Social Media Tips for Authors: Filling the Bucket

By Pamela Fagan Hutchins
Adapted Excerpt from What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?
Reprinted with permission from SkipJack Publishing

Love it or hate it, social media is a critical part of marketing. It is a way of connecting, not only with potential readers, but also with people who can help you meet your goals—as long as you remember that it’s a two-way street. You need to be prepared to put as much or more energy (or money) into other people’s goals as you would like them to put towards yours.

Why is this important? You sell your book by getting people to tell other people to buy it, not by screaming “buy my book” over and over on Facebook.

Think of social media as a way to fill a bucket that has the potential to contain goodwill. You will need that goodwill to sell your book. You have to fill your bucket first, and you do that by helping others.

The good news is that it is really not very hard to fill your bucket. People are grateful to accept help. If you get out and establish an online presence and help people promote whatever it is they are trying to sell/distribute/raise for charity, they will be a hundred times more likely to do the same for you when the time comes.

The bad news is, the bucket has a leak.

To read the rest of Pamela’s article on Writing Wyoming, click HERE.

Pamela Fagan Hutchins writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction (What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?), and series mysteries, like What Doesn’t Kill You, which includes the bestselling Saving Grace and the 2015 WINNER of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsy, which you can get free in ebook, anywhere. She teaches writing, publishing, and promotion at the SkipJack Publishing Online School and writes about it on the SkipJack Publishing blog.

Pamela resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. She has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes with her hunky husband and pack of rescue dogs, traveling in the Bookmobile, and experimenting with her Keurig. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).