Instagram for Authors: Principles for Success

The social media network shines when it comes to relationship-building and engagement, and it’s preferred by authors reaching out to young, book-loving audiences

With Facebook continually in the news for bad behavior, and Twitter more politicized than ever, we’ve seen authors taking a greater interest in Instagram for both personal and professional posting. (Of course, Instagram is owned by Facebook, but it still has the nice illusion of being different.)

There’s good reason, marketing-wise, to be interested. Instagram has more than a billion active users (more than half access it daily), and more than 70 percent of users have bought a product or service they saw on Instagram. Furthermore, it beats Twitter and Facebook hands down for engagement or interaction. It’s popular with teens, so for YA authors it’s often considered the most important social network.

Perhaps best of all, there is an avid book community on Instagram. Authors are often readers (or we should hope), and Instagram experts all agree that being a reader gives you something to say that will appeal to the book-loving community on Instagram (also known as #bookstagram). Karah Preiss, cofounder of Belletrist, an online community for readers, said during a recent conference panel, “There’s a number of young girls starting their own bookstagram accounts because they want to show people that they are reading.” She added, “Being a reader can really set you apart.”

Yet Instagram can feel more difficult for authors seeking a payoff. There’s no way to include links in captions, and it’s not necessarily straightforward to make a sale in the same way you would on Facebook. Plus, some authors get confused by the multiple ways to post on Instagram. There’s the main feed, which is permanent (these are typically the static, square photos, but the feed also includes video); Instagram Stories, which are vertically oriented, disappear after 24 hours, and can include features like interactive polls; and IGTV, which is live video on Instagram.

We checked the latest conference panels, trend reports, and podcasts for best practices, and we also reached out to several authors who are avid users of the platform. Here’s what we found.

• You should be creating your own content and engaging with others in the book community. It’s not like some other networks where you regularly repost others’ stuff. Instead, you’re being an author in a more personal sense. Bookstagrammer Bex Gorsuch, who recently appeared on the Self-Publishing Formula podcast, said that part of the point of Instagram is to “break the barrier” between you and readers, so it’s recommended that authors comment on posts by readers of your book. The good news: you don’t have to post a lot. Gorsuch recommends five to seven times per week, or about once per day. But don’t just post a visual—add an engaging caption where you share something about yourself, as this affects your success, Gorsuch said.
• Develop your own aesthetic. “Consistency” is advice that you’ll hear for all social media use, but when applied to Instagram visuals, it means having a consistent style across all your photos—a distinctive look and theme—and not posting just any photo you take. Author Shayla Raquel says, “You must have a style … If I follow you, I should be able to know it’s your photo before I even see your name.”
• Hashtags are essential for discoverability. Instagram limits you to 30 hashtags per post, and you should use a mix of hashtags that your community uses. By taking notice of what #bookstagrammers and other writers use, you’ll get the hang of it. Creative nonfiction writer and editor Sarah Chauncey says, “I use the maximum number of hashtags relevant to each post and focus on those hashtags with fewer than a million photos on them, so people have a chance to see them. A good photo can remain in the ‘top photos’ of a given hashtag for months.” Some of the most well-known hashtags in the writing and book community include: #bookstagram #authorlife #writersofig #writersofinstagram #writewritewrite #writersofbookstagram.
• Participate in hashtag challenges. This is when someone asks people to share photos on a theme using a specific hashtag. By participating in or creating your own challenge, you’ll see a gain in followers and visibility. Making the most of a hashtag challenge (especially if you’re the host) means interacting with those who participate. You can even consider giving out awards or prizes to the best responses to the challenge. Here’s an idea of what these look like in the #bookstagram community.
• Do giveaways. While you can do giveaways of your own book, consider giving away your book plus someone else’s book (by an author who is better known) for added interest and exposure. Or look for something that interests your readership. Annie Sullivan, whose debut YA novel, A Touch of Gold, released in August, says she has been strategic about her giveaway selections to ensure she gets the right kind of new followers. Her latest: “It’s a Harry Potter Advent calendar made up of Funko Pops. Everyone had been raving about this item online when it was up for pre-order, so I made sure to think ahead and order one specifically to use as a giveaway.”
• If you advertise, create an ad. Gorsuch advised that authors not promote posts but instead create an ad that appears in Instagram Stories. Or, create a grid ad that appears in the feed; videos are said to perform better than static images.
• For a book launch, consider an influencer campaign. Brittany Hennessy, author of Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media, said during a panel that if the goal of an Instagram campaign is to capture direct sales, then you need influencers with 10,000 or more followers on Instagram (the threshold for activating the platform’s swipe-up purchasing function). However, there are many influencers below that number who post great content that publishers can then repurpose. “Once an influencer makes that photo and [gives you permission to] use it, you can now disseminate that photo.”

Sullivan tells us that, because of using Instagram, “I haven’t seen the dip in sales that usually follows a new book the longer it’s out. I’ve had fairly consistent numbers week to week, which I contribute to constantly having the book appear on Instagram.” Most recently her book was featured on Elizabeth Sagan’s account, where it received 13,000 likes.

Raquel, who released The Suicide Tree this fall, was able to gain 8,000 Instagram followers (the majority acquired this year), even though she doesn’t have that kind of following on Facebook and Twitter combined. She uses Linktree links in her bio to easily send Instagram users to Amazon or elsewhere to buy her book. She told us, “When it comes to book sales from people I already know, Facebook has been a huge help. My friends saw the pre-order link and grabbed it. Easy. But what about people who have never heard of me? That’s why I push Instagram so much. By using hashtags, location tags, and other Instagram users’ accounts for visibility, people who have never heard of you see your book in a flash and want it!”

Chauncey, founder of cat-grief community More Than Tuna, told us, “On Instagram, every account is a community in itself, yet even people who have large accounts engage with others, not just on their own page. … Instagram was the first social media platform for Tuna, because I was already involved in its [cat] rescue community, which is an incredibly cooperative and supportive community. It still feels like the foundation of my platform, even though the Tuna follower numbers are much higher on Facebook. Instagram also seems to show a higher number of my posts to a larger percentage of followers. … To oversimplify, if Facebook is about content-sharing, and Twitter is about amplification of ideas, Instagram—beyond the images—is about human-to-human connection.”

However, Chauncey says there was one effort that didn’t work quite so well: “I created a hashtag (#tunatributes) with the intention of creating a community where people could ask for and receive support after the death of a cat. I wanted to give people an opportunity to ask for support without the account becoming a feline obituary section. While it’s been helpful for those who use it, Facebook has turned out to be a better platform for peer-to-peer support (a Tuna Tributes group).”  

Bottom line: Writers are great at telling stories, and that’s what Instagram is all about—but of course it’s visual, ongoing storytelling. As with any social media use, you can’t make it all about promoting your own books; you have to find a way to make it interesting for both you and the community. Raquel told us that Instagram is “100 percent about authenticity. Be yourself. That means talking about your failures, posting photos of things that are real: your pets, your family, your accidents, your silly moments, your brave moments. … I believe that’s the reason so many people enjoy following me on IG even more so than Facebook. … They see me as a human being. And once you’ve done that—once you’ve shown the world who you really are—they fall in love with you and will read your grocery list.” For tools to help you plan Instagram posts, take a look at Planoly, Later, and Preview.