Book marketing is everything that helps the right readers find your book, and it works best as an ongoing combination of tactics, a marketing plan, a press release, giveaways, an author platform, and some paid advertising, rather than any single trick. No individual tactic reliably sells a book on its own. What tends to work is consistency across several of them, sustained well past launch week.
This guide covers the core building blocks: how to plan your marketing, how to write a press release, whether giveaways and book trailers are worth it, how to build an author platform, and where paid advertising fits. Each section links to a full article when you want more detail.
Marketing doesn't start on publication day, and it doesn't end there either. The groundwork, a marketing plan, an author platform, early buzz, ideally starts weeks or months before launch, overlapping with your final production steps:
See the Complete Guide to Self-Publishing and Book Launch Timeline: From Beta Readers to Reviews for how marketing overlaps with the rest of your production timeline.
A marketing plan ties everything else together: your budget, your target readers, and which specific tactics you'll actually use, rather than trying to do everything at once. See How to Write a Book Marketing Plan.
A press release gets your book in front of journalists, bloggers, and local media, tailored differently depending on the outlet. See How to Write a Book Press Release.
Giveaways build early buzz and reviews, but only when run with a clear goal and the right audience. See Book Giveaways: How to Run One That Actually Works.
A book trailer is a genre-dependent, optional tactic that works better for some books than others. See Do You Need a Book Trailer?.
An author platform, your website, newsletter, and social presence, is what turns one-time buzz into a lasting connection with readers who'll buy your next book too. See Building an Author Platform.
Paid advertising, Amazon ads and other online options, can extend your reach once you have a foundation (reviews, a solid product page) worth advertising toward. See Amazon Ads and Online Advertising for Authors.
Many of the highest-leverage marketing tactics, a well-written press release, an author newsletter, organic social media, ARC outreach, cost time rather than money. See Low-Budget Book Marketing for where to focus if your budget is limited.
Entrada offers marketing plans tailored to your budget, press release writing and distribution, giveaways, book trailers, and online marketing including sponsored reviews and paid advertising setup. Every plan is built around your specific book and budget, so email us to discuss your goals.
Build a Marketing Plan That Fits Your Book
Entrada Publishing can put together a combination of services that fits your goals and your budget, or help with any single piece: a press release, a giveaway, a book trailer, or online advertising.
There isn't a single one. A marketing plan that combines several tactics, sustained over time, consistently outperforms any single trick used in isolation.
It varies enormously, from free (organic social media, a well-timed press release, a newsletter) to a significant investment (advertising, professional trailers, broad giveaway campaigns). See Low-Budget Book Marketing for where to start on a smaller budget.
Before publication, ideally. Building an author platform, planning your launch, and starting ARC outreach all take time, so starting weeks or months ahead gives your launch far more momentum than starting on publication day.
No, and this is one of the most common mistakes. Marketing that continues well past launch, ongoing reviews, newsletter growth, continued outreach, tends to matter more for long-term sales than the launch week push alone.