might consider starting a podcast. Or write a monthly e-mail newsletter in which you provide updates and excerpts of your book. You can start a Substack, or your own YouTube channel. The sky (or the internet) is limitless! 

Unfortunately, marketing is too complicated to summarise in one concise article. If you’re still feeling like it’s all too much, maybe a chat with an author coach might be of help. Our author coaches can provide more than writing and publishing advice; they’ll talk you through whatever aspect of the process you’re struggling with (including social media marketing)!

Who knows, once you get the hang of it, you may find yourself enjoying the myriad of ways you can market yourself as a writer online.