You've written your book...now what?
Marketing your book is one of the hardest jobs there is. If you’ve decided to go the traditional route, you’re working on marketing your manuscript to editors, agents and publishers. Self-published authors have just as much marketing to do, if not more.
In fact, every author we talk to has questions about marketing. So for this next segment, we’re going to focus specifically on marketing.
AND
We’re going to answer your book marketing questions. Submit any questions you have and we’ll answer them in our next newsletter – or maybe even before!
The biggest question of all:
How do I get people to read my book?
We’re going to cover that in detail. But keep in mind that people reading your book is not the same as buying your book. There’s a big difference. And it’s a crucial tidbit that matters when you create your marketing plan.
Authors who want to get people to read their book make it easy!
*They make it DRM free
*They give it away on Wattpad, Smashwords or their own site
*They participate in Amazon Kindle Unlimited (keep in mind if you do this option, you can’t give it away anywhere else for free)
*They give it away on social media
Those are just a few ways. And they work. People will read your book if you give it away for free.
But how can that make you any money? Let’s move on the next question.
How do I get people to buy my book?
We’ll focus on a few of the easiest ways.
First, they have to know it exists. If you are a “normal” author the first thing that you did when your book was available was call/email/write/spam all your family, friends, relatives and anyone you ever thought might be interested. Maybe you gave it to them for free, they were your group of betas, etc. And you probably saw at least a few sales. But you can only sell your mom a book once. Unless she owns a bookstore, then maybe you can sell her two.
So you’ll need to expand your circle. Not all marketing costs money, but all marketing costs time.
#1 Use Amazon Kindle Select Days
This is a great tool for authors to get promotion. We tell our clients to ALWAYS use their five days every 90 days. Aren’t familiar with the program? For authors that exclusively have their content on Kindle Select, they have the option for five free days per renewal period (90 days). We recommend that you use all five days in succession. This gives a reader the option of finding your book, reading it, loving it and recommending it to their friends. This strategy works even if you only have one book out – so don’t despair if you don’t have a huge catalog of books to sell – if you do, that’s even better. You’ll usually get at least a sale or two of your book after the promotion if you had some good exposure during your time.
Take a look a this screenshot. In this one, our author Vance Huxley is 25 in ALL of the Kindle free books. (We made it to #12 but I missed that screenshot!) This was the result of paid promotion at the same time as the free Kindle days. It resulted in over 13,000 downloads over five days. At the time, this was his first book, no email list, no fan club.
Getting to first in your category is a big win. That means people searching for something new to read will check you out or at least see your cover (we told you a good over would be important). Getting to the top 100 free books on the Kindle store is excellent.
With a little paid promotion, a little luck and the right free days, you can do this too. And if you want us give it our best shot, email us for a person specific marketing plan link.
#2 Have a Book Signing
This is not as complicated, scary or hard as it sounds. Most public libraries have some kind of outreach program or writing program or group that hosts talks or signings. If yours doesn’t, offer to start it! Book signings can also happen at big bookstores, campus bookstores and related stores. If your book is a non-fiction cookbook, many cooking stores are happy to host you! Did you write a historical fiction? Try your local museum. Book groups also invite authors to participate, get involved and get yourself invited.
#3 Online Advertising
Companies from Amazon to Facebook to Goodreads and Bookbub are happy to take your money to put ads for your book all over the place. We’ll go into the nuts and bolts of these programs in more detail later. If you don’t overspend, you can gain awareness for your book this way. It’s the easiest but it’s also the most expensive.
Want more ideas? You can download our Book Marketing Guide for free here or you can email us and we’ll put together something just for you!