September 10, 2021

20 Bookstagrammers You Need to See

September 10, 2021/ Heather Weidner

#Bookstagram is a phenomenon of Instagram. It’s a popular hashtag used to showcase books in pretty settings and arrangements. There are all kinds of themes and challenges. If you’re a book lover, check it out. Bookstores, libraries, readers, reviewers, interior designers, and others feature their latest reads and reviews with so much creativity. Here are 20 of my favorites.

In no particular order:

@ElleryAdamsOfficial
@SocraticKicks
@Bookishly_Overdue
@Kamis_Korner
@OverflowingShelf
@The_Reading_Beauty
@Amandas.Bookshelf
@neelhtak
@CozyMysteryCorner
@ashleyisbookish
@neverlandbooks
@teryn_books
@whatsbethanyreading
@alysonbookishthoughts
@Books_and_Benches
@NeverLoweonBooks
@berkleyrosereads
@inked.in.pages
@escapetothebookshelf
@wiltedpages

May 14, 2021

Instagram for Book Lovers - Tips for Authors

May 14, 2021/ Heather Weidner

Instagram is a haven for book lovers. Whether you’re a reader, collector, interior designer, or writer, you need to check out these amazing pictures. I love seeing all the creative ways people arrange their books. These are hashtags that you can type into the search bar to see a book lovers’ paradise.

#Bookstagram - This is a popular hashtag on the social media site. You’ll see thousands of books in beautiful settings. I am amazed at all the creative vignettes, colors, and designs. Many #Bookstagrammers are also book reviewers. Check out and follow ones you like. You can also follow the hashtag to see what’s being posted.

There are also variants of the hashtag by country, region, or preference. Type in #Bookstagram in search and scroll through the list for more options.

#Bookstack - This hashtag features stacks in any place you can imagine. Some are arranged by color, others by theme. I love looking at the photos to see if I can spot friends’ books.

#Bookshelf - This has so many great ideas for arranging shelves. Again, I am always looking to see if I can see friends’ books in the photos. My books (throughout the house) are grouped on shelves by genre. I have started theming some of the shelves (e.g. mystery, Wizard of Oz, etc.).

#Shelfie - This started out as photos with books and bookshelves, but you’ll see all kinds of designs that are tagged with this hashtag.

Other hashtags to check out on Instagram:

AmReading
Author
AuthorsOfInstagram
BookAholic
BookCommunity
BookFollow
Bookish
BookishAesthetic
BookishFeatures
BookLover
BookNerd
BookRecsByMe
Books
BooksAndWine
BooksOfInstagram
BookShivers
BookstaPeeps
Bookworm
CozyReading
CurrentRead
IGReads
ReaderProblems
ReadersOfInstagram
ThrillerStack
TimeToRead

View, like, and comment. I think it’s important for authors to be active on Instagram. It’s a great way to meet readers, reviewers, fans, librarians, book store staff, and other writers.

I’d like to thank Sonica Soares (The Reading Beauty) for the great presentation she gave to our Sisters in Crime chapter about #Bookstagram. Many thanks for all the great advice and ideas!

February 02, 2018

My Primary Social Media Sites and How I Use Them as an Author

February 02, 2018/ Heather Weidner

There are so many social media sites, and it can be overwhelming. I heard some good advice at a conference a while back -- "You can't do it all." Authors feel they need to be everywhere -- all the time. And sometimes, that takes me away from writing and editing.

Here are the sites that I'm more active with and how I use them.

Facebook - I have a personal page, an author page, and a group page for superfans. My personal page has information that I share with friends and family. I share book things on my author page, and my fan group is for previews and early review requests.

I like to use Facebook to keep up with people, learn about new events, and see what everybody's reading or writing. I probably post more to my author page than I do my personal one. I also occasionally boost posts about look launches and sales on the author page. I also create events for meetings or signings that I like to invite people to.

Make sure to tag people that appear in your photos or posts.

Twitter - I use Twitter to keep up with the book world and all my mystery reader and writer friends. I like to share others' information and celebrations.

I use Tweepi to manage my Twitter followers. Often there are accounts that follow you, and then they drop you shortly after. I use TweetDeck to schedule posts. I also make lists to keep up with different groups of people. The lists help me organize groups of folks that I'm interested in, so I can see their tweets.

I tweet links to my blog posts and announcements about my books. I also try to share good content from others. If you tweet about events or post pictures, make sure to tag those who are with you.

Instagram - I love looking at and taking pictures. I can spend hours flipping through Instagram. I post pictures of what I'm doing. My dogs get a lot of face time on my account. I always try to take pictures at all the events I go to. Make sure to tag anyone with you in your photos.

Pinterest - Did I mention that I love looking at pictures? I have Pinterest boards for all kinds of things that I want to see again. I create boards for all my books and stories. I save pictures of what my characters and settings look like. I also have a board of blog posts. I also have boards for crafts and recipes that I want to try.

LinkedIn - This is my "professional" social media site that has my key jobs and skills. I use this for business networking. I have also started to post links to my blog here.

My recommendation is to find the sites that you like to interact with and try to focus your time on those. You should have a presence on the others, but I would concentrate on a few. I try to schedule my social media time throughout the day. I catch up at breakfast. (Yes, I tweet at 5:30 AM.) I try to check on my sites at lunch, and then I scroll through my sites after dinner.

Let's Be Social: