Top 5 Most Influential Authors on Social Media 2014

Photo by Jason A. Howie, Flickr

In my humble opinion, these authors rank as the top 5 most influential authors on social media. Other authors should model their social media efforts after the folks on this list. They all have incredibly popular blogs as well as impressive presences on the top social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Most importantly, all of them have also successfully leveraged social media to sell thousands (or millions) of copies of their books, making them bestsellers. Without further ado, here they are!

1. Guy Kawasaki - Twitter: 1.4 million | Facebook: 237k | Google+: 5.7 million 

Guy's impressive following on Twitter and Google+, along with other social media sites, is comprised of over 7 million people. He's probably one of the biggest social media influencers on the planet. He's written twelve books, with his latest three -- Ape, Enchantment, and What the Plus! -- all enjoying great success due to strong social media campaigns.

2. Gary Vaynerchuk - Twitter: 1 million | Facebook: 153k | Google+: 1.9 million

Gary has arguably more experience in social media than any other author on this list. He started his video podcast, Wine Library TV, back in 2006. Crush It!, The Thank You Economy, and Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook all focus on the power of social media in business, and Gary used social media to catapult those titles on to numerous bestseller lists. He's also the owner of the highly successful social media brand consulting agency, VaynerMedia.

3. Tim Ferriss - Twitter: 475k | Facebook: 210k | Blog: 25,000+ subscribers

The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, and The 4-Hour Chef have sold millions of copies worldwide. He aggressively uses his blog and other social media sites to sell copies of his books as well as garner reviews. Not only are his book marketing techniques quite intriguing and helpful, but his work less and live more lifestyle has transformed many lives.

4. Seth Godin - Twitter: 352k | Facebook: 239k | Google+: 123k

Seth has authored fifteen books, twelve of which are bestsellers. His blog is highly trafficked and his loyal followers connect with him there on the blog as well as other major social media sites.

5. Michael Hyatt - Twitter: 213k | Facebook: 35k | Blog: 381k subscribers

Michael's blog "helps leaders leverage influence" and with over 381,000 subscribers, it's one of the most renowned blogs in the world. His most successful book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, is a step-by-step guide to building a successful online platform through the power of social media. The book spawned his Platform University where he uses specialized classes, tutorials and actionable lessons to teach members how to grow their platform. Michael also runs a highly popular weekly podcast, This Is Your Life.

This list has been compiled by J.J. Hebert, bestselling author & president of Mindstir Media book publishing and is accurate as of 2-16-2014. None of the above authors are affiliated with MindStir Media book publishing company or author J.J. Hebert.

How I Got a Literary Agent...and then Decided to Self-Publish (Thanks, Michael Hyatt)

It must have been sometime in 2007/2008 when I first bumped into Michael Hyatt on the Internet. Back then, he was CEO of Thomas Nelson (the world's largest Christian publisher) and he was somewhat new to blogging (I believe). Even though he wasn't the blogging powerhouse back then that he is now, he was still very visible. I stumbled upon a list on his blog, Literary Agents Who Represent Christian Authors (which has since been updated), and I'm pretty sure I felt like I had just found the Holy Grail of literary agent lists (it really is an amazing list!). I might have even queried every single one of those agents. In my "previous life in book publishing," I was an eager "aspiring author" trying to land a literary agent who could then help me sell my manuscript to a major traditional publisher. I didn't really know of any other way at that point. Maybe I had heard of self-publishing, but in '07/'08 there was definitely still a stigma attached to self-publishing... So, eventually I received a positive response from one of those agents on Michael's list. I sent my full manuscript to the agent and the agent ultimately decided to represent me. I also emailed Michael later on to discuss this agent and I'm still amazed to this day that I received a personal response from Michael Hyatt himself. It is so incredibly rare for the CEO of a major publishing company to respond directly to an outside author. It absolutely blew me away and made me a lifelong supporter of him!

Most of you know that traditional publishing didn't end up being the route that I chose -- or the route that chose me ... My (former) agent struggled with his health and we ended our business relationship amicably because he simply could not give my novel, Unconventional, the attention it deserved. I was kind of devastated by this, but by early 2009 the self-publishing stigma started to lessen. During this time, because of my dealings with the agent -- and because some of my author friends encouraged me to self-publish -- I decided self-publishing might be for me. I performed hundreds, maybe even thousands of hours of research and opened my own publishing company, MindStir Media, and self-published Unconventional. Thankfully, Unconventional became a huge hit, first as a serialized podiobook (i.e. podcast audiobook) and later as an ebook and paperback. The book has sold over 100,000 units as a self-published book and I'm proud of that. Since then I've helped thousands of other writers through publishing consultations and self-publishing services that I offer via MindStir Media.

I've been a loyal reader of Michael Hyatt's blog throughout the years. I've never met him in person and maybe I never will, but I'll always be thankful to him for his list and personal email response. Without either of those, I probably would have been lost. It's funny how sometimes the person who affects us the most is the person we've never even met, the person who simply took a few moments out of his/her hectic day to respond to our questions. It's people like Michael Hyatt who remind me that every little act of kindness matters. In honor of the approaching Thanksgiving holiday, I just want to share my thankfulness and at the same time share my little success story. And hey, if you're reading this, Michael (and I have a sneaky suspicion that you will via Google Alerts) -- thank you!

In case any of you are interested, Michael just self-published a new ebook under his very own publishing imprint, Fleming House Publishers (website coming soon at www.fleminghousepublishers.com). The ebook, entitled The Virtual Assistant Solution, explains how to be less stressed and more productive by delegating work to a virtual assistant. I use a whole team of virtual assistants myself and delegating to them has helped me immensely, so as always I'm on board with Michael's advice. A virtual assistant can be incredibly helpful for authors and book publishers alike.