TikTok Tips for Authors 2024: How to Sell Books on TikTok

TikTok can be really beneficial to authors, but if you're doing it wrong, you can be wasting your time. In this video, I share top tips for making videos more engaging, by looking at some of my clients' and followers' author TikTok pages!
You'll walk away with tips and tricks to apply to your own video content.
Grab the BOOKTOK BLUEPRINT: get more book sales on TikTok with my step-by-step guide to using TikTok as an author or writer, with video tutorials, post ideas, and more! www.marketingbyshelby.com/the...
Thanks to these authors for volunteering for this video!
/ elleunchained
/ maryscatlinauthor
/ kmtannerauthor
/ writestheunsaid
ABOUT SHELBY: Hey, I'm Shelby, bestselling writer and marketing coach for creatives. After growing my own audience as an author to more than 500k on social media, working in social media management for 5+ years, becoming a full-time writer and selling over 50k books on social media, I now teach authors and creatives, like musicians, artists, poets, photographers and more, how to grow and sell their creative work on social media.
CONNECT WITH SHELBY: I post marketing tips here on KZbin (subscribe for more videos!) as well as on TikTok and Instagram.
/ marketingbyshelby
/ marketingbyshelby
marketingbyshelby.com/
Thanks so much for watching! Please subscribe for weekly marketing videos and give this video a like so more authors and creatives can find these tips.
0:00 - author bio to grow your following
3:08 - your hook to boost watch time
5:35 - strong content to boost engagement
11:35 - cover text to boost views
13:30 - use analytics to boost watch time
14:50 - be clear about your genre

[@jonathanfesmiresteampunkau6983]

In my opinion, the worst hook one can use is when the video says right in the beginning, "Stop scrolling," or "Don't scroll away!" For me, that's all the more reason to scroll.

[@marketingbyshelby]

Haha yea I definitely can understand that! I think showing your audience WHY they should stop on their own is more effective than telling them to 😊

[@gerardcharleswilson9954]

A clear beautifully presented video.

[@marketingbyshelby]

Thank you!

[@gerlineco]

Amazing video as always! very helpful!

[@marketingbyshelby]

Thank you! 😊

[@dayfish]

This was incredibly helpful. Thank you.

[@marketingbyshelby]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for the feedback :)

[@ChristaKateAndersonpoetry]

Thank you for the video.❤ I've watched a couple of of your videos and its been helping hearing it all. It's so dificult and overwhelming to know how to post about my book. And the results are so different. One video - the same video does well on Instagram but not Tik Tok or youtube. Then mix and match. 😂

[@marketingbyshelby]

Glad it’s helpful! They all have different algorithms so I find the same too - different things work for IG and Tiktok 🥰

[@maryscatlinauthor]

Thank you so much for your time and advice. As always, very helpful. ❤

[@marketingbyshelby]

you're welcome! thanks for volunteering 😊

[@ChristyLoveSinging7]

While I can’t focus on TikTok (because of my part-time education job), I still found this useful for Instagram Reels. Also interesting to see how I was doing well with TikTok. Overall, it’s best this way, because of my health and energy to produce content. - Christina Vourcos

[@marketingbyshelby]

Definitely! A lot of tiktok tips can be applied to all short form video 😊

[@karenfredericks8474]

Truly awesome. This may be the most clear, thoughtful, instructive video I've ever seen! Thank you so very much!

[@marketingbyshelby]

Thank you so much for this feedback! I appreciate it and glad you found it helpful 😊

[@NikkiDavenportRomanceAuthor]

Super helpful for this newbie. Thank you!

[@marketingbyshelby]

You're so welcome!

[@BryanJFagan]

Thank you. The type of information I was looking for.

[@marketingbyshelby]

Glad it was helpful!

[@GransomHayes_author]

That’s a good point about the watch parties, thank you

[@marketingbyshelby]

Thanks for watching!

[@sylvanacandela7872]

Thank you so much for your helpful advice. I am new to Tik Tok and finding it overwhelming 🥴😱! With a series of dystopian novels out, I really need help with marketing.

[@marketingbyshelby]

You're welcome! It can definitely be overwhelming in the beginning but over time I've found with the authors I work with that it gets easier, from making content to actually seeing results! My BookTok Blueprint course is a great place to start if you're feeling overwhelmed. It's linked in the description of this video if you'd like to check it out! Best of luck with your series :)

[@sylvanacandela7872]

@@marketingbyshelby I will definitely check it out. Thank you!

[@jimpurdy3254]

Thank you for this information and advice. It is very helpful. If I write under two diffiferent author names (two different genres) would I need two TikTok accounts? Thank you for any advice.

[@marketingbyshelby]

You're welcome! And yes if they are different genres and different names I do recommend 2 accounts. I would start with 1 account focusing on 1 pen name and build that up and learn what works before jumping into the 2nd account. But it does help avoid confusion to your audience and the algorithm will better learn who your audience is for both :)

[@jimpurdy3254]

@@marketingbyshelby Good advice! Thank you! I will order your marketing kit and follow instructions carefully to make sure I'm doing this correctly! :)

[@mollycolbert8677]

Can we refrain an account with consistent new content or should we start from scratch with a new account?

[@marketingbyshelby]

It depends on how long you've been away! I've tried to bring accounts back to life that I didn't use for 4 or 5 months and ended up not being effective unfortunately. But if it's been a couple months or less it's worth trying to bring it back

[@transformational.methods]

Hi Shelby! Is it worth running ads on TikTok videos?

[@marketingbyshelby]

I haven't found it to be important or worth it yet while the organic algorithm is still really strong 💛

[@thewriterchick134]

Hi, I am new to TikTok and I do not know how to add a link to my books on Amazon. I have looked everywhere. I have almost 2,000 followers now and post videos about my books but when I post and it says add a link, my book isn't in there. I am an established author and I thought I knew social media but this is tricky for me. Thank you!

[@marketingbyshelby]

Hello! That is unfortunately not how the "add a link" button works. That specific section is a partnership with one publisher so most books aren't on there. You can add a link in your bio once you reach 1k followers and direct people to your book that way.

[@mikesmith-hc4ci]

I won't lip sync, dance like a fool, or any other silly stuff for a book sale. Too many writers on there acting like clowns. Then you have tons of young female authors trying to sell a book by dancing in a bikini like that's normal behavior. Backwards generation.

[@marketingbyshelby]

Interesting! I rarely see things like that on TikTok. Most of my videos I don't even show my face or talk and there are many authors who are using it the same, or sharing educational/inspirational videos. There are billions of people on TikTok, and not everyone is using it the same way. But grouping everyone together is definitely not helping anyone :)