...And no I don't mean a Facebook profile. I mean a Facebook PAGE that can be promoted to certain demographics to attain a large and impressive reach of people interested in the same exact things you are.
Every so often I will stumble upon an author on Facebook with a personal profile set to private. * long, dramatic sigh. How on earth will your readers know when to expect your next title? How will they share your inspirational graphic with their friends on Facebook?
I promise you, it is all worth it. There are so many incredible opportunities for authors on Facebook that so many people miss out on, simply because they are unaware.
Here are 6 reasons why you MUST create an author page on Facebook:
Sure, your readers can check out your website, Instagram account, and blog. But a Facebook page allows your readers to connect with you on a personal level. Your audience is given the opportunity to follow your writing process, participate in contests and giveaways, share your posts with their friends who might also be interested in your book.
If you want to avoid spamming your friends with content and book promotions, it is helpful to have a place that all of your work can live rather than on your personal profile.
Stay on board with your reach, likes, and engagement every single week. This is awesome to help track what your audience wants to see and what doesn't work so well.
Although you might have fans all around the world, it is rewarding to be able to communicate to all of them at the same time. Post as frequent as you'd like, share as much as you'd like with them about your writing experience, and watch your numbers shoot through the roof.
Readers and bloggers absolutely love to learn about their favorite authors on a more personal level. give your readers the opportunity to view your book event schedules. Facebook allows you to upload your full calendar to Facebook.
Author fan pages are accessible t o everyone on the web, regardless if they have Facebook accounts or not. This is an awesome way to post special content or links. Create custom content that your audience can like, share, and enjoy with their friends without it being sales-y.
What are you waiting for? Create your author page, and continue to build your readership. Take advantage of your social media resources! Happy Facebooking!
This is so helpful! Thank you, Janay. There's so much to learn for newbies (that's me) I'm really grateful for the information and the help.
Janay - Thanks for this great post! I did a lot of research before deciding to go with a separate author page and I'm very glad I did. Last week on vacation friends tagged me several times on my personal page singing karaoke in a New York dive bar after drinking a cocktail or two. Sure I had a great time, but that's not at all the image I want to project to my readers. For the past few months I've worked very hard on my Author FB presence and now have over 600 "likes." I feel really ready for the October 6 pub date of my novel. Yes, it's a lot of work but for me it is worth it.
This has been a real source of frustration for me, Janay. I started my FB Writer page several years ago in anticipation of one day finishing my memoir. I built up a lot of followers, developed my audience, and then everything went south! I thought I would "experiment with changing my profile, etc, and inadvertently pressed save and my name came back spelled wrong. They wouldn't let me change it, so my full name has no space between the names. Now, they won't allow me to Follow/Like anyone. I have finally opened up my personal profile and almost starting over again getting people to follow me there. (No luck having any kind of communication with FB!) I have heard from many people they have a lot of problems with pages. I dream of a fix for this!