From a marketing standpoint, the platform is best-suited to authors targeting a younger demographic – 59 percent of its users are under 30. Even so, all authors can use Instagram to stay connected to what publishers and readers are talking about.

To help you see Instagram’s potential and study how some of the most influential “bookstagrammers” are using the site, I’ve polled a few authors and book publicists for their favorite book-related Instagram accounts.

35 book-related Instagram accounts

Here are 35 of the best. If you’re on Instagram, be certain to follow these accounts and study how they compose images, write posts, and use hashtags.

Each option links to the Instagram account and includes their profile description.

I’ve also included names and Instagram links for the people who recommended these accounts, too. They’re in parentheses after the recommendations.

Authors

Victoria Aveyard: SC grad, screenwriter, #1 NYT bestselling author of RED QUEEN, GLASS SWORD, and KING’S CAGE. (Winnie DeMoya)

Andrea Jenny Han: New York Times bestselling author of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy twitter: @jennyhan. (Andrea Kiliany Thatcher)

Leigh Bardugo: #1 NYT best-selling author, occasional fiend. Six of Crows Duology, Shadow & Bone Trilogy, The Language of Thorns, Wonder Woman: Warbringer (Andrea Kiliany Thatcher)

K.M. Weiland: Award-winning international author of the acclaimed Outlining Your Novel and Structuring Your Novel. Writes speculative and historical fic. (Winnie DeMoya)

Elizabeth Gilbert: Author of EAT PRAY LOVE. New book is BIG MAGIC: CREATIVE LIVING BEYOND FEAR. Click to help Syria: www.togetherrising.org/give (Karen Dybis )

The Bookseller’s Daughter: Welcome nerds Bookstore geeks  #Succulent mavens  #Anneofgreengables  expat living in Go Weak in the Knees with 10 Swoony (Amy Meyerson)

Chloe Benjamin: Writer (THE IMMORTALISTS & THE ANATOMY OF DREAMS), knitter, feminist. Twittering @chloekbenjamin (Amy Meyerson)

Rupi Kaur: mother of ‘milk and honey’ and ‘the sun and her flowers’ (Sandra Beckwith)

Alison Roman: author of Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes, one of NPR’s Best Books of 2017 available now writer + cook / contributor @bonappetitmag, @nytfood (Sandra Beckwith)

Book clubs

Belletrist: ︎discover, read, + celebrate a new book every month ♛@emmaroberts + @kpreiss ︎ april book — Laura & Emma ☆ (Winnie DeMoya, Andrea Kiliany Thatcher)

Our Shared Shelf: Emma Watson’s Book Club Inspire•Empower•Share Intersectional feminist wisdom Mar/Apr: Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot. Join us. (Winnie DeMoya)

Book of the Month Club: We make it easy—and fun—to discover what’s new and not-to-be-missed. Tag us with your BOTM box  #bookofthemonth (Winnie DeMoya)

Reese’s Book Club – Hello Sunshine: A community celebrating women’s stories, curated by @ReeseWitherspoon for @hellosunshine. April Book Pick: #Happiness by Heather Harpham (Sandra Beckwith)

Bookstores

Books Are Magic: Cobble Hill’s independent bookstore. Open M-F 10-9, Sat 9-9, Sun 9-7. (Andrea Kiliany Thatcher)

Duende District Bookstore: We are a collaborative pop-up bookstore by & for PoC. All are welcome. #TodasLasVoces Locations: Duende @ MahoganyBooks || Duende @ Toli Moli (Natalia Sylvester)

Books and Books: Est. 1982 Bookstore & Café Coral Gables | Arsht | Lincoln Road | Bal Harbour | Suniland | Grand Cayman | Key West | MIA Airport Coconut Grove (anonymous recommendation)

Strand Bookstore: Independent Bookstore since 1927 Share your event photos with #strandevents! (Sandra Beckwith)

Powell’s Books: Keeping ideas in circulation since 1971. (Brittany Rich)

Avenue Bookstore: Albert Park, Elsternwick, Richmond (Brittany Rich)

Publishers

Epic Reads: We volunteer as tribute to be the YA community of your dreams! Snapchat: @epicreads Twitter: @epicreads HarperCollins More bookish fun (Winnie DeMoya)

Viking Books: An imprint of @penguinrandomhouse. We publish great books. Here are some photos of them. (Winnie DeMoya)

Penguin Classics: A filtered glimpse into the life of the Penguin Classics editorial team in New York. (Winnie DeMoya) (Editor’s note: I’d recommend following all Penguin accounts.)

