Use Memes to Promote Books

What exactly is a meme? Merriam-Webster Dictionary says: an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture. The term is often applied to those Facebook posters that get shared so much, and many are political. Recently, this one rolled across my Facebook page, and I thought it was a terrific idea to help authors promote their books.

Why not pull a meaningful quotation out of your own writings, and spread it around Facebook? I think this meme would be more useful if the author had added her website URL.

My Facebook BBT Cafe group began discussing this and turned it into a little project. We wondered what programs to use and suggestions included Paint and other graphics programs as well as PicMonkey, a free photo-editing service that makes graphics creation astoundingly easy, not to mention fun! 

BBT Cafe members started experimenting and here are some of the results:

I think adding a website URL is important. Did I say that already? I searched to find Cara Lopez Lee here, but with a more common name, finding the correct author might have been a challenge.

Here's one more:

Hooray for Marian Allen who got the website included! This message is a little hard to read, but the sentiment is something anyone can embrace. That's important when you're pulling a quotation out of your book. What if the person doesn't want to read your book? Is the message still relevant to life in some way?

Here's one from Tony Acree:

Again, the author's website or blog link somewhere in the corner, small, would invite a search for more information. The image and colors on this meme are good!

Now here's a quotation that lots of folks can probably really relate to, and I like the way Randy Attwood staged this. Very intriguing. Again, the author website URL would make the meme more useful if it's repeatedly shared. Excuse me while I go Google this author. I'd suggest something as small as the type you see lower right which is the meme creation site. Here's another idea: create a shortened link to your book buy page. It might even result in a sale!

Lastly, Lucia Ashta has been doing this to promote her books for quite a while and offered this example. It's a simple design, but the quotation is powerful, and exactly the type of message that can go viral. But I'd still have to search for the author by name, wouldn't I?

Run over to PicMonkey and give meme creation a design try - it's free and user-friendly and they don't require you to give up copyright to your image. You can even design blog headers and book covers this way!


What do you think? Would you promote your book on Facebook and Pinterest with a custom-designed meme using your own words of wisdom? You do have a list of brilliant quotations from your books, don't you? Give us a one-line example in the comments!

Dani Greer is founding member of the Blood-Red Pencil, runs the BBT Cafe at Facebook, and lately spends more time painting murals with her husband than writing and editing books.