Nathan Bransford | Writing, Book Editing, Publishing

Helping authors achieve their dreams

Facebook for Authors – How to Get Started

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A thousand fans isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A MILLION FANS. Or a billion. What’s that line from “The Social Network” again?

Anyway! The Facebook is kind of a big deal. And authors must be thinking about how they should be on The Facebook. First step: don’t call it The Facebook.

On second thought, do call it The Facebook.

Now, this post isn’t about promoting your book or building up your audience or how to become friends with Zuck himself, that all comes later.

The first step: getting yourself started. Here are some tips.

Create a Fan Page

UPDATE: My advice on this changed because of new Facebook developments. See this post to first decide if you want to use subscriptions or whether you want to create a page. If you want to create a page, here you go:

When fan pages were first created, I think people were kind of nervous to get started on them due to the whole “fan” thing. It seemed a bit presumptuous to have a fan page when one wasn’t a celebrity. But Facebook pages are increasingly how people distinguish between their private and public networks. So even if you aren’t (yet) a published author, I would definitely consider creating a page for yourself.

Facebook pages are a bit different than traditional accounts because people don’t need to be approved to Like the page and they’re public by default, and thus they are a good way to keep your personal account personal and your public account public. You can tailor your posts accordingly. Here’s my page.

How to create one? It’s a piece of cake. Go here, click “Artist, Band, Public Figure,” choose Author and follow the easy instructions. There you have it.

Degree of difficulty: Extremely easy

When to do this: You know, I feel like there’s no time like the present. The earlier you start building up those likes the bigger your head start when prime time arrives. 

Create a Book Page

For a long time I wasn’t sure about creating a book page for Jacob Wonderbar, because there are definite pros and cons to having both an author page and a book page.

Basically, if you have people who Like the author page and other people who Like the book page, you are splitting your audience. If you post updates to the people following your author page you might miss the people following your book page. You can post to both, but you might annoy the fans who follow both pages.

Conundrum.

Here’s what swayed me. When someone goes to enter your book as one of their favorites, Facebook knows there’s a Book Page and links that page to the person’s profile:

I found this very exciting.

Also, it’s better to create one yourself rather than having one created for you that you don’t control. So now I have a Facebook page for JACOB WONDERBAR.

To create one, go here, then choose Entertainment, then Book. You’re on your way.

Degree of Difficulty: Extremely easy.

When to do this: When you have a cover.

Optimize Your Blog or Website for the New “Like” Button

I don’t know how you spent your weekend, but I went through and adjusted all of my Facebook “Like” buttons on my blog and added Facebook meta tags for optimal sharing. Yeah, it was pretty rock and roll.

Facebook recently introduced a new version of Like buttons that make them more prominent in someone’s News Feed.

They went from this:

To this:

They just got much more important.

Now, adding Like buttons to your blog is not the easiest of endeavors by any means. It involves some coding, especially if you want to change the image and text in the share box. And if you want to give people an opportunity to comment when they “Like” the post you have to use the XFBML version of the Like buttons, which is a bit more complicated.

As I was figuring all this out, I found this post to be a really helpful resource. Please note, however, that it’s geared toward WordPress blogs and if you have a Blogger-based blog like I do you’ll need to find a separate post that explains how to do it. I drew upon this post for some Blogger-specific wrinkles.

But hey, after adding some code I managed to add new Like buttons and didn’t even break the blog! Try them out!

Degree of difficulty: Tricky

When to do this: Yesterday

Stick Like Buttons Everywhere

If your eyes glazed over when faced with the earlier task, never fear, there are easier things you can tackle.

For instance, it’s easy to add a Like Box to your blog like this one:

Just go to this page, adjust the style according to your preferences, and then copy the code into a blog widget or post.

And when you have Pages you can put Like buttons everywhere, including posts! Creating a basic Like button is really easy. Just go to this page, enter the URL for the page you want the button to share, adjust the style, and then voila, you have code.

Then you can put them wherever you want!

Here’s a Like button for my page:

Here’s a Like button for Jacob Wonderbar:

Here’s a Like button for corndogs:

It gets addicting.

Degree of Difficulty: Moderate

When to do this: When you create your author page

In future posts: what to do with all these pages and Like buttons and widgets! On The Facebook!

Meanwhile, anyone have any other tips for getting yourself started?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    Nathan, that's what I thought. So the "Like" means nothing as to whether or not a book is worth buying. It's just another time-consuming fad. It will be interesting to see if a significant number of books are actually bought as a result of "Likes".

    – Anon from 12:53 PM

  2. lexcade says

    LOL my name's on your bloooog….

    okay, enough of that.

    I know that this needs to be done, but I feel seriously awkward even making an author page. I still consider myself a "writer" until I get published, either in the near future or years from now…

    Hmm. Maybe it's just time for me to grow up.

  3. Anonymous says

    I agree with Gregory K. about the noise factor. Those "Like" buttons have started popping up all over the Internet. I've started ignoring them, the same way I completely ignore Internet ads.

  4. Nicole says

    When I was in college, I vowed never to get on Facebook.

    That was 6 years ago.

    I'm still not on it.

    I'm not published yet either, so I admit, there's a small part of me that hopes Facebook will fade away by the time I do get published. Yep. I'm one of those people who thinks it's a complete waste of time (I understand the marketing part about it, which is handy, but ultimately I find Facebook to be pointless).

