Authors using Facebook Fan Pages or Groups to market their book

I just created a Facebook Fan Page for The Digital Handshake and, in doing so, spent a great deal of time seeing how other authors are using the vehicle to market their own books. 

Though I did not find that many, I decided to start a list of authors who are either using Fan Pages or Groups. You are welcome to add to the list by leaving a comment with your entry. And it can be any genre or category, not just Web 2.0/tech/marketing books. Fiction, business, history, whatever, are welcome too. Here’s the list as of today. 

Facebook Fan Pages

The Facebook Era by Clara Shih

Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky

Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

The Whuffie Factor by Tara Hunt

Who’s Your Gladys? by Marilyn Suttle and Lori Jo Vest


Facebook Groups

Content Nation by John Blossom

It’s Not What You Sell, But What You Stand For by Roy M. Spence, Jr. with Haley Rushing

Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Personality Not Included by Rohit Bhargava

Twitter Power by Joel Comm

It’s my suspicion that these authors chose Groups over Pages due to the fact that Pages only recently came into vogue as the premiere marketing channel. I could be wrong, of course, as there are reasons for choosing this option. I’d be interested to hear the author’s rationale for why they went this route. 

The other issue, though, is groups can be started by anyone, not just the author. At least with Pages there is some requirement that the person creating the Page be authorized to do so. 

I get the impression that, with the growing prevalence of Pages as the marketing channel of choice, we’ll see more authors moving in that direction and less creating Groups. Still, that’s not to minimize the effectiveness of Groups as an option. 


Other

There are some authors who use neither Pages or Groups, but instead link to their personal profiles. These include:

David Meerman Scott

Pam Slim 

Paul Gillin

Finally, I’m a bit surprised that some authors who’ve written books about Facebook have neither a Page or Group. Facebook Marketing for one; Facebook Marketing Bible for another. And, come to think of it, I don’t see Paul Dunay’s new book, Facebook Marketing For Dummies represented here either. Eat your own dogfood guys! 

6 thoughts on “Authors using Facebook Fan Pages or Groups to market their book

  1. Many thanks for compiling this list, Paul. I'm speaking about social media at a writer's conference was just starting my research when I saw your tweet looking for examples of fan pages. Thanks for doing my job for me! I'll be sure to use your page for The Digital Handshake as a prime example to model.
    Blog on!

  2. If I walk into a room and say I'm not on Facebook, I'd probably get the glare. Facebook has become a norm worldwide that if you have a business you want to promote, you're missing a lot if you don't put it on Facebook.

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