Social media can be a great way to build awareness of your book, connect with potential readers and establish your profile as an expert in your field. You don’t need to be active on every platform or post every day – the most effective approach is to focus on the platforms where your audience is already active and share content that feels natural to you.
As the author, you bring something particularly valuable to social media: your expertise, experience and personal perspective. We’ll support you with marketing materials and ideas, but your own voice and professional network can help your book reach people we may not otherwise reach.
Before you start
Think about who you want to reach and where they are most likely to see your content. Depending on your book, this could include teachers, careers professionals, HR professionals, academics, students, employers, policymakers or other specialists in your field.
You might also want to consider:
- Which social media platforms do you already use?
- Where do your professional contacts and potential readers spend time?
- Are there organisations, colleagues, influencers or communities you could connect with?
- What topics related to your book do people regularly ask you about?
- What can you share that is useful or interesting, rather than simply promotional?
Choose the right platforms
You don't need to be everywhere. Concentrating your efforts on one or two relevant platforms is often more effective than trying to maintain several accounts.
LinkedIn is particularly useful for professional, academic and careers-related books. You can share insights from your book, discuss current issues in your field, comment on relevant posts and connect with professionals who may find your book useful.
X & Bluesky
X & Bluesky can be useful for joining conversations around your subject, engaging with professional communities, researchers, journalists and organisations, and sharing news or insights from your book.
Instagram can work well for visually engaging content, including photographs of your book, quotes, graphics, events, behind-the-scenes content and short videos.
Facebook can be useful for reaching established professional groups, organisations and communities. Consider whether there are relevant groups or pages where your subject is discussed.
Other platforms
Depending on your audience and subject, other platforms may also be relevant. The important thing is to choose platforms where you can realistically maintain a presence and where your potential readers are active.
What should I post?
Try to think beyond simply saying"Buy my book!". Your book is a starting point for conversations about your subject. Here are some ideas:
Share an insight
What is one useful idea, finding or piece of advice from your book that your audience might benefit from?
Share a favourite section
Tell people about a chapter, example, case study or idea that you particularly enjoyed writing.
Answer a question
What questions do peopleregularly askyou about your subject? Turn your answer into a short post.
Share your expertise
Comment on developments, news or debates relating to your subject and explain what they mean.
Tell the story behind the book
Why did you write it? What inspired you? What surprised you while researching it?
Share milestones
Let people know when your book is published, when it is reviewed, when you are speaking about it, or when you reach other milestones.
Share other people's content
If an organisation, colleague or relevant professional shares something related to your book's subject, engage with it and add your own perspective.
Ask questions
Invite your audience to share their experiences,opinionsor questions. Social media works best as a conversation rather than a broadcast.
Use your Trotman materials
We may provide you with social media images, headers, suggested content and other promotional materials to help you share your book.
You can use these alongside your own content and adapt suggested wording so that it sounds like you. We would much rather you share something in your own voice than post something that doesn't feel natural to you.
Where appropriate, we'll also provide assets such as promotional videos that you can share across your social channels.
How often should I post?
There is no magic number. Consistency is more important than volume.
If you are new to social media, start with something manageable – perhaps one useful or interesting post a week. Around publication or an event, you may want to post more frequently.
You can also make one piece of content work harder by adapting it for different platforms. For example, a LinkedIn post about a key idea from your book could become a shorter post, an image featuring a quotation, or a short video.
Make your posts discoverable
When appropriate, consider:
- Tagging Trotman and relevant organisations or people
- Using relevant hashtags
- Tagging your co-authors or contributors
- Linking to your book's page on the Trotman website
- Including an image or video where it adds value
- Mentioning relevant events, conferences or organisations
- Encouraging colleagues and professional contacts to share your post
Don't tag people simply to get their attention. Make sure the person or organisation is genuinely relevant to the content.
Build relationships, not just reach
Your social media activity doesn't have to be focused entirely on your book. Engaging with other people's content, joining professional conversations and sharing useful information can help you build relationships and establish your profile.
Over time, these relationships can create opportunities for conversations, reviews, podcast appearances, speaking engagements, collaborations and other ways of reaching potential readers.
A simple rule of thumb
A useful way to think about your social media activity is:
Be useful → Be interesting → Be yourself → Occasionally promote your book.
Your expertise is what makes your social media presence valuable. Your book gives people somewhere to go when they want to explore the subject further.
A final checklist
Before posting, ask yourself:
- Is this useful, interesting or relevant to my audience?
- Does it sound like me?
- Have I included a relevant image, video or link where appropriate?
- Have I tagged relevant people or organisations?
- Could someone learn something from this post?
- Am I inviting conversation rather than simply promoting my book?
- Have I tagged Trotman in my post?
Most importantly, don't overthink it. You don't need to become a social media expert. Start with what you know, share your expertise and have conversations with the people who are interested in your subject.