For most book authors, writing the book is the easy part. However, when they have to promote the book, they hit a roadblock. Marketing a book is an art form in itself, and you must know its ins and outs if you want your book to reach the bestseller list. Of course, every author wants their book to be the bestselling one on the market; however, you need to put some effort into the marketing side of things if you want to see true progress.
The most common questions you will have to answer when planning your book’s marketing by yourself include:
- What happens after the book is published?
- How should I go about marketing the book?
- How do I sell it in the digital era?
For starters, you shouldn’t assume that word-of-mouth marketing will help you out in creating awareness, enhancing visibility, or contributing to sales straight from the get-go. Also, if you don’t have a presence on social media, you can’t effectively market your book in the manner you would want to. You also can’t expect to list the book on Amazon and expect it to make it to the bestsellers category because you have self-published it.
So, to help you out, we will be taking a look at some of the best-proven marketing tips that have helped numerous writers improve their book sales. These are the top book marketing ideas you can use for selling your book in the market today.
1. Build A Website
If your goal is to connect with readers, expand your author platform, and sell your books online, you must have a digital presence. Your website is your online marketing hub. It will help you create an email list for your email campaigns and allow you to spread the word about your book easily. You must keep in mind that you will be starting with zero traffic in the beginning. However, with the right promotional efforts, you will start seeing consistent results as far as your book’s marketing goes.
You should also consider that most consumers will do most of their research online, which is why establishing your own website is the first thing you should focus on. Having your own website will give your book’s potential readers a great place to quickly and easily find all the information they need regarding your book. Even though social media accounts are some of the best marketing tools out there, you don’t have control. Social media platforms can remove content and change algorithms whenever they please.
However, on your website, you will have complete control over what visitors see. You will have greater freedom to market your book on your website since you will be in charge of the content produced and showcased on the website, improving your marketing efforts.
2. Be Selective and Strategic with Social Media
You should keep in mind that social media will be a major player in generating sentiments about your book and enhancing its visibility in front of your audience. Much will depend on your book’s content because that will allow you to figure out what networks are the most popular ones where your target audience hangs out. That is from where you will start your marketing efforts. For example, if your book is going to be catering business professionals, you should first try establishing a presence on LinkedIn, and then move on to Facebook and then Twitter.
On the other hand, if you have written a graphic novel or another type of book with many visual elements, you should first target the visual platforms, including Instagram and Pinterest, for your book’s marketing efforts. Find online groups relevant to your topic, join them, and engage with them in authentic conversations. It will be important for you to share all your knowledge and build your reputation as an expert in your field.
All aspiring authors who want to market their books effectively and make as many sales as possible should keep in mind that they will need to cover their digital bases first. Once you have managed to establish a digital footprint, it will be much easier to market your book online.
3. Capitalize on All Amazon Offers and Pursue Reviews
If you’re marketing and selling your book on Amazon, you should be thinking about taking advantage of all the different spaces and features that they are offering. Your chances of being found by potential readers will increase due to this marketing tactic. To do this, you must first be clever with the keywords and the key phrases that you end up using in your descriptions.
Apart from that, if you want Amazon to recommend your book to other readers, you should try to acquire as many good reviews about your book from early customers as possible. Getting positive reviews is an important step because getting them for any book signifies it’s of value to its audience. Positive reviews build credibility for your book and make preferring it over others easier for people.
You shouldn’t be shy about asking for reviews from readers who have purchased your book. In most cases, you won’t have any problems getting reviews out of them. Most readers will often go out of their way to help authors marketing their books, especially if they love the books.
4. Experiment with Email Promotion and Online Advertising
You can use several kinds of approaches when it comes to email promotions for your book marketing. You can promote book marketing campaigns and enter into partnerships with book promotion websites that will send emails to their own subscriber lists. Of course, we recommend our book promotion services.
However, it’s never a bad idea to work with multiple book promotion services to discover which ones work best for you. Try and find different kinds of email promotion techniques to give your book marketing a real boost. Some companies only send promoted books out via their email list, while others offer social media marketing and placement of your book on their website.
Online advertising campaigns include everything from different paid social media promotions to Amazon ads and Google ads. If you’re not familiar with this kind of promotion, you should think about consulting with a professional. That’s because the simplest mistakes you end up making will cost you the most, and there is a lot of research and experimentation that takes place continuously basis to ensure that the book’s marketing is spot on.
5. Provide Lots of Free Promotions to Generate Interest
One of the best marketing tactics that you can use for promoting your book to your target audience is to give them a lot of free promotions. You will build interest in your book and develop your brand via this promotional tactic. People love free offerings and promotions, and if you can tie it up with your book marketing, you will end up with a winning formula. The best way to grab the public’s attention is to host free giveaways with your book so that people have an incentive for coming and buying your book.
You must give to receive something in return, and that is the perfect analogy for the marketing tactic we will share now. When you do free giveaways, you attract the general public’s interest. You will notice that the hype generated from the free promotions will last long after it is over. People will learn about your book because of the buzz generated by the free promotional offers.
Conclusion
Marketing a book can be quite difficult for authors, so don’t be afraid to get professional help if you need it. Most times, it helps to work with a publisher as they will do most of the heavy lifting for you and handle the promotional side of things to focus on other aspects. It is certainly not easy to market a book by yourself. However, if you follow some of the book marketing ideas outlined above, the task will be a lot easier for you.
The next time you come out with a book and wonder how you should market it, give this post a read for the top book marketing ideas for selling your book.
