Matthew Duncan

What are the top social media platforms available in India and the USA for book promotions?

In my opinion that would be Facebook as it has the largest user base.  However, some independent authors are doing well on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Linked In, and YouTube.  The reason they do well using different platforms is that they are comfortable with the social media they commonly use, and they took the time to network with people who would have an interest in their books.  For example, someone who writes historical romance will do well if they are active in groups that have daily discussions on parts of history that they write about. 

At what stage of my book publishing journey should I consider social media promotions? Pre publishing or post and How?

You should start building your social media network as soon as you can.  Join groups and become active members in discussions.  Find multiple groups on multiple topics.  It is very good to be part of groups that are about being a writer.  They are good places to get support and advice.  But also find groups with people who would be a good audience for your book.  As you get closer to your release date you can discuss your book in these groups.  They will be more accepting because they know you and want to support you as a friend.  If you can set your book up for pre-sale, then once people can start placing orders is when you want to start showing your book cover and directing people to your order page. 

What are the 5 most effective ways to promote books on social media?

1. Post book cover, book description, and link in social media groups you belong to.
2. Ask friends you have made on that platform to repost your post.
3. Make a separate page just for your book and keep it updated with information like release dates, book signings, and the next book you are writing. 
4. Buy ads on social media.  For example, if you create a business page for your book on Facebook and then create a post from it, you can pay to boost that post so that it is seen by people outside of your network.
5. Share your social media page on other social media pages and websites.  For example, if you sell on Amazon, you will have an Authors page on Amazon.  You can put a link to your Facebook page on Amazon so that people can follow you on Facebook. 

What are the common mistakes made by first-time authors while promoting the book on social media?

Thinking that they can make a lot of sales with free social media on their first book.  If you want to make money on your first book you need to pay for advertising.  However, if you plan to write a series and you are willing to wait until your second or third book to see a profit, then you can do that on social media. 

The average royalty on a book is about $2 a book.  You would have to sell 50 books a day just to make $100 a day.  Most new writers are lucky if they sell 5 books a month.  It’s hard to get your book the visibility to sell a lot.  But as you find people who like your books and want to read more, then your next book will have more sales right away.  As vendors like Amazon see that your book has some demand their computer program will display your book more on lists like (Customer who bought this book also bought these books) or (We recommend these books based on the books you bought before).  It’s very frustrating in the beginning as you watch books that you know are not as good as your book getting more reviews, free promotions, and sales.  It takes time to build an audience.  If you decide you want to pay for ads, it can be a very good tool when done correctly.  But be careful and start out with a very small budget.  Say $20 a month.  Figure out what works and what doesn’t and go up from there.  If someone promises you book sales and asks for a lot of money upfront, don’t do it.

How much money should I spend on social media promotions for my book and some things to keep in mind?

Set a budget you can comfortably afford.  It is like going to a casino.  If you cannot afford to lose it, don’t spend it.  Say you start off with $20 for a month of ads.  If you make less than $20 that month on your books, then the ad didn’t work, and you should change up the ad.  If you made a profit of, say $30, then you came out ahead.  The next month you can repeat the ad and spend between $20 and $30.  If you come up short, you will need to make some adjustments to the ad.  If you make more money then you can duplicate the ad, or run the ad again with a second new ad, or just increase the budget on your existing ad.  The idea is to grow your sales over time, learn what works and what doesn’t, and not spend money you can not afford to lose.  If you break even your first year, you did great.  That means you made sales and people read your book.  If you made a profit your first year, then you did fantastically.  As you write more books the sales will come easier because people will be waiting to buy them.

Note: while you are doing all of this you need to stay active on social media to maintain your relationships and exposure.

How to find the perfect hashtags and time to post my book promotions on social media?

With hashtags, you just need to look at best-selling books in your category and copy the ones they use.

Once you start promoting your book on social media you need to keep at it daily. 

What are the things an author should be cautious about before finalizing a social media handle (page) for promoting their book?

Don’t “Info-Dump”.  That’s a marketing term that means – to overwhelm a client with all the information at once.  Keep your pages clean and to the point.  Use it to create ads and share updates.  And be consistent.   Some romance authors like to write short stories and post them on their pages as samples of their work.  That’s a great tool, but if you do that for a while and then stop and you don’t keep posting, then people think there is something wrong.  I have heard of people not buying the first book in the series because they were afraid of getting emotionally invested in it and believed the author had stopped writing more in the series. 

Should an author run paid ads on social media-based interests? Is it effective and what sales can I expect?

Personally, I spend more of my marketing budget on ads on the distributor’s site.  All of my books are on Amazon, so I advertise on Amazon primarily.  I do set assigned about 5% of my budget for Facebook ads.  Sometimes they are profitable and sometimes they are not.  Part of the problem is that they are harder to track because Facebook only shows me clicks and doesn’t show me actual sales.  However, I do see a small percentage increase in my sales when I boost a post or run an ad, so I know I’m at least breaking even. 

Please give a bit of a background about your social media handle, its Vision & Mission, Top management, the Kind of books you promote, and your biggest strength as a book influencer, popular authors promoted so far, years of experience, any testimonials, etc.

I self-published my first book in 2014 and I’ve published six novels to date with three more in the works.  It wasn’t until this year that I was making enough money from my book royalties to be able to leave my day job and be a full-time author. 

I promote my books on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Amazon, Goodreads, and LinkedIn.  I manage multiple pages on Facebook, including writers and publisher pages with over 100,000 members.  I also have my own web page at https://matthewoduncanbooks.com/

I don’t consider myself a ‘social network influencer’ since I really don’t have a following where people are waiting for my post.  I rather see myself as a ‘social networking marketer’ where I use my growing network of connections to promote my brand, which is me and my titles. 

With the success of my books which are top sellers in multiple countries, I’m now scheduling appearances at sci-fi conventions and book fairs as an expert panelist and guest speaker.  

At Sharing Stories, we have an ongoing campaign ‘Let’s Empower Our Kids’. Please suggest some books that you think every child should read before the age of 15 (mostly the character-defining age), teaching them life lessons. Things like empathy, sympathy, relationships, etc.

My boys grew up with books like Harry Potter, The Owls of Ga’hoole, and The Trials of Apollo.  All had good themes of friendships, understanding right from wrong, and self-sacrifice.   

The books from my youth that influenced me were To Kill a Mockingbird, Call of the Wild, and Starship Troopers. I would recommend the first two for ages 13 to 15.  Starship Troopers should be 17 plus.  

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