What’s
the best thing an author could do to promote his or her brand and market a
book?
Well
there’s no one thing that sticks out other than, do something. Once you put yourself on the
sidelines you are no longer in the game and have almost zero chance of selling
your book or getting media coverage for it. Sure, one in a million get
discovered naturally – no advertising, no publicity, no social media – just
random word-of-mouth soars for a really good or unique book.
Now,
back to reality. You operate in a dog-eat-dog world. There’s competition for
everything and the 4,000 new books published daily offer a lot of competition.
The No. 1 thing you should do is --something. Inertia is not a strategy.
Okay,
so what are some things one can or should do?
1.
Designate
a schedule – daily/weekly – of your time and resources for marketing and
promoting. Set a budget of time and money. Set priorities and divide what
you’ll do and what you’ll pay others to do.
2.
Set
goals and keep re-setting them. Resting on a successful day or hiding in your
room because of a failed activity are not recommended. You need to come at this
with a can-do, opportunistic mindset. You can’t pray for luck or hope others do
something for you. No, you have to make it happen.
3.
Have
a plan. For everything. With a timeline
of the steps needed. Plan your:
·
Speaking
·
Social
Media.
·
Traditional
Media.
·
Online
Media.
·
Book
Reviews.
·
Website
Development/Expansion.
·
Press
Kit Development.
·
Grass
Roots Ideas on Marketing.
·
Advertising.
·
Securing
of Testimonials.
·
Work,
home life, rest, entertainment and anything else competing for your time,
money, brainpower and energy.
4.
Establish
a baseline or foundation of what you consider a success so you can judge or
filter your activities through a prism that allows you to rate your
production. You need to know if you are
moving forward even when it doesn’t feel you are. You need reassurance that today
contributes to hitting a goal tomorrow.
You need to feel secure, confident, smart enough, skilled, and
resourceful to succeed.
5.
You
need to spend 80% of your time on the big stuff, the things with the greatest
pay-off potential, and 20% on the easy-pickings, nuts and bolts stuff that are
necessary and achievable, but not necessarily game-changers.
6.
Think
about why you wrote the book and remind yourself of what you hope to
accomplish. See it as a game. What can you do, perhaps in a way that you never
really saw yourself doing to help you reach where you want to go? What habits,
thoughts, actions, addictions, or fears hold you back? Can you simply become
who you want to be – and not remain who you’ve been?
We
can list a hundred to-do things, big and small, that authors can execute, but
the most important thing is to keep moving, keep doing. Don’t overthink it or
get psyched out. Quiet the fears or insecurities. They do nothing for you. Just stay focused and take action.
Now.
Tomorrow.
Next
week.
Next
month - and beyond!
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