Do tweets sell books?

It has long been a question for publishers and authors, who have started relying heavily on social media to promote books as they search for new ways to reach readers in an uncertain retail market. Authors with large Twitter followings, like John Green and Paulo Coelho, have become publishing powerhouses.

Now, the Hachette Book Group is testing whether a tweet from an author can directly trigger a sale. Hachette, which publishes best-selling authors like James Patterson, Michael Connelly and Malcolm Gladwell, announced on Monday that it would partner with Gumroad, a company that allows creators to sell their products directly to their social media followers without leaving the Twitter platform.

Hachette is kicking off the experiment this month, with just a handful of books by authors who have large Twitter followings. The first batch includes “The Art of Asking,” by Amanda Palmer, who has more than a million Twitter followers, “You Are Here,” by the former astronaut and YouTube star Chris Hadfield, who has 1.2 million followers, and “The Onion Magazine: Iconic Covers that Transformed an Undeserving World,” a book from the satirical news site The Onion, which has 6.6 million followers.

A limited number of each of the titles will be for sale on Twitter, with a “buy” button, along with an exclusive bonus item, such as an original manuscript page from Ms. Palmer, with her notes, or a signed photograph of an aerial image of Corfu from Mr. Hadfield.