So, you’ve written a great book. Now people will just automagically discover it and suddenly you’ll be a best selling author, right? Not surprisingly, it’s a bit more complicated than that. We wanted to give you a little advice, based on our experience working in digital publishing. Today, we’ll look at how to spread the word through social media.

First of all, which networks should you be on? Most of our resources focus on Twitter and Facebook because that’s where the people are. That being said, if you have a niche book, do think about niche communities you can reach out to. Also, if your book has great visuals consider Pinterest — not because everyone’s talking about it — but because it’s an amazing way to share and promote images.

Here are 5 great resources to help you out:

1. The Number One Marketing Hurdle: YOU. Yup, you heard that right. The first step is admitting you have a problem — i.e. that you need to think about marketing. It’s okay, everyone does it (or should we say . . . doesn’t do it).
2. How to Market Your Book Through Social Media… This is written by the guy who launched the Happiness Project which reached #2 on the NYTimes best seller list… he knows his stuff. He gives a great overview of how to think about this and why to start early.
3. 9 Ways to Use Social Media to Launch a Book. This post has some great ideas for marketing your book you may not have thought about before. Take a look, some will be right for you and some will be over the top, but we highly recommend thinking about it.
4. How To Use Twitter To Promote Your New Book. Great advice on everything from finding tweetable quotes to starting a hashtag for your book.
5. 10 Pro Tips for Writers Using Social Media. Great overview of things to think about when figuring out what to do on social.

There are many more great resources out there, but we do want to pass along one piece of advice. Don’t get so overwhelmed with options that you do nothing. Choose a few things and focus on them. Double down on what’s working.

Let us know what you have success with and what other resources you recommend!