How to promote a book without social media
You have a book to promote. You have no social media. It takes work, but you can promote a book without social media. There are three areas you can focus your marketing energy on and still get your book talked about. Your book might even appear on social media after all.
1. Optimize Your Online Presence
If your books are being sold online, you have an online presence.
Many people look online to buy books or to learn about books they might want to buy. The information about your books needs to answer the basic questions that potential readers (and buyers) will ask.
Make it easy for your ideal readers to discover more about you and your books by making the information easy to find, clear, and concise.
Book metadata
All the information about your book, including but not limited to the title, the genre, the description (book blurb), and the format, is known as book metadata. The metadata for your book needs to be clear, concise, and kept up to date across all platforms.
If you change or update your book description (book blurb) for a new book cover, you need to update the book description wherever it appears online. This includes any online shop and any online book review site, like Goodreads or The StoryGraph. This will help people find your book more easily. This is especially important if your book title or author name isn’t unique. At least the rest of your metadata will be.
There are other ways you can increase the amount of information that exists online about your book.
An author website/blog
With an author website, you have full control over a space on the internet. This can be your author hub; where fans visit to learn more about your books and what’s happening next.
What you include on your author website is up to you, but there are a few things you should include:
information about your book(s)
the genre(s) you write
where the book(s) can be purchased
Including a short author bio will also provide potential readers with some background information about you. This is where you can share why you write what you write (your expertise) and any relevant awards you’ve been nominated for.
A blog platform can double as your main author hub or you can add a blog to your author website. A blog is ideal because you can share any and all information you want potential readers and fans to know about you and your books. It’s a great place to share information about upcoming releases and events you will be attending (more on this later). The more you write about your books, your writing process, your inspirations, and your comparisons (books that are similar to yours), the better the chance that potential readers will find you organically when looking for new books online.
There are comment sections on blogs, so it could be argued that there is an element of social interaction. But using the comments field is optional. There are other ways to share news with readers.
An email list
For authors, an email list is a list of email addresses of potential readers and existing fans. You can request email addresses in various ways, but you need to be clear about what you are offering in exchange. Another name for a regular email to your email list is a newsletter.
An author newsletter can be as simple as sharing when your next book is coming out, any events you are attending, and any blog posts you’ve published since the last email. Ideally, you can send a newsletter once a month with news, updates, links to new stories to read, and fun information that you’d like to share. You can send out another newsletter during the month around the release date of your book or if there’s an upcoming sale. It’s your email list, so it’s up to you what you share.
If you want to build your email list, the simplest way of doing so is to offer something free in exchange for an email address. Many authors offer what is known as a Reader Magnet. A reader magnet is usually a free short story or novel sent to the recipient the moment they sign up for your newsletter. Another option could be a giveaway, where everyone who signs up within a certain period will have a chance of winning your book or other related merchandise. You decide what works for you.
2. Be Where Your Readers Are
The reason social media is so popular with many authors is that you can be where your readers are every day. Not using social media might limit your access to potential readers talking online right now, but there are still ways you can be where your readers are.
Newsletter swaps with other authors
That newsletter you’ve been writing can open doors. Or rather, inboxes.
When you have a decent-sized email list, you can share your audience with other authors. Why would you do that? Because those other authors will share their audience with you.
A newsletter swap means you can share your book in another author’s newsletter while you share their book with your audience. Finding authors who write in the same genre or similar subjects to you is vital because their readers are more likely to read what you write.
How you manage a swap depends on what kind of content you already share. You can make a section of your newsletter for promotions. Instead of promoting your book, you’ll be sharing another author’s book. Some newsletter swaps take the form of an interview, where you can ask the author questions about their writing and their books. You might be asked the same questions or different ones, depending on the nature of the swap. If there is a question that you don’t feel comfortable answering, you don’t need to answer it.
Appear on podcasts
If talking about your books one-on-one comes easily to you, then get on a podcast! With a podcast, you’ll have access to all the podcast listeners and the social media of the podcast hosts. You’ll be borrowing the podcast’s audience to promote your book.
When choosing which podcasts to feature on, it’s important to make sure that the listeners are likely to be potential readers of your book. There are book-related podcasts, of course, but you can branch out. If your book is about gardening or a specific historical period, you can appear on those types of podcasts, too. It takes research to find a good match. Once you find a potential match, check out the podcast guest requirements or ask for them. If you are the kind of guest they are looking for, contact the podcast with a request to appear. In your request, include information about why you would be an asset, why their listeners may want to hear from you.
Other people who will want to hear from you will be readers of your genre or niche.
Publish a short story or article with a larger publication
If you write fiction, having a short story published in a publication will help your writing find a bigger audience. If you write non-fiction, publishing about your specialist subject in a well-regarded publication will show your expertise to a large audience.
Most publications pay, so you’ll make some money too. Even if they don’t pay, they’ll share a mini bio about you, your book, and your website, leading readers to your hub. There’s also a good chance that the publication will share your work on their social media, where those who read what you write are waiting to meet you. And you didn’t even need to open a social media account.
There are other ways your book can be shared with a large audience on social media.
Book “Influencers”
Social media is full of book content. Some readers use their platform to share books they love and books that they’re excited to read next. YouTube is full of book haul videos and TBR (To Be Read) lists. This side of YouTube is known as Booktube, just as the book side of TikTok is called BookTok, and the book side of Instagram is called Bookstagram.
