I’d love to spend all my “writer” time actually writing, but there are definitely non-writing things that take up part of my day-to-day schedule. And I don’t mean the editing or the outlining or cover design (which are all things that crop up, don’t get me wrong, but they’re still writing-adjacent in my mind). Alas, a larger and larger chunk of my time goes into promotion and marketing.
One of the hard realities of being a self-published or indie author is how much marketing and social media is necessary to help promote a book. Even when I’m in the midst of writing a new project, I can’t disappear completely from social media – I try to keep a presence so that people know hey! I exist! I’m still writing! and can start to build anticipation for that project. Here are some of the ways I try to be active online and how I manage my planning across multiple books, accounts, and platforms.
Instagram and BlueSky
There are obviously a bajillion places with book spheres for readers and writers alike. I’ve dabbled in a few like Twitter (*gag* “X”), heard of but not invested time into others (TikTok and Facebook), but ultimately picked a few that I’m not only comfortable with but enjoy using. I use Instagram for work and in my personal life, so it made sense to put effort into that since I already use it and like it. I know a lot of my writer buddies through Duck Prints Press are on BlueSky, so I post there as well. I occasionally dust off my old Tumblr account for updates, though it’s not my go-to anymore.
And while Instagram especially has worked for me, I know a lot of authors have different preferences. Instead of trying to do what everyone else is doing and what people recommend, I focus on the ones I understand and will end up opening even on days when I personally have nothing to share.
Instagram: @ashheardwrites for hockey, @ashheardfantasy for fantasy
BlueSky: @ashheardwrites
My Calendar
I don’t have any programs or apps where I schedule all of this in advance, but I do plan it out. I’m a very visual person when it comes to this stuff, so over the summer I started doing big desk calendars planning out my upcoming posting schedule. I’d gone through and made several posts all at once for Tessa of Hundrfeld and Drop the Gloves, but I didn’t want to spam my followers by posting them all at once and I didn’t want to forget about any of the things I’d made, so I had to come up with a way to keep track of what was going up when.
I’m not going to lie, I haven’t been this organized/color-coded since work started back up, BUT my plan was to have different books in different colors (hockey romance, fantasy, and general writerly stuff each being my main ones). If the post was made and scheduled to post, I wrote it in on the date; if the post was planned but not yet queued, I wrote it on the projected day and then put a little clear tab over it as a visual clue to me that I still needed to do something.
I can also see big gaps in my schedule (like now…) so I know I should try to post something to fill that gap. So…what do I post?
Direct Book Promo
There’s the obvious stuff. When a new book is coming out, there’s some standard posts: book announcement w/tropes, cover reveal, release date, preorder info, giveaways, ARC signups, showcasing the physical book, etc. This is honestly my favorite part of promoting a book, because there’s zero thought involved haha – I just go through the checklist.
There are some other book posts that are pretty standard for me as well: rosters for hockey teams, NHL style updates (trades, free agency, injury, etc), character bios, and tweets/fan comments. These require a bit more thought on my end but still follow a pretty reliable pattern that makes it easier for me to post consistently.
Sharing Lines
As much as I would love to share chapters as I finish them (one of the things I miss about writing/publishing fanfic!), I really can’t share much until I have a final product that’s ready for beta readers, editors, and ARC readers.
I try to post lines with “Work in Progress Wednesday” or “Fantasy Friday” or “Six Lune Sunday,” just little ways to share teasers. I love doing this because it’s that no context BOOM! shock of it, and I’ve had a lot of people reply with questions or comments or predictions based on those little snippets. It’s also an easy thing to share – copy/paste a few lines (maybe edit for clarity) and move on. I have premade graphics that I use and can easily drop onto my Instagram story while I’m at the gym or making dinner.
The only tricky part I’ve found is I need to kinda keep of what I’m sharing so I don’t keep sharing the same hot/funny/sweet/whatever line that I enjoy week after week. I really have almost done this lol so I started to write down what I shared so I a) didn’t repeat and b) could grab things as I went through editing for later weeks.
Memes
I’m not going to pretend I know what all the Cool Memes (TM) are, but occasionally I see ones that seem fun or really fit my characters. These are usually more because I like putting them together lol but then I can share them. While I like to mostly focus on current projects and upcoming releases, this is also a great way for me to show readers my older works that they maybe haven’t seen before.
Newsletter/Blog
Last year I bit the bullet and started a newsletter (duh). At first I wasn’t sure how useful it would be in terms of marketing/promotion, and honestly I’m still not sure, but I’ve found it to be a great way for me personally to stay on top of things. I set myself a schedule and it means that even if I got lost in hockey or work or whatever, I have a biweekly routine where I always go back to think about writing and where I’m going or where I’ve been. It also gives me an avenue to process some of what I do while writing – whether it’s these posts where I go through my considerations as an author or other posts where I’ve talked about my writing process or preparing for signing events.
Though I can’t say enough how much I love using it to collect a lot of things for my readers together! Short stories, excerpts, upcoming author vents, upcoming releases, character profiles, ARC signups – I can share so many things to interested readers who may not see the couple posts I put on Instagram or BlueSky. I feel like I’m covering my bases, because it can wait in everyone’s inbox until they’re ready.
And based on the recommendation of some fellow writers at a conference, I’ve collected a lot of my newsletter content to also publish as blog posts on my website. That way new readers can find older posts, and it’s in a more accessible, searchable spot that can draw in more people 🙂
Please note: I am in no way claiming to be an expert or genius at social media for book promotion. I’m really not. I just know this is A Thing that I as an author need to do at least a little, and I do think that my online presence has been beneficial to me as an author. I wanted to share some of the things I do to give readers an insight into why they might be seeing certain things on my or other authors’ pages, and I wanted to help other authors get ideas on how to manage the sometimes overwhelming task of promotion.
A.L. Heard 
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