Engaging with readers and fans on social media is a great way for an author to build an audience, but there’s an important caveat: Every post can’t be a “buy my book” sales pitch! At Writer’s Relief, we know the best content entices and engages readers while subtly reminding them of opportunities to explore your writing. One effective technique is to tap into the material you’ve already written by sharing eye-catching quotes from your published works. But how do you find quotable lines in your writing that are perfectly suited for social media?

Where To Find Quotable Lines In Your Published Writing For Social Media

On Kindle

Yes, you could reread every page of your book to find the best quotes, but authors are not always the best judges of their own work. Pinpointing emotionally powerful lines requires a more impartial eye—preferably a reader’s eye.

Fortunately, Kindle has made that type of search possible with their “Popular Highlights” feature. This feature allows readers to highlight quotable lines or even whole sections inside their purchased e-books, so long as the reader has turned on the Popular Highlights feature. (Hint: Check the “Reading Options” section under “Settings.”)

Amazon compiles this data across all Kindles and makes popular highlights visible to anyone who owns the e-book. Popular highlights are indicated by light underlining. An associated number shows how many people found the quotes worthwhile. The higher that number, the more popular the quote!

To access this treasure trove of crowdsourced quotes, you don’t even have to search through every page of the e-book. Kindle compiles those popular highlights in the e-book’s “Notes” section, allowing a reader, or an author, to view the quotes all at once.

Instructions for locating the “Popular Highlights” compilation will vary on different versions of Amazon e-readers, tablets, and apps, but here are two common options:

• On the popular Kindle Paperwhite, open the e-book you’d like to search. Find the toolbar by tapping the top of the screen, navigate to the “Go To” section, click on the “Notes” section, then on “Popular” to see the crowdsourced highlights.

• On the Kindle App, navigate to the drop-down “View” menu and click on “Popular Highlights.”

Ta-dah! Instant, fan-tested quotable lines you can use in your social media posts to engage your followers.

On Goodreads

Have you claimed your profile on Goodreads yet? Joining is free and allows authors to upload a bio, post contact information, and gather friends and fans. Your profile also gives you access to the platform’s ninety million reading members, who write reviews, compile booklists, and hobnob with like-minded enthusiasts.

All those avid readers also have the option of posting book quotes from their favorite reads. If your book has been published for any length of time, Goodreads enthusiasts may have done the hard work of choosing the best quotable lines for you! These popular quotes will appear on an author’s profile page as well as the dedicated book pages.

To find a compilation of these reader-favorite quotes, go to your Goodreads profile and scroll down to the section marked “quotes.” To see an individual book’s most quotable lines, click on the title’s book page and scroll down to where they are listed in the right-side column.

How To Make Your Quote Pop On Social Media

Finding a great quote is only the first step. To really make an impact on social media, you should create a dazzling graphic using your quotable line.

If you have a Kindle app on your iPhone, you can take advantage of the Kindle Quotes feature to share quote graphics directly from your phone. The feature offers a variety of text-only or graphics options, with the ability to post directly to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media apps.

The Kobo app offers similar features for both iOS and Android phones.

If you’re looking for a more original design, check out Canva, a graphic design platform geared toward social posting. Canva offers a low-cost subscription plan, but many of the core features are available for free! A quick search for “Book Quote Templates” offers a wide variety of design options to make your book quote graphic pop.

Using quotes from your writing will help build interest in your work. By making the quote visually interesting, you encourage your followers to share it with their followers—thus reaching an entirely new audience! Your quote may even go viral! Be sure to include in the post where interested readers can find the published piece, whether it’s a link to a literary journal or to your book’s sales page.

Question: How do you find quotes, or otherwise repurpose your own book content, to spread the word on social media?