This is the age-old question that has haunted authors and publishers for decades – for as long as social media has been around anyway. Can social media sell books?
My personal opinion has always been that it can, but that it depends on what you mean by selling books and how you propose to do it. Of course the tweets that shout out “buy my book” are never going to work. Especially when it is repeated on a loop with no other content coming out from that account. But, I know that I buy books based on what I’ve read on my social media timeline. Recommendations and even when a book that has been on my peripheral vision suddenly pops up as being discounted, I’ll then buy it. So, I realised I couldn’t be the only one. I am not an outlier.
But, just because I buy books based on my social media activity it doesn’t go any way to proving that social media itself sells books does it?
So, I did a couple of polls. I ran polls both on Twitter and on Facebook (and I’m going to have to try to get the images of these polls into this blog post, aren’t I?!)
The first question I asked the good people of social media – Twitter first – was;
Do you buy books you see on Twitter? They can be new and raved about or gloriously discounted. But, you’re buying it having seen it on here.
I ran this poll for 7 days. The tweet was shared 22 times and 182 votes.
The final result was 84% of people did buy books after seeing them mentioned on Twitter, with only 16% saying they didn’t.
Some of the comments I received during this poll were as below;
“I get a few from Twitter… I first heard about your latest book from one of your tweets and pre-ordered it.” @swirlingair
‘I recently read three books… having seen them here … Twitter works for me read some great stuff.” @RobbieArrand
“Find books from fav authors, which I may otherwise have missed, and loads of recommendations. Twitter useful that way – one of the reasons I use it…” @AiberdeinQuine
“I’ve discovered so many new authors and fantastic books since joining Twitter. It’s just having the bank balance to keep up!” @deborah_masson
And, over on Facebook I asked the same question.
As you can see the results were pretty conclusive. And pretty much identical. 85% said yes they did buy their books from social media and 15% said no. This time only 93 people voted but it’s still a decent turnout.
I’m not going to name commenters on Facebook because it’s more of a closed platform, though my page isn’t closed the accounts themselves usually are. But these are a couple of the comments;
“I’ve definitely bought books via FB sponsored ads that pop up on my timeline 🙂 ”
“I’ve bought loads of books due to Twitter chatter but none because of Facebook.”
“Sometimes, but not from ads… I tend to buy from links in discussions about books-recommendations usually.”
So, it looks like the answer to the question is that YES, you can sell books via social media.
The next question we need to look at to get a fuller picture is what sells better? Book recommendations or discounted books?
As you can see, we have a split between recommended books and both the options of recommended and discounted, which looks to be that there is a leaning to recommended books. So, have people talking about your books, being excited about them on social media. But also have some discounts. It won’t hurt. People will buy.
Let’s look at what Facebook says. I asked Facebook a different question. I was interested in which platform was the better – bear in mind I only asked Facebook users so the information here is skewed in favour of Facebook.
I think if I had asked the same on Twitter the answer would have leaned towards Twitter. I certainly got more interaction on Twitter. But then again there are some very interactive book groups on Facebook where they talk incessantly about books, so, you just need to get your book into the right hands, get them raving about it and it could take off.
My opinion after doing this?
It hasn’t changed from when I started. I do believe that social media can sell books. It’s all about how you do it. It’s about being social and about being natural. People are buying based on recommendations and discounts. If they’re hearing about your book naturally. So yes, put it in front of them, but don’t be aggressive about it. And if other people start talking about it, then they’re really going to be interested. Enjoy the experience of social media but be aware of the power of it.
What do you think after reading this? Has it made you change your mind in anyway?
I have definitely brought books because of social media I wouldn’t of known about you for example.
Not so long ago I only read James Pattinson and now look at me :s
It’s good to have a varied book reading collection. I used to only read very narrow and gradually more and more read more varied.
As you know I came off it for a while and although I don’t regret it, I did miss the interaction with readers. Once I was published I started again (Twitter) purely because I want to interact with those who’ve taken the time to read Rubicon. Plus I can share other posts like yours ????
Interacting with readers is invaluable. Social media makes us so accessible to them.
This is really interesting, Rebecca. I know I’ve definitely gotten books that I heard of through social media. And I agree with you that whether I buy a book that way depends on a lot of things; it’s not automatic. For me, blogs are the social media I use, more than anything else, to make my decisions about books.
Yes, blogs are also another form of social media and the book blogging world is a very lively place right now. Though I think you need to do something a little different to stand out in the crowd.
I’m probably an extreme example but I get virtually all of my books via social media recommendations nowadays. Reviews or author interviews on blogs are the most likely to have me seeking out books, Twitter debates or recommendations from people whose opinion I respect. Not so often from publishers themselves, unless it’s a discount for a book I was tempted to get anyway but was a little wary of spending money.
It doesn’t surprise me Marina. The book world is very active online and there are a lot of books discussed. I think it’s interesting for authors to read this post and the comments, because the feeling among authors is that social media doesn’t sell books.
As a pure reader I’ve been and bought loads of books having seen friends and readers rave about them on social media. I did do last night when someone posted details of a book I’d fancied that was on offer which led to me also buying the audio and then another five or six audio books while I was there lol.
I think Facebook is a better platform for talking about books and building interest but for flash promotions, sharing and reach, Twitter is good but it is a blink and you may miss it platform.
Twitter is indeed a very fast platform. Though I think I tend to get my books more from there than Facebook. But we are all different. It’s just good that conversation strikes and we are moved enough to go and buy the book. 🙂
Interesting results and I agree with what your polls say. I do buy books based on what I read from my online trusted sources.
It is interesting isn’t it! I was quite surprised actually. I didn’t expect these results. But, I do buy, so I don’t see why I didn’t expect others to do the same.
Really interesting results! Thank you for researching this. Personally, I don’t think I’m influenced by Twitter or Facebook, but I am by blogs.
Which is another form of social media 🙂
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