A starter guide for all your needs!
Bhashwati Pyne
So you've done the hard part: writing a book. Your publisher just sent out the "congrats, you're getting published" mail with a contract. What's the next step then? As much as publishers have a significant effort in connecting you with your future readers, there are some ways you can take on the task of promoting your book as well.
Read on to find out how!
1. Starting Out
Get to know your audience.
Create target personas to better understand your readers and select the groups who will benefit the most from your book. Create a few personas based on your potential readers' demographics, behaviour patterns, aspirations, and issues. You can be resourceful by figuring out how your readers spend time online with these character personas.
A lot of CEOs or entrepreneurs, for example, make use of Twitter to connect with business executives and professionals, as a platform to share ideas.
Make a short elevator pitch
To pique the interest of new readers, you'll need a great elevator pitch.
The pitch should include a summary of the problem you're tackling, your credentials, the components that set your book apart, and, if applicable, a suggestion for how you'd like to be supported after they've read it.
You may recommend an honest Amazon review, a bulk order for your contact's office, or a mention on their blog or preferred social media platform.
Create a content repository.
Improve your online visibility and conversions by creating a collection of material to reach buyers at every stage after you understand the buyer's journey. You can ask for assistance from a content strategist. You can address concerns people need help with during the awareness phase in blog posts and ebooks. This material can sometimes be made use of outside of work.
Your content can include podcasts, vlogs and other resources on specific topics. Case studies or reading lists that are more self-promotional and underline why your book is the answer your followers have been looking for may be included in the final judging process.
Start a blog or a website
Even before you complete writing your book, you may assist potential readers in finding you.
Update your website with articles that will show up in organic search results for your target demographic. If your book is about managing emotional well-being, for example, include the most recent scientific breakthroughs in the field, interspersed with quotes from your book.
If your book is a work of fiction, you may write a review of some of the genre's most popular books or notable characters.
As the release date approaches, you can use contests and book giveaways to generate interest in your book. Submit high-quality material that will entice your target audience to sign up for updates. Say, If you have a year before your book's release date, you'll have plenty of time to establish a large email list and boost your site's position.
Make changes to your website
People who visit your website usually form their initial impression from your work as an author and how you present yourself online.
At the very least, you should have a modest website with your author bio, a brief summary of the book, and a way for people to contact you. A book-specific tab on your existing website will also suffice; you may redirect a memorable, book-specific URL to this page.
2. Gaining Momentum
Select the appropriate social media platforms.
There are many social media platforms to choose from but concentrate on those that will appeal to your fans and help you sell more books.
Twitter and LinkedIn usually engage the interest of business book readers, whereas Facebook and Pinterest are quite popular with fiction and lifestyle book readers.
Maintain consistency in your online profiles.
Ensure that your images, logos and taglines are consistent across your social media platforms and website so that your audience won’t find it difficult to find your social media presence.
Every time your readers reach out to you online, their interactions will be consistent and it will build their trust in you.
Create and maintain an email list
Deepen your interaction with visitors once you've launched your website by providing a regular newsletter or special material (i.e. a free chapter of your book, digital workbooks, or a quiz).
When people order your book, ask them to sign up for your email list and offer them unique incentives, such as a free download, tool, or bonus content.
Engage the services of a book publicist
With over 3,800 novels released every day in the United States, you'll need someone to make sure yours is noticed. Publicists work to get you and your book included in magazines and newspapers through interviews, by-lined stories, and other media possibilities.
A good book launch necessitates planning and strategy, but if done correctly, it will help you increase sales and generate a strong fan following.
To get the word out about your book, increase your internet presence
There are a variety of techniques to improve your internet visibility.
For example, you may publish your articles on high-traffic websites, participate in forums that debate issues relating to your book, or ask popular websites or blogs in your target demographic to include you in an interview or guest post.
Remember to include a link to your website and any books you've published or are working on in your byline.
Learn from the most popular books in your genre
Examining their titles, cover designs, and typography will help you figure out what works best in your category. Make a list of the ones you like best or don't like at all, and consider why you came to that conclusion.
The advantages of studying the top literature are numerous. You'll notice terms and phrases that connect with and characterise your target audience as you read their reviews.
