Social Media Book Marketing: Real People, Real Time

Social media book marketing is an effective way to reach potential readers. With social media book marketing, you can connect with your readers and literary enthusiasts in fascinating online communities all over the world. It can be one of the most rewarding social book marketing techniques. If you have the time, energy, and know-how you can become involved with a few online social communities, unleashing the powerful and dynamic possibilities of social media book marketing.

Because social media is such a broad and intimidating category of book marketing, Go Publish Yourself introduces you into the core social media websites that could become part of your marketing plan. The survey of established social media websites allows you to pick and choose the ones that seem most appropriate and accessible for your social media book marketing goals, without having to sort through millions of Google Search results.

Social Media Introduction

The term “social media”, while impossible to strictly define, does imply that every interactive website is inherently social. There are real people at the end of each of every sentence. Just like Go Publish Yourself, these websites pride themselves on spreading a wealth of knowledge, and being nice about it.

Any obvious self-promotion, insults, tirades, explicit language, or otherwise nasty behavior, will get members thrown out of that community. Social media book marketing relies on you being you and speaking like you would to any person, in real life.

Social Media Website Categories

Before you can get started on your social media book marketing plan, you should understand the different types of social media websites that exist.  Each of these online communities has a different purpose and it is important to understand them before you begin marketing your book.

Social bookmarking/storage: users save links that they like and share them with other users

Social news: users share links that relate to current events and discuss therein

Book-specific: users review books, create their own bookshelf, interact with groups and create discussions with other members

Author-centered: users are typically authors or writers who would like to connect with other authors or writers

Miscellaneous: social media websites that defy categories and have more flexible, interactive user activities and options

Social Media Book Marketing

Since Go Publish Yourself already has articles on Facebook (coming soon!) and Twitter, let’s skip those – everybody has heard about them already. Let’s move to the other biggies of social media book marketing. You may only have time to include a couple websites, so choose carefully. You do not necessarily have to be everywhere to gain social media attention for your book.

General Social Media Websites

1. Digg – quick and easy social bookmarking and social news
2. Delicious – quick and easy social bookmarking
3. Reddit – social bookmarking and social news
4. Mister Wong – European-based social bookmarking
5. Slashdot – quick and easy social bookmarking
6. Google Bookmarks – social bookmarking and bookmark storage
7. Connotea – social bookmarking and bookmark storage
8. Folkd – one of the biggest social bookmarking websites
9. Metafilter – community weblog and link-sharing
10. StumbleUpon – one of the fastest-growing unique bookmarking and discussion sites
11. Bibsonomy – social bookmarking and bookmark storage

Book-specific Social Media Websites

These book specific social media sites are organized by size, with the larger communities at the top. Some websites are more useful for authors, and some are more general book recommendation websites for readers.

1. Goodreads
2. Shelfari
3. Librarything
4. Revish
5. BookJetty
6. Gather Books
7. aNobii
8. Red Room
9. weRead
10. Bookrevyoo
11. Bookcrossing
12. Bookrabbit
13. Blippr
14. BookSprouts
15. Paperback Swap

Author-centered Social Media Websites

1. AuthorsDen
2. Writerface
3. Inked-In
4. Cavewriters
5. RedRoom

Miscellaneous Social Media Websites

1. Hubpages – article creation and discussion. Create a “hub” about your book.
2. Squidoo – article creation and discussion. Create a “lens” about your book.
3. Yahoo! Associated Content – article creation and discussion (with a book review option)
4. Google Knol Beta – article creation and discussion, more like a Wikipedia. Submit carefully.

If you would like to read more insider information from Go Publish Yourself about social media book marketing, check back for The Author’s Guide to Social Media eBook. The eBook will have more in-depth information about all of these general and book-specific social media websites.

Coming soon!