Prithika and Gowtham

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

Especially after covid-19, there has been a massive rise of book promotions done on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. One can post book reviews on platforms such as Goodreads and Amazon too which will automatically help in giving suggestions on Amazon.

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

We would recommend the author to start promoting his/her book right from the pre-publishing stage because that will arouse some curiosity among the readers. It must be done in a very innovative way such as releasing creative book trailers or posters which are hugely popular these days such that it catches the eyes of fellow readers.

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

Bookstagram is a HUGE boon to authors and publishing houses. It has a massive community of book lovers and bloggers from around the
world. Authors and publishers must make good use of them to promote their works by asking them to review it on their platforms not only on Instagram but also on Youtube and Twitter. They can also give advance review copies to book bloggers which will help establish the book’s presence even before it releases. They can also host book discussions on Instagram Live or Zoom which will help create even better awareness for the book. Hosting giveaways in collaboration with bloggers is also a very good way of promoting their books.

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

One must remember that ‘All good things take time’. Debut authors tend to have a lot of expectations and that their book must do well and hence sometimes lean towards unethical book marketing. Asking bloggers to review their books for free or for very meager amounts like
Rs. 30 is really demeaning for us. They must also learn to accept honest reviews for their books and definitely; if it’s good, it will surely get
the attention it deserves.

What kind of post engagement is received on social media while promoting books? What is the percentage of clicks, likes, and comments?

That entirely depends on the platform used. Right now, Instagram has the most reach because there are literally more than 1M+ active
users here. So naturally, this is the best place to get maximum engagement. Sometimes it also depends on the number of followers one has because there are certain perks that you get if you reach more than 10k followers on Instagram. Reels are in vogue now, so yes if you make
proper use of the tools that are available to you, cracking the engagement algorithm is easy!

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

Fixing a budget based on the reviewers you choose to approach for your book is the first step. Some reviewers with a high number of followers may charge higher than some others with relatively less followers. Other than that, one must also fix a budget for promoting their posts on Instagram and Facebook. This will help your book reaching a much broader audience.

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

Hashtags are very important in today’s social media world. One must choose the right hashtags that will help attract engagement for their
posts. Try to use hashtags that are specific and not too broad so that they can reach your target audience. To see the perfect time to post your
content, one can check out the Post insights that are available on Instagram.

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

The author can take the help of the publisher of the book to approach book bloggers to review. If it’s self-published then they themselves can look out for reviewers or take the help of certain freelance book marketers who will have a database of bloggers who routinely review books. A simple tip would be to make sure that they have the target audience that your book needs.

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

Definitely! Ads on Instagram have a larger reach and honestly, we ourselves have bought books by seeing other blogger’s sponsored
posts.

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 (Prithika) used to be an avid reader during my childhood but somehow slowed down during my teenage years. Lockdown helped me get back to my reading habit and that was when I felt the need to connect with a group having the same interest. I spoke with a friend of mine about this who suggested including movie reviews as well and hence Frames&Pages was born. It is a one-stop destination for everything related to Books and Movies and hence the name! I and my friend Gowtham manage the page. Gowtham is a movie buff & computer geek and apart from taking care of the movie content of the page, he has also created the website for F&P. It’s been 1.5 years since we started
and we are growing at a steady pace. Our unique strength would be the fact that ours is a page that reviews both books and movies which is quite uncommon in the community, so we have followers who are interested in both. We have reviewed about 20+ books of various genres so far and have promoted books for authors like Kavita Kane, Rajesh Talvar, Adarsh Kumar Khare, Kochery Shibu, Stanley Moss, Douglas Mesquita and many more. We have got plans to take F&P to the next level in the future, but for now, we are happy at the place we are! 🙂

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.

Books have the power to shape a person’s personality and hence cultivating a reading habit in a child is very important. Some of the books that we have read as a child as well as books that we wish had read earlier are recommended below!
Kim
Alice in Wonderland
A Man called Ove
Charlie and the chocolate factory
The Diary of a Young Girl
Sudha Murthy’s books

CONNECT WITH US TODAY!