For an author with a forthcoming book, is it better to set up a Facebook fan page for the author or for the book itself?

Wow.  There are some absolutely terrible answers here. As an author, you should NOT have a public personal profile where you’re throwing out all of your personal information to the world.  Unless you like stalkers and other ne’er do wells who will hunt you down because they’re freakin’ nuts. If you’re planning on sharing your life with your friends, then add them to your profile.  Don’t add fans to your personal life.  Personal life is already complicated enough. What you should do - and which I’ve recommended for a very long time - is that you, the author, have a private facebook profile that you share only with those you know, love, and trust.  For your fans, you should have an author Facebook page. Do you need individual pages for your books?  Probably not.  Some authors do, others don’t.  It’s far better to funnel people to your personal website (where you have full control) to see your books than to rely on Facebook’s random rules changes.  People tend to look for the author, not the book on the internet.  They’re looking to make a personal connection (and some of them are downright scary about becoming your “biggest fan”).  You should use social media to sell yourself, and use your website to sell your stuff. And managing multiple Facebook pages is a PITA. Ultimately, you can do what you want.  Other than my answer, there’s a whole lot of bad advice here. Here’s how to set up you author page on Facebook: http://shawnebell.com/facebook-page-for-authors-and-screenwriters/

Actually, the answer is probably both.  The personal profile would be for transparency and to be able to show that you are a real person who is engaging in social media.  The Page would be to showcase the side of the personality that is the Author and to promote the book. A custom tab can be added to the page to welcome new visitors and announce the book at the same time. Also - Facebook's Terms of Use prohibit a personal profile being used for business purposes.

The larger question is, is Facebook the place to be promoting and publicizing your brand and books? Unfortunately, to stay compliant with Facebook's rules, you have to use a page, not a profile. And Facebook changed the game when it went public. Profit is King now, so if you want your page's content to be seen by anyone, you have to pay. I have a friend who has 17K followers on their page, yet their posts are typically seen by only 200 people at most, unless they pay for more visibility. So, if you're just starting out, there are better playgrounds to visit than Facebook for building your following.

I have an author page for "all my books" and then a page for my series.  When I come out with my next book it will have its own facebook page.