Orna Ross explores what social media can — and can't — do for indie authors in a landscape that has changed beyond recognition. Listen for tips on how to audit what social media truly costs you in time, money, and creative energy; a comparison of the top ten platforms for authors in 2026; and questions that point you to the right platform for you — or help you decide whether social media is worth your time at all.
Listen to the Podcast: Does Social Media Still Sell Books?
Show Notes
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About the Host
Orna Ross launched the Alliance of Independent Authors at the London Book Fair in 2012. Her work for ALLi has seen her named as one of The Bookseller’s “100 top people in publishing”. She also publishes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction and is greatly excited by the democratizing, empowering potential of author-publishing. For more information about Orna, visit her website.
Read the Transcript
Orna Ross: Hello and welcome to the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast. I'm Orna Ross, and today I want to talk to you about social media. Specifically: does social media still sell books in 2026? A lot of authors are rejigging and reconsidering their social media approach. Things have changed — both in terms of the platforms themselves and in terms of what's going on for us as authors. I've been through this myself personally. ALLi has been through it. We've done a complete change — not so much in our platforms, but in our approach.
There is no doubt that social media is still selling books for some authors — some authors being the operative phrase. The decision for you depends on your creative situation, the platforms you've been using or are considering, your writing and publishing habits, your genre, and so on. What I want to go through today is how to audit your current social media presence, what questions to ask yourself, and then a fairly quick tour through the ten platforms authors are using most in 2026. Because being specific and niching down is becoming more and more important. The approach of just blasting content out to as many platforms as possible at high volume doesn't really work anymore — and neither does the mechanical approach of using AI to plan and schedule tweets for a month with no human engagement. What is working? Let's take a look.
Why Social Media Still Matters — and Why It's Getting Harder
Social media is still one of the few places where readers and writers can find each other directly without an intermediary. That has changed somewhat with algorithm shifts and platforms increasingly expecting pay to play — but on certain platforms, or if you approach any platform in the right way, it is still possible to reach readers with nothing but time and creativity. That's still true, if you've developed the skills to stand out in the right way.
If social media doesn't appeal to you or you don't feel you have the skills, you have two options: leave, or develop those skills. I've seen over the years people who had no natural social media instinct become really good at it. The key is aligning the values of your social media presence with the values inherent in your books — and that takes time. As ever in publishing, there's rarely a quick win.
That said, I know social media isn't easy for a lot of authors. Many of us don't want to work in short bites. We write books because we like to go deep. We can be introverts with a high need for privacy to develop our ideas and our characters and our thinking. The rhythm of getting attention on social media — putting things out in short spurts — may be the precise opposite of what you need as a writer. It might actually drain the interiority that your books depend on. If that's the case, it's obvious this won't suit you.
Two other complications have also emerged over the last 18 months or two years. Many authors have become increasingly uncomfortable with the values and policies of certain platforms — particularly X and Meta — around misinformation, AI training, and content moderation. And the old single town-square model — Twitter, or Facebook, or Instagram — is over. The platforms have fragmented, each serving different age groups and social groups. Twitter as a place for authors to get attention for books is effectively gone. The audience that was there has dispersed across Bluesky, Substack Notes, and Threads. Organic reach on Meta has all but collapsed — Facebook pages and Instagram grid posts now reach only a tiny fraction of followers unless you pay. I personally have left both Meta and Twitter and gone all in on Substack, and I know a lot of authors making similar decisions: leaving the big platforms and finding something smaller where their people actually are.
The other big trend we have to take on board is that video has become a genuine sales engine like nothing else for certain books in certain genres. BookTok is huge. Authors selling directly from book videos on TikTok is real and growing. It works best for romance, YA, fast-paced genre fiction with a clear hook, and nonfiction — particularly self-help — also with a clear hook. You need the right personality for it, but if you have it, it is definitely the way to go right now. YouTube is growing too. BookTube has been around for over a decade, but growth there is increasingly spectacular for some people.
In the background to all of this, there's a growth in subscriptions, reader communities, and direct-to-reader platforms: Patreon, Substack, Kickstarter, direct sales through WooCommerce or Shopify stores. Writers are getting more comfortable with the idea of selling direct and building up readers on their own websites — and using social media to drive people toward those owned platforms is where things work really well. Social media and direct sales go hand in hand.