You may help your book be noticed by your target audience through their search queries by providing these in descriptions for your book's metadata.
Keep an eye out for balanced and informative reviews as you go through this process; you can add the reviewers to your shortlist and approach them for a review once your book is finished.
Make the most of your distribution networks.
Amazon is the world's largest retailer of digital and print books, as well as the owner of two self-publishing services: Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for ebooks and CreateSpace for print books.
You've covered the channels that account for 97 percent of ebook sales if you include Amazon's KDP, Apple's iBooks, Barnes & Noble's Nook, and Kobo in your distribution plan. Smaller shops make up a small percentage of revenues, but they help to raise visibility.
You can publish using an ebook aggregator like *Smashwords or Draft2Digital if you don't want to deal with individual publishers.
Ebook aggregators distribute to a variety of retailers and format books according to their specifications. They also provide access to outlets that authors cannot directly approach, such as Scribd, a digital library with a subscription service utilised by 80 million people across the world.
Use Amazon's book promotion tools and services to your advantage
Amazon has a plethora of promotional tools and initiatives that you should take advantage of.
KDP Select: To be eligible for KDP Select, you must grant Amazon exclusive distribution rights to your ebook for a period of 90 days. Discounting is known to increase awareness and sales, and you can give your book away for free or set up a countdown bargain for any five days throughout this time period.
Furthermore, any book sales made through this programme will earn you Amazon's top royalty rate of 70%.
KDP Select will also add your book to Kindle Unlimited, a subscription programme that helps members discover and read books while also paying authors based on how many pages are read. You can re-enrol in KDP Select as many times as you like if it works well for you.
Amazon Author Central: You may have your own page on Amazon with your biography, images, videos, events, and details of every book you've written by creating an Author Central account. This page includes links to the Amazon sales pages for all of the books you're selling.
To increase traffic to your page, you can modify its content and even publish its URL on social media sites and in your email signature.
Expanded Distribution Program: Authors can make their print publications available in a variety of online and physical bookstores, libraries, and academic institutions around the United States through the Expanded Distribution Program.
If you sign up for this programme, your book will be listed in distributor catalogues and can be ordered by vendors and libraries who have access to the distributors' ordering systems.
Use book discounting sites like Bookbub and Book Gorilla
Bookbub and Book Gorilla are book recommendation services that send out daily emails to subscribers with titles from book categories or authors they've expressed interest in.
You must give your book for free or at a minimum discount of 50% for a limited time in order to be suggested.
While some sites provide free book promotion, the majority of the good ones charge a fee based on the book's price and genre. The listing cost for Bookbub's popular genre of crime fiction is around $400 for books being offered for free and around $2000 for books being sold in the $2–$3 range.
According to online reviews and discussion boards, Bookbub's growing popularity among writers indicates that book promotions do indeed increase sales above pre-promotion levels, even after the promotion has ended. The advantages apply not only to the book being marketed, but also to the author's prior works. Promotions are also accompanied by an increase in book reviews, according to authors.
Become a member of the Goodreads Author Program
The fact that Goodreads has over 65 million members makes it a powerful promotional tool.
You may build your own profile page to share information about yourself and your books, solicit reviews, organise book giveaways, host book discussions, add your books to appropriate Listopia lists so your target audience can see and vote for them, and more!
3. Summary
For authors who work with a traditional book publisher, book marketing strategy is of minimal value.
The publisher will handle all aspects of book marketing and distribution, including editorial reviews, book launch and signing events, a booth at a book fair, newspaper feature pieces, and bookstore placement. Self-publishing authors, on the other hand, must figure out these issues for themselves, relying on as much assistance and inspiration as possible.
This article isn't meant to be a comprehensive collection of book promotion ideas. Rather, it is intended to assist you in comprehending that marketing is fundamentally about communicating about your work and making it available on as many platforms as possible.
As you begin to use the book marketing advice provided here, you will discover a plethora of additional ways to promote your book and reach a larger audience. Something will lead to something else. The important thing is to get started.
Good luck with your marketing!
And if you're already writing your next book and need a refresher on the tools you'll need to write your next bestseller, here's a starter pack!