Why Social Media Doesn't Sell Books - And What I Do Instead
before you buy those fake reviews...
Howdy folks,
Happy Tuesday.
Have you been relying on Instagram or LinkedIn to sell your books (with frustratingly little results)?
Have you considered selling your soul to #booktok so you can finally move some copies?
Social media is a necessary tool to your online ecosystem.
But it’s not everything.
In fact, my most successful book to date has sold over 15,000 copies (and I only have 183 Instagram followers on that account).
What if you could sell thousands of books, grow your business and brand, and make a significant impact (without having to dance on Tiktok)?
I am currently developing a simple, repeatable system to launch self-published books.
That doesn’t rely solely on social media.
It’s called the Lightning Book Launch Method.
Idk why it’s called that, it just sounded cool.
:)
It’s based on 3 things:
What I personally did to finally find success in book sales (after 4 failed books)
What I’ve studied and observed how other entrepreneurs launch successful books
My steadfast illiteracy with Instagram
People ask me a variation of this question all the time:
“What do I need to do with social media to sell my books?”
Let’s look at a case study with none other than Charli XCX:
When music albums go out, usually we see the social media page of our favorite band include things like:
Tour dates
Live streaming of events
Videos of them getting interviewed on a podcast
Wacky brand deals that cause a commotion
Their album is live, stream it on Spotify
Social media is more of a billboard.
We rarely see a direct post that says “Purchase the album here.”
Nowadays, more than ever, the album is a loss-leader to purchase bigger, better things in the artist’s world.
Live tickets to shows
Merch
Wacky brand collabs
Subscriptions to their club
Etc.
And now, more than ever, books are becoming more like this too.
When Charli XCX launched brat in 2024, she used social media as a way to:
Announce launch events
Invite people to her exclusive Instagram burner account
Tell people where she would be on launch day
Lip-sync her music to dances she choreographed
But very rarely did she directly use her posts to tell her people to buy the record.
Here’s how we put this into context with your book launch:
If we want to create a buzzy launch, we need to build demand.
And use social media as a billboard to help build that demand.
(And less to direct people to purchase the book.)
We need to let people know that your book is coming out way before it’s available to be purchased.
So that when it does go live, people are clamoring for their copy.
James Clear calls this the “concentrated strike”:
Your book is live, and now everyone and their mother knows about it, and wants to get in on the fomo.
For music, books, anything, the below picture is how a launch goes: think of it like a jet engine taking you from Atlanta to London.
There’s a runway, we’re gathering speed, then you take off, then hit cruising altitude to your destination.
This is how we accomplish this with self-published books:
Amazon is the hungriest, biggest bookstore in the world.
And it loves self-publishers.
When you sell a book through Amazon, they keep a portion of the proceeds. When you make money, so does Amazon.
Amazon has an algorithm.
Just like Youtube, Instagram…
Amazon has an algorithm.
When you play nicely in Amazon’s sandbox, Amazon will share your book to thousands of people inside Amazon’s ecosystem (that you wouldn’t have tapped into before).
Who don’t just consume your social media post and keep scrolling.
They actually download your book.
And Amazon will ask them to review their purchase.
(Think about it. Amazon has the email and credit card information of hundreds of millions of people just in the US alone. Add in the UK, Canada…)
You play nicely with Amazon, and thousands of readers you never before will find your book, download it, and learn about you.
(This is how I got 2,000 downloads on my book when I first launched it, even though I only told 500 people to download it. 1500 people were randos from Amazon.)
So how do we play nicely with Amazon?
The Amazon algorithm wants to see as many book sales and reviews as possible in the first 30 days.
For you, that means 500 sales and 100 reviews in the first 30 days.
You may wonder where we get those from.
Introducing…
The only 3 things you need to sell thousands of books on Amazon:
Podcasts
The Amazon algorithm
Your audience (which is where your social media account comes in)
So many book launches require you to string together 10 different traffic sources and social media platforms.
It feels like cooking Thanksgiving dinner with 10 different dishes with 10 different cooking times, and they all need to come out at the same time.
But with the Lightning Book Launch Method, you only need 3 dishes.
And your mama and the in-laws (and you) will be delighted with the results.
So here’s the bottom line:
Social media is a beautiful source of traffic for your launch.
But if your book has no momentum, it’s hard to sell it on social media.
Regain momentum by launching your book (or re-launching it).
Check out these articles for more details on how to use podcasts, Amazon, and social media to have a breathtaking book launch (that you can actually be proud of this time):
(No need to buy fake reviews or dance on Tiktok if that ain’t your speed.)
Have a great Tuesday everyone.
Love,
Renee
Listen to Renee!
I personally do very few podcast interviews because they are so time intensive living on a sailboat full time with my wife and 3 kids full time.
So im always searching for way to launch without the podcast circuit but I've done it and it freaking works.
Thanks, Renee! That makes sense! Right now, I have no ideas for selling a book; but, I understand marketing comes with it and it’s something to consider for the future, in my case.