Authors Should Scale Their Book Marketing

 

Authors should strive to do something every day to market themselves. Even for just five minutes, if that’s all they can do. But we know that many authors do not market daily, regularly, consistently, or effectively. The sales prove it. Just ask any author.  

Writers should strive to scale their efforts. What do I mean by that? 

First, authors need some kind of plan for action for their books, and the big plan should be broken down into distinct areas. Each area should have smaller steps. Each day should be designated for one or more steps to be done. The areas I speak of are the major ones, which I identify as the following: 

• Influencers (Paid or Organic Testimonials) 

• Book Reviews (Professional & Customer; Free and Paid) 

• News Media Coverage (T.V, radio, podcasts, blogs, magazines, newspapers, trade journals, news wires, & newsletters) 

• Speaking Engagements (Bookstores, libraries, and other groups) 

• Social Media (Author blog, author podcast, author posts, author guest-posts) 

• Advertising (Amazon, Google, FB, targeted publications, or e-blasts) 

• Book Awards (Apply to dozens of awards and writing contests) 

• Networking (Meet, greet, and build your mailing list) 

• Book Clubs (Online and in-person community book clubs) 

• Groups (Joining online groups and writer trade associations) 

• Website (This is your real estate and home) 

• Book Sales (Selling many copies to targeted organizations like a business, non—profit, government agency, trade group, etc.) 

Second, once you explore each or most of the above areas, see which ones show results and promise. Look to do more of what works -scale up. For what seems less useful, scale down or eliminate.  

Third, in order to scale what works and doesn’t. No guessing. No not knowing. You need to employ metrics and logic to measure what you are doing. What gets measured usually grows. There’s accountability there.  

In order to scale, you need to set goals and have incentives to achieve. You can’t often do something without defining what success could or should look like. Even if you don’t initially know how something will turn out, make a guess and begin to anticipate the probability of the possibilities.  

When you market your book, you are looking to see how you can quickly and easily sell the most possible copies of your book. And if you find a way to sell books at good pace and profit margin, repeat and rinse. 

Scale up after you’ve tested the waters.

 

Need Book Marketing 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. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on LinkedIn. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.4 million pageviews. With 4,600+ posts over the past dozen years, 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 www.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, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, 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 Herald. For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.