15 TikTok Ideas for Authors to Help Grow Your Audience and Book Sales
There are so many methods to market your upcoming book release, and they can all feel overwhelming. To make it easier, I have compiled 15 TikTok ideas for you to get started with video marketing for your author brand! Let’s check out a few TikTok video ideas for authors below ⬇️✨📖
1. Release the Cover of Your Upcoming Book
Create a TikTok video on your upcoming book’s cover, especially if you are a fantasy fiction author with a fun, gorgeous cover. Build up to the reveal with snippets that slowly reveal the cover itself or hints at the title.
Bonus Tip: You can save this video and send it out in your newsletter as soon as it’s published, with additional VIP release details they can receive before everyone else.
2. Answer the Most Asked Questions
Create a TikTok that answers the top 5 questions your audience has (or generic questions many readers and writers want to know about authors and the writing/ publishing process). This is one of the simplest ways to connect with your fans. And one of the best ways to record this TikTok to stand casually, soft smile, and point to your left for the Question and then to your right for the corresponding Answer. When you go to add text, you’ll simply match up the text boxes to where you were pointing. It’s that simple! Choose a trending song to match, and you're golden.
3. Wrap & Package Book Deliveries
Everyone LOVES a personalized packing experience, even if it’s not their own delivery. Show yourself adding a special “thank you” note to each order, tying them up with jute rope (if that’s your vibe), and adding your own flavor to each package. I’ve seen some authors have their own wax seal made to seal brown paper around their books. You can also include a bookmark in each package to make it more special for the customer (this does NOT have to be super fancy, remember that most readers use the most random, not cute papers and sticky notes for their bookmarks. Anything with a minor print on it will do!) And chances are, if your fan is on TikTok, they will “duet” the video of them opening it as well, adding even more exposure to your author brand shipping process: YAY!
4. Share Character Bios & Profiles
For those who are publishing fictional books, one incredible way to build publicity is by introducing your MC and supporting characters from your book. To enhance user engagement, try to add a few scenes or dialogues from your book. Make sure you add subtitles for every scene for the hearing impaired and because many viewers don’t use their sound regardless. Reveal some funny scenes/characters from your books, and leave the rest to the reader’s imagination.
5. Create Mood Boards & “Aesthetic” Montages
It doesn’t take long on BookTok to see the insane amount of Aesthetic montages for characters, scenes, series to get a glimpse into your mind as the writer. Take a ton of inspirational photos from Pinterest and place them in a TikTok with a moody, thematic song choice. Readers LOVE getting an inside scoop on your aesthetic images before you’ve even written the book or scene!
6. Organize Giveaways
Promoting giveaways are one of the popular TikTok trends for 2021. Create a giveaway video with you at your writing desk or in a calm setting (the more shelfie vibes the better), and mention the prizes for each winner, steps for participating in the giveaway, and the date you will be revealing the names of the lucky winners.
7. Author & Publishing Tips
Whether you’re a non-fiction, young adult, or comic book author, regardless of the type of book you are publishing, you can create a “how-to” tutorial video sharing how you set up your writing sprints, plot and outline your books, plan the entire series of multiple books, batch content for your audiences, write newsletters (or outsource your marketing), and even how to create illustrations for your book/ merchandise or how to hire a book artist. Make sure to cover the top 10 writing mistakes/ challenges you see or have experienced most often and how to overcome them. There are SO MANY people out there terrified of writing, so share as much of your process as you’re comfortable with!
8. DIY for Authors
People love DIY projects! Short DIY videos have the potential to do really well with thousands of views in a very short amount of time, with lots of “saves” for people to refer to later. Publish a sweet and short video explaining some of your most fun and exciting do-it-yourself projects for staying organized as an author, or even cozying up your favorite writing space. Cozy writing corners are all the rage right now, so make sure to utilize this to boost your views and increase user engagement. Try to make a DIY TikTok video for a bookmark, a word tracker, weekly/ monthly planners, plotting drafts/ outlines, plot books, character profiles/ bios, or anything that brings the attention of people to writerly world.
9. Create a Duet Challenge
Create a “duet challenge” provides a lot of potential for increased exposure and reader-generated content. For example, maybe create a video of your sacred writing space, and ask your audience to duet it with their own cozy writing corners.
10. Copy Trends & Challenges
Make sure you are following TikTok video trends! If you see a lot of similar versions of a trend/ challenge on your For You Page, go create your own version, making appeal to your niche/ audience. Young and old viewers alike are huge fans of the fun/ engaging content we see so much on TikTok.
11. Talk about Your Inspiration
Your audience CRAVES to know the inspiration behind your book. Because ultimately, they want to know: “Is this person like me?” You don’t need a super long, emotional video sharing the harrowing trials, ups, and downs that lead to your writing (unless that’s your vibe of course). A 30-second video is all you need to point out what other authors, speakers, quotes, events, and/ or people inspired you to start writing your series.
12. Give Your Readers Regular Updates
Let your audience know the progress of your first/ next book. Create a TikTok video sharing the updates of the book with your viewers. Tell your audience how much you have written, what your writing goals are, and when you are planning to go through editing and proofreading. Make sure to announce that you are accepting Beta/ Sensitivity or ARC Readers early and often to stay on top of your review phases. You can even give a few book title options and ask your audience which one they like best. Your audience will automatically feel more connected to you, your process, and your novel as you take them into the process as much as possible.
13. Unboxing Videos
Unboxing videos are the bomb.com on YouTube, TikTok, and other video-sharing platforms. Post a video of you unboxing your book for the first time, or any subscription book box for that matter. Remember, your audience is obsessed with anything book/reading-related! Make sure you show them that you enjoy being a part of the reading community as well. You can also share an unboxing montage from fans if you ask them to submit their videos in advance (maybe as part of a giveaway).
14. Announce Book Box Partnerships
Participate a book box subscription program and share it with the Authortok, Booktok, and Bookstagram communities. This allows for you to break into new reader fandoms and spaces that you weren’t a part of beforehand. You can share and duet TikTok unboxing videos from your readers, and share the fun merch included in the box as well. Make sure to ask your book box subscription partner for a box of your own for these promotional videos (you might have to pay, but trust me, it’s worth it)! Use this box for a fun, gorgeous flat lay photoshoot to add to your other platforms as well. Create a brief, moody aesthetic video with the same layout as well (repurpose, repurpose)!
15. TBR & Top Book Recommendations
Readers in the Booktok community are constantly sharing their “TBR” or To Be Read piles, so make sure to stay on top of this. As an author, you should be reading as well and staying with the times. Share your shelfies with some popular music, mix it up by individually throwing your TBR books onto a nice bookish setup in tune with the beat, or simply create mini-reviews of what you liked and disliked for each TBR as you go through them. The options are limitless, as long as you are giving back to the writing community through reading and reviewing!
These are just the top 15 ways for authors to scale their reach organically and achieve the best opportunity for viral videos. The list goes on and on. In every video, make sure to give shoutouts to your most faithful followers, build up the next generation of writers, ask them to follow you on Instagram, and ask for reviews AS. MUCH. AS. POSSIBLE. Ask and you shall receive! Readers legitimately forget to write reviews, so you can’t remind them enough. Build a fanbase of superfans by following the above TikTok ideas and get your book the popularity it deserves!
No go forth and TikTok your heart out ;)
