It's very important to build a community around your book journey early. Look across your networks of colleagues, clients, industry peers, board members, university alumni groups, community organisations, friends and family. Be active on whatever social media channels they're engaged with, and ask them to interact with you and share your book across their networks. Be clear about what you want them to do, when and how. Provide them with whatever they need to make it easy for them to help you.
I rarely mention my books on personal social media accounts. I certainly don’t ask my friends to market for me.
Is it better to create value or interest so people want to share, making it organic?
Selling your book is a long-term exercise. You should allocate one or two hours per week to working on your content marketing plan. If you can't commit to this, find someone who can handle it for you. Then be sure to regularly review results, engagement and sales.
Definitely long term. Marketing is important. But am I better off writing than playing on social media?