One of the most important activities that an author must carry out is the marketing of his book. However, many leave it to chance, and sales suffer as a result.
When you sell books, you open up many opportunities.
When my book Power Up For Profits; The Smart Women’s Guide to Online Marketing was released, I had been laying the marketing groundwork months before the book was available on Amazon.
Due to a very focused marketing campaign, I sold thousands of copies in a short period of time. On the back end, I made a lot of money AND had amazing opportunities open for consulting and speaking jobs.
Although the book was published in 2013, I still market it. The mere fact that I am using it in this post to show you essential ways to market a book means that I am still marketing it. The good thing is that the content applies as much today as the day it was released.
Yet many authors do little or nothing to market their books. There are dozens and dozens of ways to market your book. My friend and colleague, John Kremer, has identified 1001 ways to market his books. When I got really serious about marketing one of my first books, I went through John’s book with a fine-tooth comb. The number of ideas I implemented was in the dozens and therefore I GET results.
Although John’s book is currently out of print, you can still get a used copy on Amazon. I recommend that you do. Worth his weight in gold.
For the sake of simplicity, here are five activities you can focus on that will definitely get your books into the hands of enthusiastic readers.
Send messages to your current subscribers
Social Media Posts
Press releases
blog tour
speaking from the platform
1. Send messages to your current subscribers
Don’t you have a list? That is one of the first things you should focus on. A targeted email list is definitely something every author needs. When you have a list, you have control over what you send to your subscribers. Without a list, you can miss out on a lot of great opportunities.
An easy to use database management system is AWeber.
The best way to build your list is to offer something of value in exchange for someone’s name and email address. I have several ways that I encourage people to subscribe to my list. For example, my companion report, Hit #1 on Amazon, is a favorite in my community.
2. Social Media Posts
Instead of trying to be seen on every social network, choose 3-5 (maximum 5, with 3 being better; in this case, less is more) and go deeper into those networks. The ones that tend to get the most traction are Facebook and Instagram. I use Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn, but the biggest response is with Facebook and Instagram.
I post various types of information on a regular basis. Everything from photos and videos of a race I ran, to links to blog posts my community enjoys.
The key is consistency. It’s about building familiarity and name recognition. That way, when you’re promoting a book, your community is much more likely to buy your book.
3. Press releases
Often misunderstood and underutilized, press releases are a great way to gain traction with various media sources. According to Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases, “Every business can benefit from press release distribution. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in and how small or large your business is, you can benefit from press release distribution. Even if Don’t have that “Oprah story,” do have stories that can get coverage in trade magazines, magazines, blogs, podcasts, and other publications that cover your industry.
Make press releases part of “business as usual” to get your message to market. As with virtually any part of marketing, make sure you’re targeting the right outlets for your message.
For example, if you’re publishing a book about babysitting, avoid submitting your information to pet publishers. It is not a party. The more specific you are, the better.
You must be strategic so that your book is discovered by the media.
4. Blogging Tour
Oh my! I LOVE blog tours. Simply put, a blog tour is a virtual book tour. You can get your message across to thousands, even millions, of potential readers by being a featured expert on multiple blogs.
As with anything, you need to be very focused on your approach. Start with a “wish list” of blogs you’d like to be featured on. Determine what the benefit is to the blog owner (and blog readers) so that when you contact them, they know you’ve thought about why they would benefit from hosting it.
As with anything, the closer you get, the greater your results.
5. Talking on the platform
By far this is one of my favorites. They can pay you… or not. You can often make more money if you don’t get paid, but you have the opportunity to sell your books and other information products.
You can also negotiate with the media planner to buy a book for each person in your audience. They may even have sponsors who will buy books in bulk for everyone who attends the event.
There are several ways that you can profit on the platform.
conclusion
When you put the time into a solid marketing plan for your book, you’ll get great results. However, the key is to implement the ideas. Action results in sales.