Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Which Book Marketing Strategy Works Best for You?



Many strategies to book marketing are floated out there, some of which are terrific, others obvious, some hard to implement, and others that are just totally wrong.  Which ones are right for you?

Authors and book publicists, at the very least, should do the things that are achievable, affordable, and time-efficient.  Before you think big, do the nuts and bolts stuff.  This may consist of things like sending advance review copies to targeted media with enough lead time or scheduling book signing appearances at local bookstores and libraries, and blogging regularly on your topic.

The next strategy to implement is to pay for what you can’t do – because of ability, knowledge, desire, time, or other factors.  Can’t contact the news media?  Hire a book publicist.  Don’t like to tweet?  Employ a social media marketer. Need help creating a website?  Use a web designer.  No time to look up lists of groups and organizations to approach?  Hire someone to do research for you.

The strategies on marketing, promoting, and advertising that you choose to utilize should be based on what you identified as your goals -- for your book and your brand.  Your strategies should support your goals.  Your goals should have multiple tiers or levels, so that you’re always reaching for something – but not just the stars and not to merely do what’s easy.

Your book marketing strategy should be one that’s logical, timely, affordable, and reasonable.  Don’t underestimate what kind of commitment you’ll need to make – and don’t overstate the anticipated results of your efforts.  Keep a level head here.

Your best strategy is one that utilizes others.  What can you do that will enlist the help of others – friends, family, colleagues and those you come to meet?  Let others help you.  Give them a specific task to perform.  Go back to them again, to help, until they say no.

Any book marketing strategy used today seems to involve giveaways.  You can give away the book for a limited time, to create word of mouth buzz.  You can give away a prior book or related content, in the hopes of stimulating interest in your new book.  You can also incentivize others to buy your book by rewarding them with something free.  The item could be something digital that’s shared easily.  It can even be something another author or organization provided to you, something of value to others.

You should not think there’s a one-size-fits-all book marketing plan that every author has to or can follow.  You must customize a plan, based on your goals, passions, connections, abilities, and knowledge – and resources – that matches what you can really achieve for your book and brand.

Considering there’s well over 3,500 titles published daily – yes, that’s about 150 per hour or more than 2.5 per minute every day, night, and holiday, authors need to have a realistic strategy to get attention from an over-exposed society.  However, the good news is few authors execute a well-planned, comprehensive PR and marketing campaign, so you have a chance to succeed if you stick with a smart, properly supported campaign.

Just because you want to sell a lot of books or get fame and glory, doesn’t mean that you will.  In fact, the odds are against it.  Go from a strategy of baseless wishing to taking concrete steps to make a difference.

Another strategy to consider is one that involves applying for book awards and entering writer competitions: build your brand for the long-term.

Lastly, never look at the sales or media success of a book and assume you can model it.  You never really know what - or who – was behind its climb to the top.  You can’t just simply declare your book is better than that one and it deserves attention.  Go out and make it happen!

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Here’s the 2017 Author Book PR & Marketing Toolkit


Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2017©. Born and raised in Brooklyn, now resides in Westchester. Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs

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