As writers and authors, we often get hung up on what to do to promote ourselves and our material without sounding like we are standing on a box on a corner shouting, “Please buy my book!”. Truly, it is a challenge for all of us, especially those of us who are intimidated by social media like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and the multitude of others that pop up.

Lori Ramas and Jonna Thames of Thrive Collective have a few suggestions that might help us to clear our heads and become more organized in making those all-important posts. Let’s look at a few thoughts:

How do I come up with what to say about my book without coming off like a salesperson? Have you considered posting a paragraph from a page in your book? Make it one that pulls the reader in, causes curiosity, and will make them want to know more but don’t give away the ending.

What do I say about the characters in my book? What is the time period you are writing in? Does it cover a specific historic event like a war or depression or is it a current day romance novel? Any of these would indicate what your character is like – if is a war novel, maybe the female protagonist is saying goodbye to her soldier. What is she afraid of? What is she hopeful for? How have you described this scene in your book? Lift that scene from the page and put it in your social media post making sure you keep it short but interesting.

How do I launch my book on social media? Have you seen other books launched on social media? If so, look at them and see what it is that intrigues you. Go to Facebook and type in book launch events and see what is available that others have done or are doing. You don’t have to do exactly the same thing but maybe you can glean some ideas.

What do I say about the book? What do you tell your friends and family about the book? Why would you tell your social media audience anything different unless you’ve written confidential information – then that is another situation. But think about it. People ask you all the time what it is that you write. How do you answer them? Say the same thing but maybe in a little more detail, or with more drama, but keep it real.