Think TikTok and Instagram are only for sharing trending dances and carefully curated photos of your family, pets, and food experiments? Think again.

Social media platforms offer fantastic opportunities for authors to connect with readers, increase book visibility, and generate buzz. While paid advertising can be effective, not all authors have the budget for it. Thankfully, there are plenty of free ways to promote your book online. Below are seven strategies to help you effectively harness the power of social media without spending a dime.

Photo by Don Agnello on Unsplash

In the world of books, nothing is more valuable than word-of-mouth marketing. While there are many strategies to foster buzz for your book on and offline, getting your book into the hands of new readers remains the ultimate goal. To reach those new readers, giving your book away should be a key element of your marketing strategy.

A new year brings new ideas, new goals, and newfound motivation to revitalize your book marketing efforts and engage new readers. To help you get started, here are 12 ways, one for each month, to promote your book in 2023.

With the new year just around the corner, the Greenleaf Book Group marketing and branding team discusses the trends they predict will dominate the marketing landscape in 2023.

Photo by Sam McGhee on Unsplash

Congratulations! You’ve poured your heart and soul into creating your book. Now the question becomes, how do you tell the world about it? Earned media coverage can significantly impact sales, establish your authority as an author and thought leader, and amplify the message you set out to share by writing your book in the first place. Crafting a personal, professional, and precise pitch is the first step in securing coverage.

Whether you just intrinsically know you need to be more engaged on social media to support your creative efforts or you have a strategy plan in hand that you now need to execute, taking that next step can be daunting. Some authors and experts elect to handle this role themselves, while others opt to enlist external support to get the job done. Both options have merit – as long as what is put out into the world is truly reflective of you, your voice, and your brand.

Your local independent bookstore is likely struggling, and as a publisher, we feel it’s our obligation to support them in any way that we can, including encouraging our authors (and all authors!) to do their part in helping support local bookstores.