You don’t need to be in these online book spaces, but your book can be.
Finding a reader with an audience who loves the genre or niche you write will take some research, but it’s worth doing. They might share your book with their audience. That’s a lot of potential readers just waiting to meet your book.
Not all book “influencers”, book “content creators”, or readers with an audience will accept a free book. That sounds wild, as who wouldn’t say yes to a free book? But the bigger their channel or the more followers, the more offers they may receive. They may only give out their PO Box to authors who write what they read. And the only way they can learn about you is by you writing to them. Let them know that you have a book they might like. Share the premise, the description, and highlight any tropes/topics you know they love. If they are interested, you can send them a free copy.
You can’t demand that they then share your book with their audience. But if the book is likely to be something they’ve already suggested they’d enjoy, you can confidently hope that they will read it or at least share it with their audience in their next haul.
Another way to meet potential readers is to physically be where they are.
Public events and book signings
Readers are everywhere. But readers of your genre/niche are just as easy to find. Creating your own book signing event with a reading of your book is a great option for launching your book. But you’re not guaranteed to have high attendance, especially if you don’t already have fans. Joining an existing event with other authors in your genre/niche, such as an author reading event at a library or bookstore, can help to grow your audience which borrowing the audience of the other authors. It’s also a great opportunity to network with other writers.
Another option is to attend events where authors are welcome but the event isn’t focused on books.
Fantasy authors can often be found at fantasy conventions and events. If there’s a merchandise room, there will be an author or three, selling their books. The same goes for all genre-related events.
Thinking outside of genre, you can consider other events where people gather. If you write books about food or recipe books, having a table at a Food Market will give you access to a potential audience.
Travel isn’t cheap, so look for events close to home by looking in local media for upcoming events that your potential readers will be attending.
Local media
If you want to get your name out locally, reach out to local media. This could be your local newspaper or news channel, depending on what you write. Local media can be interested in local author news if you have a particular angle that interests them.
If you’ve written about your local area, for example, and have discovered something new, the local media might be interested in sharing that with their audience. Then you can promote your book (and share where it can be purchased) with a local audience.
Some local media publications may have a section about books. As a local author, they might want to interview you.
Research what they’ve already published to learn how you could approach the subject of including you and your book in their publication. You can always pay to have an advert included, which leads to our third and final marketing area.
3. Advertising
All marketing has a cost. Sometimes it is just the cost of time taken to craft the perfect promotion pitch. Othertimes it’s the cost of giving away a free book. Advertising tends to carry a financial cost. Paid ads on various sites can be hit or miss, depending on various factors. Focusing on advertising that is consistent and less impacted by an unreliable algorithm offers a better chance of success. And where better to start than a happy customer?
Social Proof
Reading recommendations are everywhere. And authors want their books on them. Why? Because a recommendation by a happy customer is far more effective than an author saying “buy my book”. The customer has nothing to gain by recommending a book to a fellow reader other than someone else to talk to about a book they enjoyed. These recommendations are known as “social proof”, someone who is not the seller recommending the item.
Reading recommendations can also take the form of book reviews. And readers do read reviews.
Asking readers to leave a review isn’t begging. Too many authors miss out on great social proof because they don’t ask for reviews. Some readers won’t leave a review no matter how nicely you ask because not all readers are reviewers. And that’s okay. They’ve already read your book. They probably bought your book too. If they enjoyed it, they might come back for the next book. All you can do is politely ask for a review, and leave it up to the reader if they want to write one.
Even one-star reviews can be helpful. Sometimes your book will fall into the hands of a reader who won’t like what you have written. In fact, they hated it. This happens. Not all books are for all readers, even in the same subgenre. But if they write a review detailing what they didn’t like…chances are there will be readers out there who love what that reviewer hated. It’s true! Even very famous and well-received popular books and classics have one-star reviews.
And they are all free advertising. Not all advertising is free.
Magazine advertising / Book Blog advertising
Your audience are readers. What else are they reading? Magazines that focus on the genre or subjects you write about are likely to be read by your ideal audience. The same goes for genre/subject blogs. Many of these carry advertisements.
Researching the readership of these magazines/blogs is vital. The money you spend on placing an advert is wasted if you don’t have some guarantee that your book will at least get in front of your ideal audience. The more the magazine or blog fits your chosen genre or niche, the better, even if the readership is low. A thousand readers who read exactly what you write is better than a million readers who hardly read your genre/niche.
Finding support as an author
Every way you promote a book comes with a cost: your time.
It takes time to research influencers, magazines, and podcasts. It takes time to grow an email list and write a newsletter. It takes time to find other authors you can work with to promote your book.
That’s time you won’t be using to write your next book.
Help is available. You can delegate many of these tasks to an Author Assistant.
An author assistant supports you by taking on those book business tasks that are keeping you away from writing. They are your career cheerleaders.
If an assistant sounds ideal, take a look at the ultimate guide to hiring an author assistant.
Social Media is still an option
You don’t need social media to promote your book online, but it really can help. When you discover which social media platform your ideal readers use, getting your book in front of them can be immediate. You will be able to build an audience and find readers where they are. It’s also a great way to network with other authors and learn about upcoming events.
You could delegate your social media to your author assistant.
How to use social media
If the only thing putting you off using social media is not knowing what to do, these blog posts can help get you started:
Further resources
Five simple ways to promote a book
The ultimate list of self-publishing resources for indie authors