How to Audit Your Current Social Media Presence
How do you think about all of this? Start with an audit of what you already have. Most of us have accounts across various platforms in different stages of activity — some dormant, some sporadically active, some not doing much at the book sales level. Here's how to do the audit.
First, list every platform you have an account on, active or dormant. Then, for each one, write down what it is actually doing for you right now — not what it could do if you had the right assistant or more time, but what is genuinely happening on that platform at this moment. Be very specific: ‘I'm gaining three newsletter subscribers a month' rather than ‘I'm building my brand.' Third, count the true cost of each platform — in time, money, and energy. We often underestimate the creative drain from scrolling, drafting, second-guessing what will get attention, comparing ourselves to others. Every platform leaves a mental residue. Some send you back to your book or your life feeling energized. Others send you back diminished. It's really important to look at what each platform is actually costing you. Then grade each one: working for me, neutral, or draining me. That exercise alone should clarify a lot about where to go next.
Choosing a Platform: Questions to Ask Yourself
Once you've done your audit, you can turn to choosing — or doubling down on — a platform. Ask yourself these questions.
What do I want this platform to actually do for me? Be specific: not just ‘sell books' but how. Do you want to find a community of peers? Step into discussions with readers? Build relationships with reviewers? Deepen the relationship with existing readers? Or are you using it to generate content — as I use Substack to serialize fiction and get it out into the world?
What kind of writer am I? High-volume genre writer? Literary and contemplative? Mainly visual or mainly textual? An essayist? Do you write series? Do you want to teach through your writing? Do you want to tell stories on social media as well as in your books? These questions point directly toward certain platforms and away from others.
How much energy can you realistically give this — not how much you'd like to give, but how many hours per week or month do you genuinely have, and how are you going to use them? I answer Substack notes in the evening on my phone; planning what I post is part of my working day. But what works for me might ruin someone else's evenings or cut into their writing time. We're all different, and it's all about you.
Where is my reader most likely to be found? A high-volume genre reader and a literary fiction reader are probably on different platforms now. You need to be very clear about where your reader actually spends time — otherwise you might be doing the right work on the wrong platform.
What do I enjoy? This is really important. If you're having fun on a platform, it's sustainable. If you're not, it isn't. Look for points of enjoyment.
And finally: what format best represents your work? A snippet of text? An image? A short video with a hook? A long-form essay? A conversation about ideas? A book in a list of similar books? Which type of content is most likely to evoke a response from your readers?
Once you have enough information to act — leave a platform if it isn't working, reduce your presence, or commit more deeply to the one that is — do it. I left over 100,000 followers across Instagram, Facebook, and X, and I have absolutely no regrets. I'm having a much more engaged time with far fewer followers on the platform I'm on now. A number of authors have done the same, and the ALLi Member Magazine's current issue has case studies from some of them.
The Ten Most-Used Platforms for Authors in 2026
Now a quick tour through the ten platforms authors are using most. I'm listing them alphabetically — no hierarchy implied, because as always, it's about which one is right for you, not which one is objectively best.
Bluesky is liked by literary writers, nonfiction writers who major in ideas, serious poets, literary fiction authors, and conversational essayists — it's the spiritual successor to Twitter circa 2012, before the X takeover and the AI swamping. The conversation is text-led, often literary or political, with a genuinely writerly community feel. Reach is modest compared to larger platforms, but a thoughtful post will find thoughtful readers. Its strength is genuine peer connection and intelligent conversation with no algorithm interference and a growing community of authors and journalists. It's not great for most fiction in terms of reaching actual readers, and the reader audience (as opposed to the writer audience) is still relatively small. Best for building craft, community, and authority, with a slow influx of like-minded readers.
Facebook was the granddaddy for authors and many authors still do well there, particularly those whose books appeal to the slightly older demographic. Genre fiction — romance, cozy mystery, science fiction, fantasy — does well. Anyone who's built a community there over many years has deep, active groups that are worth keeping. Facebook users tend to have more disposable income. But pages are essentially useless without advertising now, organic reach has collapsed, and there are very few younger readers. Starting out on Facebook today is genuinely difficult. For many authors, it's best for running a well-curated reader group and for showing up generously in groups where your readers already are.
Goodreads isn't strictly social media but functions like it. Readers there are tracking, rating, reviewing, and finding their next book — millions of them. They're hostile to authors who use it as a promotional vehicle, so tread carefully. But reviews carry real weight, lists and recommendations drive discovery, and giveaways and reading challenges can surface books to engaged readers. Make sure your books are correctly listed there, even if you're not spending much time on the platform. Best for getting reviews from bloggers and reviewers who use it consistently.