BookTrib: Where readers meet writers! Sign up for even more Booktrib on our website. (Jim Alkon)

Enchanted Lion: An independent, family-owned children’s publisher based in Brooklyn, NY. (Brittany Rich)

Readers

Bluestocking Bookshelf: Avid reader & book collector. bluestockingbookshelf@gmail.com  @storiarts: BLUE10  @deepreadersclub: BLUE20 (Andrea Kiliany Thatcher)

For Reading Addicts: She has read too many books and it has addled her brain. (Kelly Lenihan)

The Bibliotheque:  #bookster mama | bookblogger in search of true cheese. I mean… love. (Sandra Beckwith)

Booksugar: Book Addict & Collector. Nothing is sweeter than a book – except Colin Firth in a suit. (Sandra Beckwith)

Dragonflyreads: 又 I’m Sarah, I read a lot.  Sunshine in my pocket Romance novel in my hand Makeup on my face Tattoos on my skin Music in my heart Family at my side Feminist AF FL (Sandra Beckwith)

Secret Society of Books: book and reading curator | book peddler | book club| teacher| artist |reader|#secretsobclub #kidsbooks #picturebooks #ssobn onfiction #ssobshelfie (Brittany Rich)

Anne Bogel: Modern Mrs Darcy, Blogger at Modern Mrs Darcy. Host of @whatshouldireadnextpodcast. Author of I’D RATHER BE READING, coming 9/4. (Amy Meyerson)

Bookstaworm: Jovana ||25|| Serbia  Hufflepuff Booklover studying literature Fairy lights Queen Rep for @nyxsullivan.books  (Sandra Beckwith)

Topshelftext: Madeleine I New Englander | Bookworm | Teacher | Ravenclaw | Founder   @diversebooksclub | Reviewer @kidlitexchange  (Sandra Beckwith)

Other

BookBub: We are a free service that helps you discover books you’ll love through deals, handpicked recs, and updates from authors. (Sandra Beckwith)

Book Riot: Always books. Never boring. Tag #RiotGrams to be featured (Winnie DeMoya, Kelly Lenihan)

SCBWI: Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (Kelly Lenihan)

What Instagram accounts do you follow that you think other authors should follow, too? Please share them in a comment.

Tip of the Month

I like to share a “Tip of the Month,” a free resource or tool for authors, on the last Wednesday of the month.

I’m hosting a free webinar, “How to Sell More Books on Autopilot Without Constant Marketing and Promotion” next Tuesday, May 1, at 7 pm ET/ 6 pm CT, 5 pm MT, 4pm PT. Derek Doepker is going to show us how to use an Amazon tool that lets you sell more books while you get back to doing what you love – writing.

Register now before you forget! We’ll send a replay link to everyone who registers, so don’t worry about time zone issues or schedule challenges.

I’ve taken this class with Derek before, so I know you’ll get plenty of here’s-how information from him.
Get details and register on the class registration page.

If you are, I’d like to use my Instagram business account to give your book some attention.

I’m about to make a few changes to that account that were inspired by Hilary Rushford’s “Free Instagram Class” on how small businesses can use that social network more effectively. I tuned in to last week’s webinar specifically because I wanted to start doing more with my Instagram business account and was looking for inspiration.

I got it.

What I’ve been doing on Instagram

I’ve used my business account (versus my personal account) to consistently post my weekly blog image and occasionally post an image that reminds people that I’m not a blogging robot.

It’s lame.

I know that.

Hilary’s webinar gave me ideas about what I could be doing differently. One of the best “ahas!” I got from the free training was that I should view the images on my profile as a collage of photos that needs to be visually balanced.

This screenshot below from my Instagram profile about a year and a half ago is a good example of what you don’t want to do — every post but one is an image with text. Most of those text images come from  blog posts.

It’s monotonous. There’s no visual variety.

What I’m going to do now

In order to figure out what types of images I can and should be sharing so I get both the requisite visual variety and relevant content for my Build Book Buzz brand, I needed to think about my purpose on that platform.

My goal here and on every social network I use is to help authors learn how to market their books.

I usually do that by providing links to helpful information online but that’s not possible with Instagram. Links are only clickable in profile descriptions and ads. So . . . I had to look at this network differently.

I had to shift away from providing how-to information to supporting authors in another way.

The solution is obvious by now, right?

I want to share images of your books!

By doing that with the full titles in the accompanying text (caption), I can bring more awareness to them.

Will it rock your world? Nope. Will it help you? Who knows? Will it hurt your book. No way!

Here’s what I’d like you to do

Will you let me to support your book with my Instagram account?

If yes, here’s what I’d like you to do — and please follow these instructions carefully:

1. Follow my business account. Find me on the Instagram app by searching for “Build Book Buzz” or “BuildBookBuzz.” This is required. I will follow you back. Followers mean book exposure.
2. Send me an email message with the subject line: Instagram. Click here to send the message. Attach a photo of your book cover. (Link not working for you? Email address is on about/contact page.) It can be just the book cover, you and your book, whatever — just make sure that the book is the main attraction. In the message, provide the full book title and your Instagram profile name so I can find and tag you easily.
3. Follow the instructions in steps 1 and 2 carefully. I’ve set up an email rule so that all messages with an “Instagram” subject line go into a specific folder. If you don’t send what’s requested and I have to contact you, we will both be disappointed in resulting delays.
4. Watch my Instagram feed for your book. Consider sharing it with your connections, too, so you have what marketers call “social proof” that people are talking about your book.

Note that if you don’t use Instagram, I won’t be able to share your book cover and title.

Thank you for helping me start using my account in a way that helps you. I appreciate it.

How do you use Instagram for book promotion? Tell us in a comment.