Published: July 15, 2013
If you want more people to read your book, use social media to spread the word. And don’t wait until you’ve finished writing your manuscript.
“Start yesterday,” says Silicon Valley author and speaker Guy Kawasaki. “Don’t wait. Start the day you start writing your book.” Kawasaki, the chief evangelist for Apple in the early years, says it takes six to nine months to develop a social media platform, so you should be thinking about marketing while you are writing your book.
Speaking on a webinar sponsored by Mediabistro, Kawasaki shared some great tips:
- It’s important to remember that each social media service has its own character. Facebook, for instance, is about people you know. Twitter is about perceptions of the world. Google+ is a way to share your passions. LinkedIn is about finding a job or reaching a sales prospect.
- Once you go on social media, find great content and share it with other people. A great place to search is Alltop.
- Check Google+ to see what’s hot, and send it out. It’s better to tweet it yourself, with acknowledgement, than retweeting it.
- Finally, restrain yourself from self-promotion. You should send out 19 curated links for every one message to promote your book.