Instagram — particularly Bookstagram — works well for illustrated nonfiction, cookery, craft writing, memoir with strong imagery, and poetry (posting text as images became unexpectedly huge there). Romance and YA also do well. Reels can drive reach and Stories can build intimacy with existing readers. Its strengths are a very active book community and a strong visual culture. Its weaknesses are the same as Facebook — organic reach is largely gone, and Reels can favor the performatively photogenic author. Also owned by Meta, with the same concerns about platform values.
LinkedIn is loved by nonfiction authors in business, self-development, professional skills, and academic fields. It has the best organic reach of any major platform right now, which is genuinely interesting. The audience is professional and typically has disposable income. Its weaknesses are that it's corporate in culture — it values expertise and professionalism over personality, so if you don't fit that mold it may feel uncomfortable. Best for thought leadership in a defined area, driving nonfiction book sales, and connecting with people interested in speaking opportunities.
Pinterest is more discovery channel than social platform. It's indexed by Google and has a very long tail — pins can bring people to your work years after you posted them. It's great for visual and search-friendly nonfiction, and it skews strongly female. Many authors overlook it, but it's worth thinking about if you have a clear sense of the imagery that represents your work. Its weakness is that it's slow to build and requires consistent visual content. Best as a long-tail discovery engine that drives readers from search to your website.
Substack — I'm biased, I love it. It suits essayists, serial fiction writers, literary and contemplative nonfiction authors with a developed voice, and anyone who wants to monetize a reader relationship. What I love most is that it brings email, blog, social media (Notes), podcast, and paid subscriptions all together in one place. You own the email relationship, which is unique among platforms of this kind. There's a genuine literary culture and a good recommendations engine. Weaknesses: it's venture-capital backed, so things could change as it needs to generate returns; it's not really set up as a standard author newsletter with reader magnets and funnels; and there's no native infrastructure for direct book selling. Best for building a permission-based paid relationship with readers and finding those most likely to be aligned to your work.
Threads is for authors who enjoy regular text posts and are already on Instagram or Facebook — it's very easy to manage all three Meta platforms in one place. It's the largest of the text-based spaces post-X. The community feel isn't as deep as Bluesky but the reach is wider. It's low-pressure, conversational, and good for light ambient presence. Same concerns about Meta ownership apply. Best as a complement to Instagram and Facebook for book chat and casual presence.
TikTok made the romantasy trend, and it's still the most powerful organic discovery engine in publishing for the right books and the right authors. Romance, romantasy, YA, and fast-paced genre fiction with a clear hook can do extraordinarily well there. But you need to understand the grammar of TikTok — how videos are structured, what hooks work, what readers respond to. If you haven't learned that, you won't do well. If you can crack it, the organic reach is unmatched and sales conversions are real. Weaknesses: it's genuinely not for introverts, it's time-intensive (especially at the start), it doesn't work for literary fiction or slow-burn books, and there has been political uncertainty about its future in some markets. Best if there's a clear genre-specific trend in your niche and you're willing to study and participate authentically.
YouTube — BookTube is well established across every genre, but the platform works best for nonfiction authors offering how-to content. People go to YouTube to learn. Owned by Google, so there are search benefits built in. There's also a monetization path if you get it right, and the content has a long tail — durability is one of YouTube's biggest strengths. Weaknesses: it's more polished and production-intensive than TikTok, slow to build, and not a great fit for most fiction. YouTube Shorts is trying to close the gap with TikTok and some authors are doing it well. But generally you'll need to invest time or money in video production, and you should search your genre first to see who's doing what.
Closing
Those are the ten top social media platforms for authors in 2026. The most important part is to audit your current situation honestly and get very clear about what you want from your platform going forward — and then stop doing things that aren't working. If it isn't selling your books, you don't really have a platform. It either needs to be refreshed or let go.
For me, simplifying and letting go of most of these platforms has been really good for my creativity. I'll look forward to hearing how you get on. This whole discussion is also in article form in the latest issue of the Indie Author Member Magazine — available to members, and available to purchase from selfpublishingstore.com for non-members. Thank you for listening, and until we speak again, happy writing and happy publishing. Bye-bye.
