I am delighted to welcome author Wintour Krueger today to inform and inspire authors as how to benefit most by using Instagram. Her debut novel, The Cursed Rose is available from Amazon. Thanks for stopping by, Wintour.
I know there are a ton of promotional services out there that you can dump a ton of money into but what about the free tools you have at your fingertips? Instagram is a Gold Mine for new writers and seasoned authors. There are literally millions and millions of readers on the platform. So much so that it has formed its own business from bookstagrams to book tours.
From the surface Instagram my seem a bit shallow filled with beautiful eye-catching photos but underneath it all is built businesses and relationships that lead to a loyal fan following.

If you don’t believe me you can go check out your favorite authors and see how excited their followers are whenever they have a new release. Or you can ask me! When my book The Cursed Rose went into pre order, not too long ago, within the first week my book became #6 in new releases in one of the Amazon categories. Crazy thing is I didn’t advertise anywhere except announce it to my followers on Instagram.Now that you understand the value you can get out of Instagram let’s talk about the best ways for you to get started.
Bio
First when setting up your account you must make sure you have a business account. This will help you to view your analytics. It will help guide you on which content is working for you, which topics get the most engagement, and how you can better plan for future content around that.
Second, you will want to set up your bio. Now this isn’t so important on how you do it but instead on what you include. Make sure in your name you put the words “Author.”
Then you should have a quick hook line about what you have to offer your audience such as: I write Summer Romances that will surely make your heart melt (this is not what I write but just using this as an example).
Next you want to mention your book along with anything significant about it like bestseller, debut book, 3rd book in a series, or so forth.
Lastly make sure you have a CTA (call to action). Have a link to your book (if it’s available), a link to your twitter, or anything to keep them getting to know you more.
Side Note: If you have multiple links, I suggest using LinkTree it’s free and easy to use.
Content
Now let’s talk about content!
This is where I see a lot of author’s struggle. Many people believe its all about the photos but the devil is in the details my dears.
Photos MAY capture someone’s attention but it’s what the content has to offer that gets them to stay.
I heavily advise my followers to create shareable content. Whether that be quotes, a book trailer, or anything that people tend to save and share.
Honestly, content is a whole another article in itself but I will leave you with these 3 things.
1) Create content based around the genre you are writing in
2) Look to see what your favorite authors in the genre are doing and think about how you can add your own personal twist
3) DO NOT stray away from the brand you are trying to build on Instagram (don’t post pictures of your meal if it has noting to do with your writing).
Finding Your Targeted Audience
I can’t stress this enough!
It is so important to know who you are targeting. Yes, I know, you want everyone to read your books but think of it as a jack of all trade’s thing. If you write to all you write to none.
Let me further explain let’s say you are writing horror. Okay that’s good but let’s dive deeper. You are writing horror but you like to write books similar to the King himself. Excellent!
Now from this alone you know your targeted audience is most likely going to be 18+ and fans of Stephen King.
Now how do you use this information to build your following and convert those followings into buyers of your book.?
Hashtags
First, we are going to talk about the hashtags.
This can be annoying and frustrating at first especially if you don’t understand the Instagram algorithm.
You don’t want to focus on tags that have over 500k posts because the likeliness of your post being seen is less than 7% and drops to 3% with hashtags that have over a million post.
Instead you should look for tags that have anywhere between 50k to 100k+.
I advise to do a mix of hashtags throughout all levels but keep most of them within that range. (You’re allowed 30).
Back to the horror author, focus on tags that you know your audience would be searching for such as, #horrorquotes, #Stephenkingbooks, and so forth.
Finding Your Followers
If you know your targeted audience then you know where to find them. That’s right FIND THEM.
Go through the hashtags you know they would use, look at their profile, and if you think they would be interested in you then like and comment on their post. Keep in mind not to spam instead actually engage in their post offering insight or feedback. More times than not they will go check out your profile.
Find other authors similar to you that already have a following and check out who is engaging with their content.
This is the fastest way I have been able to build my Instagram account. I averaged between 10- 20 new followers a day this way but unfortunately for the moment Instagram has banned the recent tab for the US until further notice. Ugh!
Videos On Instagram
If you are new to the idea of Instagram that may sound kind of crazy but yes Instagram is turning into a big video content platform. You have Insta Stories, IGTV, and their newest addition Reels. I really love using videos because its so much easier for your followers to connect to you when they see you are an actual human being. There are so many ways for them to interact with you and it really helps boost how many eyes you can get on your account, especially with reels.
REELS! REELS! REELS! Hopefully that got your attention.
Right now, the algorithm is super loose on reels meaning for anyone who makes them Instagram will push them out to as many people as possible. The reason being it is their version of TikTok and they want people on their platform more than their competitors.
They are super fun to make and there are so many ways to make them.
Conclusion
I really hope you all found value in this article. There is just so much to tell that I could honestly write a whole book about it but for now feel free to check out my Instagram (@author.wintour.krueger) or my YouTube videos (Channel: Wintour Krueger) for more information. Also don’t forget to check out my book The Cursed Rose available for pre-order on Amazon.

The Author
Wintour sought refuge between the pages of a book as a child. Though now she is in a healthy and loving household she still suffers from PTSD and finds writing to be therapeutic. She is an advocate for mental health especially for children.
She went to Grand Canyon University for psychology but that career path just didn’t feel right for her. It wasn’t until she buckled down and dedicated herself to her novel The Cursed Rose that things really started to fall into place. She found the path she was meant to walk.
She has a bubbly and friendly personality but don’t let that fool you. Halloween is her favorite holiday and thrillers, horror, and anything with a surprising dark twist really peak her interest. Two of her favorite authors are Stephen King and Anne Rice. Plus she has an obsession with anything vampires.
She was part of the San Antonio Romance Author Association (SARA) where she had amazing mentors that helped shape her into the author she is today. She now lives in Honolulu Hawaii where she dedicates her time between her family, her writing, and helping other authors peruse their dreams.
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