In this time of social media providing a very important platform to reach your readers, a writer must be very savvy with their time and marketing. But do not fear. Luckily for you, I have done all of the hard work so you can benefit from my careful and measured research.
Gorgeous Art : 983 likes
Image of the book: 1498 likes
Hot dude: 1,644 likes
Picture of Tuna: 1,772 likes
Russian teacake I made: 1,909 likes
Pretty flowers Gordon bought me: 2, 494 likes.
I will now reveal the perfect Instagram image that will allow you to most effectively promote your book. I present it to you now out of the goodness of my heart.
Be very careful how you use it. With great power comes great responsibility.
That’s brilliant!
I’m not sure if I’m in a cute overload or sugar coma. Not sure that it matters.
++1
What about dogs? Everybody likes dogs.
Oh my goodness, I just want to pick her up…”and love her, an squeeze her, an….”
Adorable!!
“…And call (her) George(-ina)…. “?
LOL we watched the best cartoons.
The bows and those eyes! How do you say no to her?
Of course! Put the cute puppy in the picture with the book… as long as it’s not chewing on the book, eating the cake (or other chosen baked good), chasing the other cute fuzzy companions, or peeing on the flowers. ????
A dog ? What dog ? This is a gibbon !!
I’ll take a couple of those please!
This is the best dog
That’s exactly what was missing from the almost-perfect image! ????
Only counts if we see Beast’s multiple layers of teeth as she demolishes her treats ????????
Beast ????
Love shih tzus!
Beastie!!!
She is adorable!
Hahahaha. Tuna beats out Hot Dude in Likes!
Felines Over Canines!
I saw that too! But look: highest “Like” score of all: Husband giving beautiful flowers. Gordan “won”. LOL
Adorable and delicious and sparkly! Magic combo!
I’m terrible at Instagram, so thanks for sharing this incredible marketing tip. I’m going to deploy it asap, and I can’t wait for my book sales to soar! ????
hahaha, now you should get about 4500 likes on IG.
Lol! I love all of these images so I definitely think you’ve cracked the code, Ilona!
I can’t stop laughing.
Just needs hot dude holding one or all of the above
Yes! A fireman eating cake, holding a puppy whilst reading your book with roses blooming in the background!
Yes! That’ll surely do it! ????????
+1000
Exactly ????
In a Hello Kitty t-shirt!!!!
Half naked with tasselled pecs maybe?
^_^ Heehee. I want to eat the cake, read the book, and pet the fluffy animals simultaneously
I laughed. So. Hard. ????????????????????
This is hilarious xD
Well Ilona you’ve officially made me want cake and a cat.
I don’t even really like cake. And I’m allergic to cat.
Wanting book goes without saying, but since I’ve already read all of yours a minimum of twice, I can resist that part. And I have some odd taste in flowers, but since one of my orchids is blooming (see photo… sorry if it’s blurry, the flowers are tiny and hard to photograph but I love them so I have to share!) I am also happy in the realm of flowers. (I have an even smaller one that has buds ready to open, too!)
Nice! I got last years orchids to rebloom this year and was so proud. They generally just die on me. I’ll have to look for that one now that I’ve got a collection (of 2).
Oh, thank you. I needed a laugh after a day like today. Everything at work blew up this week. I was so busy I didn’t even realize that Monday is a holiday until someone mentioned it on the last call of the day.
Happy Weekend!
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Winning
My idea of the perfect image… Hot dude baking the cake, holding out the flowers, kitty draped over his shoulders, playing shoestring footwars with the puppy, while he reads the book to you.
Yes, I know, unrealistic (since guys aren’t known for multitasking), but this is fiction, amirite?
…this. ????
Good one. Very good.still laughing/
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I don’t do Instagram. Your work speaks for itself but if you have to you have to.
Now I want kittens and puppies. Oh, go on, it’ll take the cake too!
Love your Insta posts. Happy Valentine’s Weekend, Everyone. ????????
I am betting a cute baby in the mix would be equally successful. Bonus points for cake-covered face.
Tuna: I’m ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille.
Thank you for your research. I’m sure it will be revolutionary!
ROTFLMAO!
Honestly, it could be dipped in dung and as long as I see the author(s) is Ilona Andrews, I will buy it.
Thank you for the laugh.
The Russian tea cake looked so good I looked to see if your website had a recipe section. ????
The kitten and bunny are very cute, but I can’t stop thinking about frosting getting on the pages of the book! 😛
See, that’s where Kindle is so handy. I am constantly wiping frosting off my Kindle page. Sometimes chocolate if my hands are warm. I can wipe it right off with a corner of napkin dipped in hot tea.
I’m picturing Artha nosing the bunny out of the picture.
Perfect.
