What Is the Deal With Book Authors Following Other Book Authors on Social Media?

Here is another question I got about social media marketing:

I see that fiction (romance) authors friending others from their publisher on Facebook, following each other on Twitter, following blogs, and tagging each other's books on Amazon. And even linking on Linked in.

My question is these "friends" aren't fans and they are unlikely to read blogs or buy the books or even recommend to their fans.

The authors already have ways to connect and support each other. So is this artificial pumping up of numbers a brilliant idea or not? For one, I'd like to keep Linked in for real professional contacts. What's your opinion?

I'm never in favor of doing things just so that a number counter on a social media site goes up. But I'm always in favor of creating concentric circles of people who might like your product or, as in this case, your book.

Let's think about this. I'm Author A and you follow me on Twitter. And let's say that I'm not going to buy your book but your book is in the same genre as mine.

Now here is what could happen: People following me on Twitter might notice a tweet by you. And they might click on your Twitter username to learn more about you. If you've done a good job of writing your Twitter bio, they might click through to your book's website to learn more.

Or perhaps my Twitter followers might notice your photo in my list of followers. Again, this may lead them to click on your username and then on your website.

Remember you're not looking for everyone in the world to read your book – you're looking for the people who enjoy the type of book you wrote to read your book.

With this perspective, it definitely makes sense to connect with fellow authors because the concentric circles to promote your book can start from anyone of them.

And, in exchange, I would hope that you would promote their books to your followers if their books are appropriate for your target markets. Do NOT say you have read a book when you haven't. But you can say, for example, that here is a book in the same genre as your book.

While there's no guarantee, I personally find that helping others on social media is a big game of "paying it forward." The person you help may not help you, but then some other person may have already helped you.

P.S. In terms of keeping LinkedIn for professional contacts, I believe that connecting with fellow book authors is professional. See the Book Marketing open group I manage on LinkedIn.

© 2011 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ZimblerMiller and Yael K. Miller can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MillerMosaicLLC



Miller Mosaic has a set of three how-to social media videos – Twitter, Facebook Page and LinkedIn – to help people set up their accounts on these sites.