How to Grow Your Author Account on Instagram
Having an Instagram account is a valuable way for authors of all genres and experience levels to market their books, connect with readers, and build a meaningful community. In this blog, we explore how to grow your author account on Instagram and provide tips for creating engaging content your readers will love.
4 Instagram Tips for Authors
Instagram is probably my favorite way to market my books! I love being a part of the writing community and authentically connecting with my readers, but it’s also a great way to get your work out there. I personally believe every author should have an Instagram account because it’s such a valuable marketing tool.
Below are some of the tips that have helped me grow my writing Instagram over the years. Whether you’re a new writer starting your first account or a seasoned author with an established presence, these tips can help you not only increase your reach but also enhance the value of your posts, so you can be sure you’re serving your readers the best content possible.
1. Prioritize Creating a Community
This is probably one of the most valuable points in this post and I’ll be referencing this idea a lot. Having an Instagram account as an author isn’t all about numbers. It’s about creating a community for you, fellow authors, your current readers, and future readers.
Yes, having more followers can be beneficial. But at the end of the day, likes and follows aren’t meaningful if they aren’t tied to valuable objectives—like increasing engagement, getting book sales, or building a community.
For example, I’ve had multiple reels go “viral” and reach over 2 million views, but that doesn’t mean I’m getting 2 million book sales or gaining 2 million followers. Even videos with lots of exposure and reach don’t always turn into sales or contribute to your community.
Your goal shouldn’t be to go viral. While that’s definitely helpful for expanding your audience, at the end of the day, it’s all about the readers who stick around. The readers who continuously consume your writing and engage your content. Your biggest fans, who will rave about your writing to friends and family and instantly read anything you put out there.
While reaching more people on Instagram is beneficial, what matters most is that you are connecting with the audience you do have, making genuine connections, and creating authentic, relatable content that resonates with your readers in a meaningful way.
2. It’s Not About You
If you want to grow your writing account, it’s important to remember that it’s not about you. This sounds harsh, but it’s actually a really useful tip to keep in mind!
If you want to increase your reach and expand your audience, you need to create content users will actually find valuable. This is the content they will engage with and reshare. In other words, content they will comment on, send to friends, save to folders, share on their stories, etc.
The bulk of your content should be posts that will make your audience go “Wow, this is so me!” or “this is hilarious” so they will engage with it, save it for later, or again—post on their story. And also, so they will actually enjoy it. Make most of your content about them.
Now, I also want to say it is important to actually post things about you every now and then. People want to know what’s going on! But also, you’ll need to actually promote your books too. It’s all about finding a good balance between relatable content, snippets of your life, useful or informative content, and promotional posts. Now how do you actually go about achieving that balance?
The 50/30/20 Rule
The 50/30/20 Rule is a social media marketing strategy designed to help businesses (that’s you) strike a balance between engaging with their audience (your readers) and actually making sales (your books).
Following this ratio has really helped me grow my Instagram and make more valuable connections within the community I’m a part of.
Basically, 50% of your content should engage, 30% should inform, and 20% should promote.
However, I think in the writing community specifically, it should be more like this:
50% = engaging
20% = personal
20% = promotional
10% = informative
Because again, as I mentioned before, people like to know what’s going on in the lives of their favorite authors! That’s a big reason why many people go out and search for writers they like on Instagram. So make sure you are posting personal stuff every now and then because this will help contribute to the community you’re trying to build—but not so much that it overshadows the engaging content.
Here’s an infographic to put it in perspective:
I follow this ratio very loosely, but as a rule of thumb, most of your posts should be engaging. And by this, I mean they actually need to be valuable for your readers—making them laugh, inspiring them, etc.
No one will care about an account that is 100% promotional. In fact, that might even bring you less book sales.
Think about it like how you’d write a book. Without internal conflict, character development, and realistic goals (aka reasons to care about the characters), no one will keep turning the page.
Again, make your content about them. Give your audience a reason to care about what you’re promoting by creating funny, authentic, valuable, human content.
3. Show Your Face
You will hear mixed opinions about this, but if you’re an author looking to grow your Instagram account, it’s important to show your face.
I want to begin by saying this is entirely optional. I understand that many aren’t comfortable showing their face online, and this is perfectly okay! Again, it’s entirely up to you. If you’re using a pen name for anonymity purposes, feel free to disregard this tip.
But if you’re using your real name and want to establish a brand as an author, showing your face is important. It’s also an integral part of book signings, interviews, events, etc.
Instagram rewards content with real people in it. In fact, content with faces gets 38% more likes than faceless content. In addition to the algorithm, there are some psychological reasons behind this, too. There is a specific area in our brain stimulated by faces, and familiar faces have a big impact.
I’ve done a lot of testing over the years to figure out what content works and what doesn’t—and all of the posts with my face perform a lot more. For example, if I post a photo with just my book, it’s not going to get as much engagement as a post with me holding my book.
Same goes for aesthetic reels and edits about my book. I love making these videos (and post them anyway, no matter how well they perform, because they’re fun and it’s important to make unique content!), but they don’t do as well because my face isn’t in it.
Showing your face is beneficial in 2 main ways: it’s good for the algorithm, and it’s good for building valuable connections with your audience.
Readers like to know what you’re up to. I know I do! I love seeing what my favorite authors post and seeing that there are real people behind the words I consume. Humans are nosy creatures (myself included) and we like to know what’s going on.
Also, humans are more likely to connect with other humans. If I’m scrolling through Instagram, I’m much more likely to trust an account with a face I can assign to it, as opposed to an account without one. It’s not necessarily something I’m actively aware of in the moment, but that’s just the truth. That doesn’t mean faceless accounts aren’t making valuable content! It’s a subconscious psychological thing, really.
You might not feel comfortable showing your face right away. It took me years to get comfortable making content online, and I’m still a bit shy about it. But with practice and maybe stepping out of your comfort zone a bit, you can use this tip to make authentic, engaging content that resonates with your readers.
4. Make Friends With Other Writers
One of the best things you can do as an author on Instagram is to make friends with other writers!
These are the people who will support you throughout your career, the people who will lead you to valuable industry connections and collaboration opportunities, and—the people who might just become your closest friends.
I’ve met so many amazing people on Instagram and I’m incredibly grateful for their support and kindness.
Read their books, comment on their posts, reshare their reels, and don’t be afraid to reach out and engage in a conversation in someone’s DMs! Supporting indie authors is super important and so is fostering a kind, supportive community that builds others up. Also, collaboration is really important for not only the algorithm, but your career, too. Collaborative posts, anthologies, author events, etc. All of these opportunities begin with making connections.
Discover More Marketing Tips for Authors
By prioritizing community, focusing on providing valuable, engaging content, showing your face, and connecting with other writers, you can grow an interactive and rewarding Instagram account, and ultimately build your business as an author.
If you’re interested in more marketing tips for authors, feel free to check out my other blog posts! You can also subscribe to my newsletter or follow me over on Instagram to stay in the loop with the latest writing updates, tips, fun content, and more.
Happy writing!