So, you are writing a book, and you want to know how to market it on Instagram. If you are like many authors, you’ve spent so much time honing your craft, focusing on the story, that you haven’t had the capacity to worry about marketing your novel. As you become more serious about publication, you might be thinking, “How am I going to sell this book once I’m done?”
If you’ve chosen Instagram as your author platform and are stuck; unsure about what to post, how to grow your followers, you’ve come to the right blog post! Today, I am walking you through the basic—but fundamental—steps you need to grow your author platform and find your ideal readers on Instagram.
For those of you who are new here, I am Cortney L. Winn, a romantasy author and business marketer! When choosing my degree, I picked marketing so I could have a fighting chance in this insanely competitive industry.
If you want to learn the ins-and-outs of building a following (that will buy your book) on Instagram, as well as vital author website tips, sign up for my marketing for class for authors, I’ve put together an in-depth video, explaining the ins and outs of marketing your book to sell on Instagram as well as a 30-day done-for-you content schedule to get started!
Things you need to know before we talk marketing:
Marketing your book is WORK. If you’re not prepared to put time, effort, thought and sometimes, money, into this venture, I suggest you bow out now. Aside from the cost of my marketing degree, I’ve invested my time and money into marketing courses as well as marketing books and podcasts. This has been an invaluable asset throughout my journey. If you don’t have the funds for courses, I suggest investing your time reading books like, The Little Red Book of Selling, Influence, and How to Win Friends and Influence People.
There are countless ways to market your book and yourself. Your job is to find the strategy that works best for you and propels you toward YOUR goals as an author. Oftentimes, this requires trial and error. Remember that the only strategy that will work is one that is manageable for you. If it goes above your ability to maintain, it will not work in the long run. Start small and build as you go.
There is always someone willing to work harder and longer than you. Be prepared to compete with that. If you’ve ever entered the query trenches, you should have an idea how competitive this industry is. Make sure you have the grit and determination to compete for the long haul. Overnight successes very rarely happen in the world of books. Be prepared for years of dedication. Building a fanbase is a slow but rewarding process.
These tips are not made of secret magical fairy dust. They require consistency and discipline to work. Marketing is just like weight-loss. Results won’t come overnight and a lot of the change happening can be hard to see at times.
Okay, now that’s out of the way, we can begin. In this blog post I’ll give you my foundation tips for building your author page on Instagram.
Pick two or three colors, two or three fonts, and stick with them. When you are scrolling on your feed, you’re essentially passing your friends in a virtual hallway. Being a virtual hallway means that your friends are not always able to recognize you because not everyone is posting their face. If your friends don’t recognize your posts, they are less likely to engage with them. Give your content a defining quality that people will instantly recognize as yours. The AWESOME part about this tip? It reduces the amount of thought that goes into designing each post. Save your color codes into Canva, make a logo, choose easy-to-read fonts, and use them over and over again. For the sake of reiterating how important this tip is, I’ll point out that every brand you know by heart (Apple, Samsung, McDonalds, Coca Cola, etc) use the exact same colors and fonts over, and over, and OVER again because it is vital for brand recognition. The only exception to this rule is: showing your face. You are always allowed to show your face (if you choose to do so) because it is part of your brand. (And yes, you can change your colors and fonts later, but don’t change them with every post or every month. Keep them as consistent as possible.)
2. Pick a post schedule and stick to it. Yes, I know you’ve heard this one before, but I am repeating it because it is important. By showing up at the same time and place, you’re not only training your audience to watch for your content, you are showing that you are professional and yes, making the algorithm gods happy. As an author myself, I think of it this way: if an author can be timely and consistent with his or her content, then I immediately have more faith in the timeliness and consistency of their publications as well. Publishing content is just like publishing books. It must be done purposefully, timely, and with thought.
Don’t think “followers.” Think “friends.” Stop getting hung up on this number. More followers do not equal more engagement. If you don’t believe me, ask yourself what would happen if a support page for vegans, with 30k followers, was converted into a beef box subscription service page? All those followers would NOT be the target audience. They would not buy the product, and they would not be supportive commenters. The number of followers do not reflect how supportive or interactive they are with your brand. They do not reflect how interested they are in your book, and they do not reflect how many people will actually buy, or even comment on your post.
Make content that will attract your target audience. If you post writing tips, you will get followers who are writers. If you post book reviews you will get authors who wish to be reviewed, as well as readers who like reading reviews. If you post “Follow me for a follow back” posts, you will get people who primarily care about building their own following, instead of ordering your book. Does this mean you shouldn’t post these content pieces? No, just be aware that what you post, is what you get. Could I grow a following faster if I focused on “Follow me for a follow back” posts, maybe. But that’s not part of my brand. Post things that serve your audience in some way. Entertain them, teach them, inspire them. Your posts should be 80% serving and 20% selling.
Remember that building a loyal empire takes time. I’ve been around long enough to notice the spammy accounts, purchasing followers, “quick fixes,” and follow trains. To this I say, I’d rather post twenty reels and earn one loyal fan rather than get 200 empty followers from one post. As you build. Keep this in mind. Keep your content genuine, ethical, and from the heart. You’ll naturally earn a more loyal fanbase.
If you are a budding author, the most important quality you can have is unwavering optimism. Keep going. Keep posting. Your people will find you. If you need help with ideas of what to post, check out my Content Ideas for Authors post! If you are interested in my full marketing class for authors, read more here!
Thank you so much for stopping by my corner of the internet! I hope you found these tips helpful! If you want more tips, follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my newsletter below!
XOXO,
Cortney L. Winn
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