Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion
II. Publishing & Marketing Tips
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Making & Maintaining a Facebook Page - Tips?
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Hi, Robert. I have a FB page for my book. Unfortunately, most of people that I know and are on my friends list ignore the invitation to like the page. What has worked best for me is joining other FB groups and GR groups and get on threads about like for like. I've gotten much more likes from fellow authors than friends. I'm also open for suggestions if anyone has better luck or hints!
I think you're absolutely right, Andrea: I've gotten no help from friends on FB, and my next step is going to be joining other groups on FB and exchanging likes on GR.
Hi, CMJ, I wonder why we get no help from friends on FB. Out of more than 300 friends, all I got was 45 likes although they were all invited to like and support the page! If you want to start another like for like list here, please leave a message on my Fb page that you liked it and I will gladly return the favor!https://www.facebook.com/massiveblack...
Same problem here. But, I wonder how effective us liking each other's pages is. I mean I can get a whole bunch of new authors to "like" my Facebook page. But, how many books will that sell? Don't get me wrong, I like as many of my fellow authors as I can, but is it really helping?
It's good to have a Facebook Fanpage because it gives you another place to advertise yourself and your work. To me it's not about the likes, your not after as many likes as possible unless half of those likes are people interested in your work. Although Amazon Associates has a thing where if you have over 400 likes you'll be able to feature on your account and eStore with them if you make one on your facebook. It seems unrealistic and not worth it but thats just me. Should definitely make a FB Fanpage though.
I don't see the advantage of getting empty 'likes' from people who aren't actually going to follow you. The one good thing about getting people to 'like' you is that their friends will see that they 'liked' you. But if they already liked 55 author pages, then it isn't going to mean much to anyone who happens to look at their pages, is it?Now, if you got thousands of likes, it might eventually register somewhere and get you some attention, but I think it would have to be several thousand, maybe more.
For me, the facebook page is a free way to connect with readers and potential readers. I post lines from upcoming books, faves from my first book, and little snipets about related things that are happening in my world. I'm interested in ideas from other people, too!
It's a million user platform.You have to go to the people. I have one. It is very hard now that all these what we call "Facebook Whore me pages" came out, you know the ones telling you you have 3 seconds to like a photo or share for this and like for that. We are competing to become famous authors with people who want to be facebook famous, but it's all about who you talk to and what kind of people tyou add to your friends list. I need a co admin, i forget i have a page sometimes haha
I concur. I invited my friends to the page but less than half of them accepted. I mean, my best friends accepted but the rest of my Facebook friends are people I know, but not well and just old acquaintances really. I get lots of invitations to like pages from them and never do, so why should they like mine? I've found that I get the most likes on a status for my page when I don't post about me or the book. Updates like a joke, a quote, or even movie news goes down better - I got a lot of hits when I reviewed The Hobbit during its release.
Then of course is the 'pay to promote' aspect. I haven't done it yet, I think it's a waste of money because I've yet to click on an ad on Facebook so why should some stranger click on mine.
Definitely make a Facebook page! I made one and I post general content on it about the topic of my book. For example, my book is motivational, so I post motivational content that appeals to everyone on the Facebook page (which results in shares). This creates interest in my page, and then I use that to market my book.My book is titled "Win No Matter What," and I also post updates on what is going on with it. For example, since it just released last month, I decided to donate most book sale profits to Acumen, a charity investing in solutions to global poverty. I posted this on Facebook and everyone loved the cause.
You can find my book here: http://www.amazon.com/Win-No-Matter-W...
As you can see though, Facebook definitely helps promotion :)
Nihar, your tactic may only work for you and not for the rest of us, although if your willing to share your successful tips further then by all means..
Thanks for the replies people!The friend thing I've had before, even just getting them to read the book is difficult! Sometimes writing a book isn't as big a deal to other people as it is to us lol.
It's a good idea to have a FB author page, but don't expect a lot out of it at first. It's not a magic pill for success. It's an organic thing, that takes time to grow. Out of 250 FB friends less than 20 liked my author page, and most of those were from postings on my personal page. The "invite so and so to like your page" seems to have had zero effect.
Empty likes from other authors sometimes does seem like a complete waste of time. If you have 20 authors, and they all like each other's pages, that isn't really building an audience or a fanbase for your page. However, I don't think that is the whole picture.
For me, I enjoy being connected to other authors, because I get daily pings about writing, or not writing, in my news feed, which helps remind me that I'm wasting time on my personal FB page, and should be doing something productive. Some of the pics or quotes I find this way are inspirational, or humorous, and some I will save to post on my own author page.
I think it is important to get a certain number of likes, even if they are "fake" likes (exchanges of likes between authors) because once you can see the author page's statistics, you can start to follow what kind of activity has what kind of effect on your statistics, and understand that you need to post regularly to keep up a certain momentum. It's all part of learning how to use the FB author page.
I now have about 60 likes, and 40 of these are from people on GR, most of which are authors.
Now I've reached the threshold (you don't see graphs related to site traffic until 30 likes I think) I'm not as gung ho about getting likes from exchanges. I know likes don't equal sales.
But if you have a FB author page now, if/when it does take off, then you will already know how to use it, and how to navigate through it.
Even other authors *might* actually be interested in your postings, or even your books! Many authors are voracious readers, after all. I know I was thrilled to find a GR connection to one of my own favourite authors :)
For me, it seems more important to not stress out about 'like' numbers, or even site traffic graphs (although I was obsessive about these at the beginning). Just occasionally (monthly?) ping your FB friends that you have an author page, regularly (daily?) announce pertinent events on your author page (like blog posts, new releases, thoughts du jour, what you are working on, and so on) and make sure there is a link to your FB in every book that you publish.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink. You have to accept the fact that no one has really noticed your work/talent/masterpiece and just focus on writing, and getting better.
One day momentum will build, and you'll be ready for it when it happens :)
Great post! Thanks for the insight. I set mine up yesterday, similarly to you I had about 10% of my friends like the page. We'll see how it pans out, I suppose it's better to have it than not!
You'll get likes either in bulk or randomally which is good either way. The issue is posting content on it frequently. I myself dont post half as much content as I should, it helps to post at least once or twice a day.
Andrea wrote: "Hi, CMJ, I wonder why we get no help from friends on FB.Andrea, saw your note and liked your page. Will you like my page?
https://www.facebook.com/katy.mann.313
My biggest tip is to make sure you keep your page updated. You don't have to fill your page with only information about you and your book. Make it personal, let your fans know more about you. Make it interesting. I remember reading somewhere (forgotten where) that you should have about 60% of you content on things not related to your writing such as quotes and pictures. the rest is for your writing.Check out my facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/scarlettskys...
So what tips do you have?