One of the biggest myths in the indie author world is that your online content should be all about writing, your book itself, your journey, connecting with other authors, but… In Episode 3, I will explain exactly why this is entirely outdated advice that doesn’t work, never has, and never will…and what you can do starting now to create better content that is far more likely to attract readers and convert them to buyers and fans of your book! There is nothing at all wrong with supporting the indie author community. In fact, the support of our community can make a huge difference in keeping us motivated and moving forward toward our dreams. After all, as the 17th century poet, John Donne famously said, “No man is an island.” The problem is that too many indie authors are still creating social media content from an author viewpoint that is aimed at their fellow indies and hoping it will magically lead to sales. Spoiler Alert! It won’t. The good news is all you need is one hard, immediate pivot in your approach to social media marketing to turn things around entirely! What You’ll Learn in This Episode · The two biggest missteps indie authors make when creating social media content · Why posting content that is author community centered is actually turning away readers · The kind of social media content that actually attracts your ideal readers (with examples) · How to come up with ideas for social media that is far more likely to convert to sales · What you should do starting today to create better, more compelling, sales-worthy posts THE CORE FRAMEWORK Step 1: Accept That Your Platform is For Selling, Not Making Friends You should support indies by reposting, engaging with their content, tagging them when appropriate. But you must also understand the difference between how you show up on social media as a content creator versus how you show up as a casual consumer of content. Your content on your platform should be for, about, and aimed at no one but your target audience of readers. Step 2: Changing Your Mindset on Social Media Clear your mind of the antiquated idea that building a community is how you sell your books. Replace it with a mindset that while yes, writers do read books, too, it’s all about each person’s intentions when scrolling through content! Your target audience is looking for posts that speak to them, and if the first few seconds of your post makes it clear that it isn’t for them, they keep scrolling. Step 3: Be Intentional and Purposeful With Every Post Before you take the next step, make sure you are 1000% confident in your brand and the genre in which you write and publish. Then, get as comfy cozy as you can with those people who are avid readers of that genre, and even the specific niche (subgenre) your books fall into. Spend time scouring platforms as a reader, not a writer, and pay close attention to what kind of content those readers are posting and engaging with most. And finally, create a content plan filled with those kinds of ideas and from now on, post in a way that shows up as another rabid fan of (insert genre) books! KEY TAKEAWAY Once you change your mindset and pivot the way you think about and post your own content on social media, here’s where the magic begins…because if you’re consistently showing up on TikTok, Instagram, etc. as someone who just loves dark romantasy books, your readers will notice you more, connect with you, relate to you, and begin to support you. And believe it or not, if you do this for at least 90 days before you publish, you will never have to beg anyone to buy your books. Instead, you simply share the good news of your launch with your new reader besties, and they will show up for you, support you, and buy your books! RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS · Take a 1 – 2 day “break” from posting on social media to turn things around · Spend at least 20 minutes each day consuming content about your niche of books · Create a spreadsheet to track all the ideas you come up with as you are scrolling · Update your social media profiles to make it clear that you write in X genre · Create a content plan each week with 3-5 posts per day that are reader-facing · When you start posting again, keep your Ideal Reader Avatar front and center always RESOURCES & LINKS FREE Content Plan Creation ChatGPT Prompt: https://bit.ly/49UxDxy Social Media Profile Optimization Infographic: https://bit.ly/4bqPH3r Learn More About Me: https://christinakaye.com/ My Course (The Bestselling Indie Author Playbook): https://bit.ly/49HT4AB My Etsy Shop (The Bookish Swag Shop): https://thebookishswagshop.etsy.com Find Me, Follow Me, DM Me on These Platforms: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@christinakayeofficial Substack: https://substack.com/@christinakayeofficial Facebook: https://facebook.com/christinakayeofficial YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChristinaKayeOfficial LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinakayeofficial/ SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW THIS SHOW If you enjoyed this episode, follow and/or subscribe to Write! Grow! Launch! wherever you listen to podcasts, so you don’t miss future episodes on successfully self-publishing, profitably launching your book, and building a sustainable indie author career…without burnout or BS.