    Even so, perhaps when I get published I'll just hire someone to handle the Facebook thing for me. Then I'll technically be on it, but I don't ever have to bother with it. HA! ;D

  7. Anonymous says

    Anonymous said…
    "Have the people who "Liked" JACOB WONDERBAR actually read it? If not, this seems very similar to writers automatically giving the highest number of stars on Amazon to books by their writer friends. Customers eventually caught on to that trick."

    Off topic, I know. And Nathan answered this well…like doesn't mean you have to really like something. It's a gesture with different meanings.

    But I hope this anon knows that along with the people who have friends giving out five stars on amazon there are also saboteurs giving out one star reviews just as often. It's a vicious system, with many flaws. I hope no one pays attention to any amazon reviews. They aren't very trustworthy.

  8. DEMETRA BRODSKY says

    Seriously, you got back to me in about 30 minutes. You are the Blog God! Thanks! Darn, I wish you were still an agent! Who wouldn't want to work with you?

  11. Anonymous says

    Anon @4:03 PM – Yes, I do know about the low ratings on Amazon. The stars are useless when they're from friends or detractors. But those star ratings were once the rage among writers, recommended on many blogs as a way to get publicity for your book. I think it's wise to be careful how much time a writer puts into new fads, until they can gauge if it helps book sales to any significant degree.

    – Anon from 12:53 PM

  12. Kristi Helvig says

    My brain started hurting halfway through this post, but it's amazing info. I have a FB page, but no need yet for a fan page (though I think my blog Sister set up a FB fan page for our blog). Figuring out html code makes me want to bang my head against a wall, but I'll bookmark this for when I'm feeling smarter. 🙂

  15. Marti says

    Thank you for this, Nathan! I thought a person had to understand Facebook's very special code language to create a page. Much appreciated!

  16. Jeannie says

    Um… I'd really rather spend my afternoon cleaning out an all-winter mucked-up chicken coop than get on Facebook. Or MySpace. Or Twitter.

    Sigh….

  17. Lynne Quintana says

    Thanks for this great tool for Facebook Marketing. Im not really active in facebook marketing because as of now Im on the process of learning more about it. And this article is really a must-read on how to get started. 🙂

  19. MaryAnn says

    I don't understand the reason for a fan page, if you're not already published?

    Who will look at it?

    How will anyone even know to look at it (other than friends or family)?

  20. Anonymous says

    Hmmm… tried to share this from the feed email I got but it did not work. Not sure why but you might want to look into that!

  22. Yaniv Kessler says

    Hi,

    I'm happy that my blog helped you 🙂 can you provide feedback about what was tricky in your integration? maybe I could clarify things more for future visitors.

    Thanks

    Yaniv Kessler

  23. Anonymous says

    Nathan, I really appreciate the information . . . what a gift. You said fan pages are public by default, people don't need to be approved, etc. One person has already commented regarding "harrassment." What do you do if you have a crazy cousin out there who is apt to say anything on your fan page for all to read? Sorry to be so serious, but–um, it is a serious concern for some of us. Thanks Again…

  24. Mia Marlowe says

    Hi Nathan.
    I followed your instructions and got the code for my "recommend" button for my page. How do I put it on my regular FB profile? Since they changed the format, I can't seem to do a thing with it.

    Thanks for your help!

  25. misa101 says

    I had to like this post because when you showed who liked your page both me and a friend of mine were the names showing. I feel all famous now

  26. Nathan Bransford says

    mia-

    As far as I know there's not a super easy way to connect individual and Fan pages, but you can alert your friends that your fan page is up and running.

  27. Cyndi Tefft says

    Definitely adding this post to my favorites so I can come back and follow your instructions step by step. Perfect timing, too, as I have been kicking around a fan page. You rock!

    And, I must admit, it totally threw me to see my name on your blog because I'd "liked" the page. Coolness!

    Cyndi

  29. Word-Smith says

    Nathan, yes, thanx for the useful tips. A friend and I are co-authoring a book and are both on FB. Can you advise on how we would share a Fan Page for the book? Would we each create one from our own account, as we have done for ourselves as authors, or, should one of us do the book Page? I'm not getting yet the connectivity of all of this. Thanks

  32. pamela says

    Love your posts, Nathan. Very informative. I've bookmarked for future reference. Like others, I made my landing page static for my book. I have little programming knowledge, but was able to create it through FB tutorial. For those who want to see what it looks like, here is the link:
    here

  33. Andrea says

    Hi Nathan,

    I went to set up the Book page on Facebook, but the image has to be 180 pixels wide. I'm having difficulty getting beyond that point. Any suggestions? (Yes, the image is small, I downloaded it both from Chapters and Amazon but neither meets the width criteria.) Help!
    Thanks.

  34. rachelventura says

    I've been thinking it'll be impossible to have any FB friends as I do not currently have any IRL friends at the moment. 🙁

    Or could this be a "plus one" for me, since I wouldn't have to worry about friends/family looking at it because I don't have them?

    LOL, Mr. Bransford, I wish you did videoconferencing in addition to all the other stuff too. 🙂

  35. johndebell1 says

    I'm not just 'liking' this blog for the hell of it – I really do LIKE this blog! Why? Because it's simple, straight-forward and happy. Wish mine looked like this!

  36. Anonymous says

    I'm not just 'liking' this blog for the hell of it – I really do LIKE this blog! Why? Because it's simple, straight-forward and happy. Wish mine looked like this!

  37. Trish says

    Hello,

    I'm in the process of putting an anthology together. I started a facebook page for it, but I'm wondering what to put on it…

    I have a facebook page for my website, and it includes links to facebook pages I like & that are related to it.

    What else do you put on it besides your own updates?

    Thanks!

    Trish autistikids@gmail.com