Have you written a book? Have you written a chapter in an anthology? Or do you write articles or blog posts (like this one)?

Any time you write something – from a short blog post to a book – remember to use social media to help draw more readers to what you have written.

Recently, I had a chapter published in the book Seek Your Peak to Find Your Spark, an anthology compiled by April M. Williams. The book has accounts from multiple authors about what they are passionate about and how they came to develop that passion. Here is a link to where you can purchase this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Ignite-Passion-Kindle-Internal-ebook/dp/B00HONV230/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1391284643&sr=1-1&keywords=seek+your+peak+to+find+your+spark

My chapter is called “It’s Never Too Late to Find out What You Want to Do When You Grow Up.” In it, I share what led to me creating my social media tutor business and why I am so passionate about helping people with their social media sites.

I was very impressed with the list of ideas that April provided me and the other 24 authors. Here is a sampling of her recommendations:

Tips for Using Social Media to Promote a Book

• Post comments on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+ highlighting you as an author, including any discount codes
• Include a link to the publisher, or another place to purchase the book such as Amazon
• Post comments on the social media pages or profiles of other authors (especially if they are part of the same book)
• Become Facebook friends and/or LinkedIn connections of your fellow authors, follow them on Twitter, and put them in your circles on Google+
• Post a picture of the cover of the book on your Pinterest page with a link to where a person can purchase it
• In the “Publications” section of your LinkedIn profile, include a link to the book’s landing page. Reference the other authors involved in the project
• Add “author” to your LinkedIn headline to help establish credibility in promoting your book
• Write a blog post about having a book or a chapter in a book published and what it was like writing it, then share that blog via your social media sites
• Make comments on the blog posts of co-authors about their chapters
• In your social media activities, be sure to ask people to get the book and then to review it on Amazon
• Tweet links to interviews about your book or chapter

What I Learned From Writing my Chapter of Seek Your Peak to Find Your Spark

Writing a chapter about my relatively new career as a social media tutor was a very powerful and sometimes emotional experience for me. It almost felt like creating a “mini-memoir.”

The main theme in my chapter was paying attention when other people tell you that you have a gift or knack for something. Most of my careers, including my social media tutoring, have come about because I followed through when someone encouraged me to do something that I hadn’t thought of doing.

If you are ever offered the opportunity to contribute to an anthology and the overall theme of the book resonates with you, go for it! You will learn so much about yourself in the process, and you will have doors open for you that might never have opened otherwise.

How About You?

Have you used social media to help promote your writing? If so, what kinds of social media worked the best for you?

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 50 and up, to become more comfortable using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.

She works with business owners, nonprofit organizations, retired people, consultants, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.