With book publishing companies increasingly putting their authors in charge of their own promotional marketing tasks, Twitter is emerging as a viable place to market print books. Authors can use their Twitter accounts to tweet about when their books will be available, what they contain and how they came about.
Promotional Marketing for Books
Though there may be room for Twitter novels in the future of popular fiction, a more current online publishing use for Twitter is to use the feed to announce new book titles and to popularize a writer's name.
Authors who have effective promotional marketing skills are creating larger followings for themselves by creating a more personal relationship with readers. Twitter provides a perfect avenue for writers to communicate directly with fans, drawing in more readers with this simple, personal communication.
Youth Marketing
The common perception of Twitter as a popular social marketing tool among the under-24 demographic may lead to its use in youth marketing. However, few people in that demographic actually use Twitter. Promotional marketing may be easy with Twitter, but youth marketing is better undertaken through Facebook and other sites with a high percentage of younger users.
Twitter Marketing Campaign
Many book authors use their Twitter accounts to update readers about new books coming out, the progress they are making on a book or to simply keep readers reminded of the author's name. With a well-known Twitter presence, authors can attract attention for their books and build a name online.
Writers who use a blog often tie their Twitter accounts to their blogs by sending out a tweet every time there is a new blog post. The blog posts then discuss the book that is being marketed or the progress being made on a new book.
Online Marketing Tools for Publishers
Another way that Twitter has been used is to market a publisher by offering online fiction through Twitter posts. British book publisher Penguin did this with Slice, a story that the publisher made available through Twitter and blog posts. Many online book publishers use Twitter to announce new titles.
Online Book Marketing
In the future, book authors may offer excerpts of their books on Twitter to keep readers interested in the next installment and to interest readers in buying the book. This type of book marketing is already used on blogs and in online bookstores like Amazon. A Twitter feed that allows customers to get a taste of a book can't be far behind.
Lizz Shepherd - I am a freelance writer specializing, for now, in Web writing. The Web is an enormous place and I have been carving out my own little ...
