Authors always ask me three things:
* What should I do to market my book?
* Do I have to use social media?
* How do I land a literary agent?
Today, we’ll answer the first question: What should I do to market my book?
1. Have A Plan - And A Timeline To Execute It
No plan gets you to nowhere fast. Make a
marketing plan that identifies what you will do, how much you’ll spend, how
you’ll budget your time, and what your goals are.
2. Explore A Diverse Portfolio Of Marketing Areas
To sell books, your effects will include some
measure of things like blogging, being active on social media, speaking
publicly, getting news media exposure, securing book reviews from professionals
and consumers, advertising, pursuing book awards and writer contests,
networking, and guerrilla marketing tactics.
3. Identify The Targeted/Niche Markets For Your Book
No one’s book is for everyone, though some books
certainly can appeal to much wider readership than others. Think about who is
ideally the kind of person who would buy your book. Then think about to find or
reach them- and what will push them to buy your book.
4. Get Your Collaterals In Order
Have a website, business card, social media
accounts, an email signature, a mantra or tagline, an elevator speech, a press
release (with several versions), access to images (photos of your book, self, and
subject matter, and fliers/postcards at the ready).
5. Buying, Donating, Trading, & Begging Your Way To Sales
Claw your way to success. Think opportunistically.
How do you get what you want - and what are you willing to do to get it? Will
you donate books to a non-profit to secure a needed testimonial? Will you beg
friends to buy the book -- and do you
other favors? Will you pay an influencer to post on social media or write your
foreword? Will you agree with other authors to trade book reviews for each
other’s books?
6. Giving Away Content To Build A List
To make money in books, be prepared to give
content, services, and items away. On your site you need a sign-up button. To get
someone’s email address, give them free, high-incentive content (ie: writers,
resources, images, lists). Consider using the book as a freemium – a loss-leader
to sell something more expensive.
7. Cross- Selling Products & Services: Yours Or Of Others
It’s much easier to sell several things than just one product. Write several books - and try to package them. Sell the books of others in conjunction with yours -- and see if they will do the same. Have a course, service, webinar, newsletter, or other monetized content/service along with your book.
8. Identify New
Distribution Channels
You may think your book is sold just on amazon or a bookstore like Barnes & Noble. Wrong! Your book can be sold on many other online book sites and carried by other bookstores. It can be sold anywhere from giftshops and conferences to airports and big box retailers. Open up your mind to seeing your book sold in non-traditional bookstore and, marketed in non-traditional ways. Think about selling your book to non-profits, schools, businesses, trade associations, religious groups, government agencies, sports leagues, and so many other specialty organizations and institutions. Sell beyond the U.S boarders. Sell your book’s rights -- film, theater, foreign languages, audio, etc.
Please
Contact Me For Book PR Help
Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning
blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available
to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He
has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in
all genres.
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Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2022. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent. This award-winning blog has generated over 3.2 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past decade, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Susan RoAne, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, IBPA, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami
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