I don't know how it's gonna turn out but I am a pretty decent artist when it comes to pen and pencil. So my plan is to start an instagram page where I just post artwork from the upcoming novel I am working on. The artwork will be: A character/characters A dragon A city or location etc Maybe I'll share a line or two from the story. It's just to generate excitement about the book, really. Has anyone ever tried this?
Generating excitement by spreading figments of a book - as far as I know - only works when people already read it and recognize out of what context it's. To answer your question; no, I have zero experience with all the second grade social media such as twitter and the likes. I don't have any idea how that population will respond, so you can only try. I imagine we can't make an estimation how the reactions will be there. I've only heard of content being used to invite new people in is on billboards, posters, or cover art.
I think you should ignore the snarky part of Boger's post, OP, but I agree with him on the actual relevant parts. I can't see myself, as a reader, going to Instagram to look at pictures of characters/settings from a book I haven't read yet and CAN'T read yet. And even if I did find the Instagram stuff interesting, it wouldn't do you any good as an author, since you wouldn't have anything available for me to buy. I think it would make more sense to get the book finished, get it published, and THEN work on your promo. Maybe have a backlog of stuff you can post, if you want, but I don't see the advantage of posting any of it before the book is available.
Depending on who follows you on Instagram, it might be a good place to get ordinary (i.e., non-novelists') opinions on your prospective book art. Ask people to comment and give you Likes for the drawings that appeal the most. Though keep in mind there are wonderful (but not helpful) people who will Like anything you post, simply because they like you.
If the images are shared, there will be awareness of the book spread. I say go for it and let us know what kind of response (sharing of the pics) you get.