Hahah!! I went straight to Instagram to like it and didn’t see it. Was expecting 5k+ likes already!
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That is a great photo. It has many of my favorite things. I want everything in the last photo to come and visit me . Then the bunny and the kitten can go home. No puddles, jellybeans , or shredded couches to worry about if they’re only coming to visit and, are much more pleasant than the gunshot photos you started with today.
Sweet!!
The most likes I’ve gotten have been on pictures of my kitten… until today when I posted a 30 year old picture of my daughter with our Clydesdales. Everyone went nuts with the little girl and the big horses.
???? this last image is hilarious. I truly had rotten day today and this photo made me laugh out loud. Thank you
Bwahahahaha!!!! ????
Love it!!
Instagrams priorities are perhaps not what I expected, but as I eschew social media, I cannot really comment.
Thank you, Ilona, for all the hard work you do to promote your books.
OBTW – The images are beautiful. I would have “liked” all of them.
+1
This was too funny ???? Love your posts. My second time commenting here. Woot!
Thank you for the smile. The weather in Texas is going to be bad. The DFW area is under a winter storm warning this weekend.
Everyone be careful with the brutal cold and weather.
With the 133 car pile-up 2 days ago, 6 dead at the scene, a bad winter storm set for tomorrow with snow and sleet and ice, possibility to break a record for longest time below freezing and another storm set to arrive Wednesday not looking forward to this week.
I checked Minneapolis, my home town, which is set for windchill of 35 to 50 below zero. It was 50 below freezing wind chill the day I decided to leave Minneapolis for warmer weather. I think I made the right decision. Below 32 beats 35 to 50 below zero windchill any day.
You forgot the hot guy.
Ok that made me laugh! Thanks for the uplift on a cold gray day with worse coming!!
Hope the book party went off well!
Needed this today.
It’s 26- and going down. Tons of snow still on the ground.Got a storm coming Sunday, the weather person said, none of the projections match, so it could be snow, rain or ice with down power lines. Or all of the above. Then another snow storm on Tuesday.
Every so often we get these nasty winters in NYC. Last year barely any snow. I think I saw the sun for 15 minutes yesterday.
Not on Instagram, so loved all the pictures.
Hits all the right buttons.
Everyone stay safe and be careful.
I think I will start innkeeper again.
Love the Blood Heir promo page. And who doesn’t love Tuna. Did you ever post a recipe for the Russian tea cake? It looks so yummy. Thank you ????
If I was on Instagram, I’d like them all. I love the results of your marketing research! ????
The triplets want to know how come you didn’t include the Hot Dude?
T2: Maybe he’s on the cover?
T3: Chocolate!
Thank you! That is so funny! And the dog is adorable!
lolol That certainly does it for me. I already read the book anyway. Twice. Now I’m just sorry I didn’t pick up some of the chocolate dipped strawberries at the supermarket.
BWAHAHA, thanks for the laugh!
Is the Blood Heir series going to be paranormal romance? Is it not urban fantasy?
Soo cute but I don’t know what to do with it. I like it.
Ilona… Master of Instagram Book Promo… The select Artwork, the gorgeous Men and more gorgeous cat, the craving and the gift but this last image takes the cake.
If this guy was serving me cheesecake it would be the ultimate
I am terrible at imagining what people in books look like. It doesn’t matter how well you describe them in the book, I only have a vague idea of what they look like. That’s why the artwork of Ascanio above is the first time I really knew what he looked like. I’m getting Duke Hastings (from Bridgerton on Netflix) vibes & I like it. A lot.
Wahahaha
Can’t have too much of a good thing, right? ????
I love that Tuna got more up votes than the hot guy.
I read/sow – hot dude + Tuna ????
???? 10,000+ likes
No hot dude in the last picture detected… Best I can do is 5/6 of a like ????
Where’s the hot dude in your perfect book marketing Instagram post picture? I see gorgeous art, a book, a cute kitty, a cake, and pretty flowers. If we are to trust your research for your composite IG post, by all rights a hot dude should burst out of that cake and stare me down menacingly.
Nah, Tuna already beat out the hot guy. Now if Ascanio was offering a box of chocolates…
???? wasn’t Ascanio going to show Julie the bunnycat kittens many many books ago? Will we get another glimpse of this elusive cuteness overload in the next BH installment? The obscene predator/prey cross? ???????????????????? I. CAN’T. WAIT!!!!!
That would be a good image for Luisa to draw.
This makes me laugh so much! How about cute babies? Super squishy ones? With puppies? And books? Hehehe
But wouldn’t the icing stick the pages together….
I would probably love this more if I didn’t still have cake-ache from yesterday.
I decided I deserved a treat day so ate excessive cinnamon buns and Nutella pretzels. Which goes to show that cake is always a winner.
