Can You Develop Your Niche as a Writer with Social Media?

I’ll make it easy for all of us.

The answer is obviously, “Yes!”

Of course, you can use social media to develop your niche as a writer.

In fact, if you’re not already doing it then you’re probably neither selling too many books nor having many folks attend your events. (Please tell me that you’re having events! If not then watch out for a future article on using social media to promote them.)

Social media is de rigeur for writers today if they want to survive let alone be successful.

Let’s discuss this!

What Is Your Niche?

This one is easy.

It’s what you’re writing.

Now, the more specific you can be, the better off you’ll be. (This might get a little more difficult.)

For example, do you write mysteries?

If so, what type?

Cozies, police procedurals, historic, forensic, psychological, and the list goes on.

Each one of these genres is a niche.

Each one has fans and some of them are really wild about their particular niche.

You want to meet these people!

Who Are Your Readers?

Your readers are the ones who buy your books and, hopefully, read them.

Even better, they leave favorable reviews about your books on places like Amazon.

Some go even further and actively promote your work with their family and friends.

Best of all is when this happens on social media!

Oh, and while you’re at it don’t overlook book reviewers and book bloggers.

Where Are Your Readers?

Let’s start with the big picture here and it doesn’t get any bigger than social media.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and LinkedIn are just a few of the places where you can find your readers and they can find you. (Assuming of course, that you’re even there.)

Remember to readers, you’re a celebrity.

OK, yes, maybe just a minor one, you’re not in the league of Stephen King yet.

(Please notice how I said yet!)

But, you’ve written a book, gotten it published, and you’re promoting it to the world.

To most folks, who have never even met an author, this is a real set of accomplishments.

Putting yourself and your books out there is going to attract their attention if you do it right.

It’s also a matter of finding them on social media.

Looking for the right hashtags, groups, lists, and forums is a great way to locate them.

Remember, you have to go to them; they’re not going to come to you!

Who Are Your Competitors?

And, don’t forget to look at your fellow writers, AKA your competitors.

You may not be a Stephen King yet but that doesn’t mean you can’t see what he’s doing on social media and see if it could work for you.

(Although, actually you may want to also look at a few writers who a step or two below the superstars because they’re struggling with the same issues that you are believe it or not.)

With BookBub, you can actually target ads for your books to the followers of your competitors.

Which it’s why you need to understand your niche and whom your competitors are.

If you write police procedurals then you don’t want to be pitching your books to fans of a horror writer.

How Do You Engage with Your Readers?

The trick is how do you get people’s attention on social media?

The formula is simple but it takes work.

(Sadly, this where I lose a lot of people.)

You’re going to have go online, write content, engage with people, and be there for them.

Oh, and the content can’t simply be “Buy my book, please!”

Trust me that gets old very quickly.

You want to present yourself as an influencer that people want to follow, engage with, and ultimately buy your books.

Observations

Finding and developing your niche as a writer on social media is all about understanding yourself, your work, and, most importantly, your readers.

Opening yourself up to them is a big step towards being accepted by them and getting them to breathlessly await your next book!

That’s it for now!

Please check-out my 8 step approach for developing a social media program to get some more ideas on how to use social media.

Also, never forget to reach out to either ask questions or to ask for help from someone like myself!

In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!

I look forward to any and all comments that you may have. I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.

And, remember!

I do this for a living and if I can be of any assistance to either you or your organization, please feel free to call on me. Our initial discussion will be of no charge to you.

I can also be reached at conpsweeney@someddi.com.

My Twitter handle is @conpsweeney.

Stay well!