Tumblr is a place for microblogging amazingness. Not just a place—it’s THE place. One of the best things about Tumblr is that it has outlets for everyone. The blog platform includes photo sharing, written entries, video uploads, music sharing, a platform just for quotes, and the ability to post links. The best part of Tumblr is that it attracts creative people so books and stories are always welcome and reblogged. Unlike Twitter, you aren’t limited by a certain number of characters and you can use as many tags as you want. The latest Tumblr data shows that they host 187.0 million blogs. Don’t miss out on the fun we’re having over there!
The Top Ten for Tumblr
1)Follow the author on Tumblr and reblog their book news.
2) Post a countdown to release day for a book you’re looking forward. This can be as easy as doing a written post that just says “2 more days until BOOK NAME HERE—so excited!” Just like on Tumblr and Instagram, make sure to tag your posts with the title, author’s name, genre, and any other fun tags you can think of. #Got to have it, #ya lit, #fiction books, #reading
3) Share the book cover. Once you upload a picture you can click on it and add a clickable link. I always link book covers with their Amazon buy page so my followers can get their hands on a book I post right away if they want to. Make sure to tag it like you did the countdown and then add fun tags like #cover love, #so pretty
4) Create memes (did you know the rise of memes happened because of Tumblr?) about the book using quotes or pictures that remind you of the characters. When you upload it make sure to tag the author, the title, the genre and add meme: #ya lit meme
5) If you’re an artist then Tumblr is the ideal place to display your fan art. Draw a scene from the book or what you believe a character looks like. Authors love seeing fan art and will always reblog it. With your permission most of us print out fan art and use it to decorate our offices…if I’m being honest!
6) If the author (or someone else talking up the book) posts something book related, interact with them. Every time you respond that post is shared with your followers.
7) Upload a video of your reaction to the book. You can address the author in the video or act like you're talking to one of the characters. Anything goes with a reaction vlog. Just make sure to tag it appropriately.
8) If you love music you can make a playlist for the book and post songs that remind you of certain scenes or chapters or maybe a theme in the book. Tag music just like you would the rest of your posts.
9) Take a photo of you holding the book when you first get it or a picture of your reading in your favorite spot. After tagging the photo with the author’s name, title, and genre think of other tags like #reading place #favorite place in the world #this book is so good
10) Review the book. Tumblr doesn’t limit you on words so you can make the review as long or short as you want. If you read lots of books then you can become a Tumblr reviewer and be known for that. You can come up with your own “star system” of measuring how much you liked a book (but don’t use stars…use something unique, like a kiss-o-meter or jars of Nutella…mmm….I’d do that…this book is worth four jars of Nutella).
It's that easy!
What are some ways you support and share about books you enjoyed using social media? Have you ever purchased a book based on a social media interaction?
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I have enough problem keeping up with the few things 'social' that I barely squeek by at doing. How does anyone do work of any kind, daily work or writing and social media stuff as well? I have to agree with an article I read last year where (I think it was an agent) slipped in the phrase, "I see people spending their time on social media that should be spending time writing". I've started limiting my time on the old standby --for me-- face book, because time is so limited. I'm wondering how does a person find their happy medium? Are there some of these medias that are better than others? Or a person just has to choose their preference?
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right - social media can become a HUGE time vacuum if you let it. I've seen many authors get sucked into spending more time playing around with social media then actually writing (I've been guilty of this in the past!). I think the big thing is to pick one or two mediums (like you said Facebook) and do that really well. You want to have a presence somewhere (but don't need one everywhere) so that readers can find you and interact if they want to. In fact, getting involved in too many social media outlets can be a bad thing because you can spread yourself thin and putting the same content everywhere annoys people so you don't want to fall into that.
DeleteFor me there is a three point equation to choosing how to go about my social media use:
1) Is this where my audience gathers? To answer this one you'll have had to do some research on the front end (but it saves you tons of wasted time later on). Facebook is now used by the older crowd on the internet. If that's you're readership then that's the place to be and connect. Whereas, if you're writing for teens most teens have migrated far, far away from Facebook (since they don't want Aunt Sally--who is now on Facebook--to see what they're posting). Teens now use Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr (in that order - or so my last research shows). So an author that writes novels geared for 30-year-olds and under would be much better off having a Twitter account and connecting that way. It's all about where your audience is spending time. For me, Twitter is king and I've found (not exaggerating) hundreds of readers there who would have never read my book or become fans who now are because we connected through tweets.
2) Do I like it? Now, even if your audience is spending more time at one of these places it still might not be the best fit for you personally. You have to commit to a social media outlet that you'll enjoy (or else you'll hate doing it and will avoid spending any time there). So even if you do research and find the bulk of your readership is on Instagram but you HATE, HATE, HATE the idea of taking pictures of things every day, playing with filters, coming up with tags, and liking other people's pictures...simply put, don't do it. If you hate it that'll show in how you use it and readers won't be drawn to you there. I tried Pinterest (I really did) but I hate it (I know...gasp...a Christian woman who hates Pinterest...how could such a person exist?!?). So I ditched Pinterest and never looked back.
3) Is this worth my time? Like you pointed out, we can enjoy social media TOO much and waste tons of time there. Recently I've chosen to break out the old kitchen timer and put it to work. I set it for twenty minutes. Yup, that's it. Each day I allow myself just 20 social media marketing minutes. When the buzzer sounds, even if I'm in the middle of posting something brilliant ;) I'm done. I don't allow myself even ten seconds of budge room.
See, I have a toddler, a house to run, I work a full-time day job, and write on deadline late into the night...time has value. So I get it, boy do I get it. Social media should not steal your writing time. The minute it does it needs to be cut. And really the BEST marketing you can ever do is write the next book. So focus on that first. Charity and I have been using this series to show people Social Media options outside of Facebook--hopefully we didn't make it sound like these were musts, rather, other avenues if they are better fits.
Wow. Sorry to write a whole new blog post there! But you made a very valid point and I wanted to answer that :)
DeleteThese are all ways we learn. I've had to cut back on Facebook because I found it taking place of regular writing. I kind of knew that was happening, but when I read the comment about it I was duly chastised, even though I'm sure the fellow was not seeing me in his visions. LOL But it behooves us all to evaluate where we can be effective, especially if we have to make a choice. Enjoyed both ;) posts. Thank you much.
ReplyDelete