HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR BOOK
Ten great tips for all authors
So you’ve written the next best seller (or you’re halfway through writing it) and you’re wondering just how you’re going to make your work shine among the hundreds of other new books being launched each and every day.
The good news is that you haven’t fallen into the trap of assuming it’ll sell by itself and not bothering with a promotional strategy, competition is high and the focus you give to promoting your book will be worth every ounce of effort given.
The good news is that you haven’t fallen into the trap of assuming it’ll sell by itself and not bothering with a promotional strategy, competition is high and the focus you give to promoting your book will be worth every ounce of effort given.
But what exactly should you do in getting a wider audience and buying readers?
Here are ten great tips which will help point you in the right direction and let the public know just how great your book is and how serious you are as an author.
1) Plan – Have a long term plan and start as early as possible, as you begin to write the book itself you should create a network of interested parties, these will be people within the industry, editors, publishers, reviewers, bloggers, readers, basically people who share a passion for the written word. You may well meet them at book fares, launches, clubs, social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc. The key is that once you’ve met them you need to stay in touch and grow the relationship.
2) Give advice – Contributing to some of the many internet forums is a great way to connect to others who share the same passion, it also allows you to add a link to your signature back to your own website or sales page.
3) Get a website – This is far easier than you may at first imagine, there are plenty of services offering ‘build-your-own’ websites for very reasonable prices too, a domain name will cost about $20 for the year (depending upon the exact name) and it’s worth taking your time to get one which is either tied into your pen name or the book title. Your website should contain certain information such as a blog, links to where the reader can buy a copy, news & events (such as launches, signings, readings etc.), contact information and also an option for the viewer to sign up to your own mailing list. Having a mailing list and building upon it is a great way of direct marketing, just be careful you don’t send too much info and too frequently either (otherwise you’ll have people unsubscribing very quickly).
4) Use your blog – Your blog should be aimed towards the creation of something useful to both yourself and anyone who reads it, you should aim to write at least 200 words per day to it and ensure that it’s both positive and informative.
5) Your Book Cover Design – Whether you like it or not, people DO judge books by their covers, if you opt for a badly designed cover the reader will assume the same about the writing itself. A professional cover can easily double the sales of a book, it gives gravitas to you as an author and confidence to the person considering buying it.
6) Your media tools – You’ll need to get together information and promotional materials to help promote yourself when at fares, meetings, launches and even upon your own website/social media pages. Your media tools should include professionally designed and printed business cards, a headshot photograph for your bio page (again seek a professional to do this for you), a short biography regarding why you’re the best person to have written your book/books, promotional posters/leaflets for your book and professional banners for your social media pages. It is very tempting to cut costs at this stage but the first impression a reader or publisher gets will stick, to be taken seriously you must have professional materials to promote yourself with.
7) Get ready to sell – It is worth working out how you would sell your book to someone when at a fare or convention (as well as when promoting to a publisher), get two pitches ready, one short and one longer. The short should be no more than 15 seconds and the longer no more than 60 seconds, when someone asks about your book you give them the shorter pitch and if still interested you can use the longer one.
8) Getting reviews – Prior to the launch of the book you should be contacting people to get reviews, don’t be afraid to ask big names within the field of your genre too. However, you will just need to be careful as to how much of the book you send out (some publishers will be nervous with regards to your work being copied by an unscrupulous individual).
9) Youtube – Make short videos for Youtube talking about the art of writing, publishing, hints and tips, creativity, over-coming writers block etc. just ensure that at the bottom of the video you post a link to your book’s sales page. These videos can be promoted via your social networks and website too.
10) Amazon – On Amazon it’s very important to get as many reviews as you possibly can, it helps with buyer confidence. You can promote the eBook of your work for at least five days for free, so get all of your friends and family to download a copy and write a brilliant review telling the world just how amazing your book is.
This may seem like a lot to do but remember, the more you do to promote your book the greater your success will be. Good luck!
1) Plan – Have a long term plan and start as early as possible, as you begin to write the book itself you should create a network of interested parties, these will be people within the industry, editors, publishers, reviewers, bloggers, readers, basically people who share a passion for the written word. You may well meet them at book fares, launches, clubs, social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc. The key is that once you’ve met them you need to stay in touch and grow the relationship.
2) Give advice – Contributing to some of the many internet forums is a great way to connect to others who share the same passion, it also allows you to add a link to your signature back to your own website or sales page.
3) Get a website – This is far easier than you may at first imagine, there are plenty of services offering ‘build-your-own’ websites for very reasonable prices too, a domain name will cost about $20 for the year (depending upon the exact name) and it’s worth taking your time to get one which is either tied into your pen name or the book title. Your website should contain certain information such as a blog, links to where the reader can buy a copy, news & events (such as launches, signings, readings etc.), contact information and also an option for the viewer to sign up to your own mailing list. Having a mailing list and building upon it is a great way of direct marketing, just be careful you don’t send too much info and too frequently either (otherwise you’ll have people unsubscribing very quickly).
4) Use your blog – Your blog should be aimed towards the creation of something useful to both yourself and anyone who reads it, you should aim to write at least 200 words per day to it and ensure that it’s both positive and informative.
5) Your Book Cover Design – Whether you like it or not, people DO judge books by their covers, if you opt for a badly designed cover the reader will assume the same about the writing itself. A professional cover can easily double the sales of a book, it gives gravitas to you as an author and confidence to the person considering buying it.
6) Your media tools – You’ll need to get together information and promotional materials to help promote yourself when at fares, meetings, launches and even upon your own website/social media pages. Your media tools should include professionally designed and printed business cards, a headshot photograph for your bio page (again seek a professional to do this for you), a short biography regarding why you’re the best person to have written your book/books, promotional posters/leaflets for your book and professional banners for your social media pages. It is very tempting to cut costs at this stage but the first impression a reader or publisher gets will stick, to be taken seriously you must have professional materials to promote yourself with.
7) Get ready to sell – It is worth working out how you would sell your book to someone when at a fare or convention (as well as when promoting to a publisher), get two pitches ready, one short and one longer. The short should be no more than 15 seconds and the longer no more than 60 seconds, when someone asks about your book you give them the shorter pitch and if still interested you can use the longer one.
8) Getting reviews – Prior to the launch of the book you should be contacting people to get reviews, don’t be afraid to ask big names within the field of your genre too. However, you will just need to be careful as to how much of the book you send out (some publishers will be nervous with regards to your work being copied by an unscrupulous individual).
9) Youtube – Make short videos for Youtube talking about the art of writing, publishing, hints and tips, creativity, over-coming writers block etc. just ensure that at the bottom of the video you post a link to your book’s sales page. These videos can be promoted via your social networks and website too.
10) Amazon – On Amazon it’s very important to get as many reviews as you possibly can, it helps with buyer confidence. You can promote the eBook of your work for at least five days for free, so get all of your friends and family to download a copy and write a brilliant review telling the world just how amazing your book is.
This may seem like a lot to do but remember, the more you do to promote your book the greater your success will be. Good luck!