You know what, thinking about it, cake with fruit is practically healthy, which makes it almost medicine. . . Let me go see what’s in the cupboard ????
Put it on Instagram so I can go like it!????
What about hot dude and sexy woman each holding a pet – I know there’s at least one calendar out there with Fire Fighters holding kittens that they’ve ‘rescued (as opposed to set up for a photo shoot)? However, that may be too busy a picture so perhaps lose a tier on the cake? ????????
What is it with firefighters? This link is for a pretty old UK commercial that involves firefighters – I keep it in my Firefox favourites, just so I can take a look. every now ands then… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvT9F38vKqw
LOL too funny. Just missing the hot dude presenting the cake to you 😉
😆
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Missing a hot dude carrying the bunny. ????
Love it! You all crack me up. I’m guessing it’s just a matter of cross compatibility or something. You can gather more people with food and cute animals and flowers than specific authors or book series, no matter how good.
Where are the unicorns butterflies and rainbows?
Now I want a rainbow unicorn cat with butterfly wings!!
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Ok, wrong cat – ????!
Amazing how a post making fun of marketing is brilliant marketing 🙂
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You missed the hot dude!
I’ll still look though. My love for House Andrews (barely) outweighs my shallowness. ????????
Snicker, chortle, guffaw!
LOL!!! 🙂
Yup. That will do it. Heh. 😉
Darn, no hot guy on the cover of the book. Otherwise, it was awesome! 😉
I know this is a strange request – but I really am waiting for a House Andrews cookbook, including all the recipes from your writings. Maybe, one day?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahhahahaha
OH MY GOD this is genius. 😀
Thanks for posting, this totally cracked me up.
Mystery solved!
Love the bunny cat reference! Just received my signed copy of Blood Heir. Thank you!
Just love the resulting meta- picture, and will sure follow your advice in case I ever need to promote anything ????
As someone struggling to promote myself on social media, I let out a full belly cackle.
Thanks Ilona, I needed it <3
I have no problem believing that Instagram post got the most likes. I do think it would have done even better with the addition of a squirrel.Well done.
Awesome photo but it is missing the super hot guy
Boop!
I haven’t been on Instagram in a while. Thanks for the fun.
Yep. Perfect! Btw, happy Valentine’s day from Australia ????♥️
If we could add chocolate anything (anything at all) this would be perfect.
LOL LOL LOL LOL
Heh, that is indeed perfect XD
There needs to be a hot guy as your baker in the background behind the book cake, (shirtless, with apron) holding the kitten.That’s the real marketing gold.
Hey while we are talking promo and art (at least I am), does anyone know of some fan art or even professional art with Kate and Andrea together in yhe same pic? I think a back to back Kate-Sword/Andrea-Gun one would be really cool. I don’t do people or even fantasy art so I won’t be embarrassing myself with this. I just want to see it. And share it.
I love good and strong women friendships.
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Yup! We humans really are that shallow! Sad but true
LOL!
Perfect.????
lol ilona you cannot use the same tags in multiple posts, ask the kids. Its an Insta algoeith thing.
All you need is a hot dude smoldering at the bunny rabbit.
Will you share the recipe for that lovely cake?
+1
Well I’m hooked!
Is there a reason there is no wine in this picture? Asking for a friend.
Be Safe and Warm and have a nice Valentines Day!
WIN.
lmao.
Oh, I needed that. Thank you and Happy Valentine’s Day.
Hubby says it’d be perfect if there was a coffee in there … odd cos he doesn’t drink coffee ????
“Owwwww” sound that escaped my mouth when I saw the ultimate Instagram picture ????????????
Too much cuteness and the cake… The chocolate… The magnificent book on top of of it… Mdrrrr I love it
The ultimate would be hot dude/Dad with cute kids, cute petd, bringing chocolate, flowers and Ilona Andrews books.
Great pic’s!! How about the Russian Tea Cake Recipe??
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Bwah ha ha ha. Thank you, Ilona Andrews for the post and pretty pictures.
Actually I am more a softie/ sucker for puppy dog brown eyes than green cat eyes. Hmmm. Well Titan has yellow amber eyes instead of regular brown puppy eyes… but those puppy eyes work. Sigh. Sigh
Ilona! I had tea come out my nose in a true “hot mess” kind of way at #katedanielsdoesntsnuggle! Super hysterical but I call shenanigans LOL! Sneaky, sneaky!
There should be a hot dude holding the kitty.
You are wonderful and bring me much joy.
I will try this myself and let you know how it works 🙂
Put that on Instagram and see it explode! Seriously lol
I’m so excited for more from the Kate Daniels universe! These are my comfort read and I love, love, love that you’ve expanded the universe.
What if your book is a cake? Does that help?