An Agent's Suggestion for Basic Promotion Every Author Should Have

When we sign a new author to the agency, they often write in and ask what they should do regarding promotion/PR/social media.

This was my response to such a question, and I thought I would share it with all of you.  Please feel free to add and suggest (and tell us what your agents have suggested).

Every author should have a twitter account, a Facebook account and a Goodreads account, as well as either a website or a blog (and write a blog post twice a week).  You can put your blog post up on your Goodreads page.

Take some time and fill out the Goodreads page, which means writing about the books you have read that you loved.  Look at my page.  Join any Goodreads group that you think will like your work and comment occasionally.  Same things goes for Facebook books/writing groups.

On Twitter, use hashtags.  #amwriting is an opportunity to find and follow other writers who usually pay it forward.  You are allowed 2000 Twitter followers, but I think only 100 a day, so every day find 100 writing-related people to follow from the famous, like Nora Roberts, Anne Rice, Laurel K. Hamilton and Stephen King, to unknown moms who write and and women who love romance. You get the idea. Retweet at least 5 times a day.

If you can find a writers’ community, that would be awesome.  Sometimes your local Romance Writers of America chapter is a good source.  Other times there’s a local writers group.  Or you can find one online.  Ask.  Tweet questions.  Find like minded-souls.

Reddit also has a very good writer community, if you can navigate those waters.

Wattpad is a good writer platform, but DO NOT join with your Facebook or Twitter account.  They are collecting addresses.  If you post writing, only put up a short amount and take it down and put something else up in 30 days. Never put the whole thing up.  One of our writers put up a fantasy novel and someone else published it on iUniverse.