This is the final entry in my “The Indie-Author’s Arsenal” blog series. I probably should have put this one first, because to do a really good job of marketing your book, you need to start planning months before its release. Did I do that? No. Should I have? Absolutely! Live and learn. Hopefully, I will do a better job with book number three.
To take advantage of some of the marketing tools available to you, it’s important to announce the publication date well in advance and stick to it. Let the sellers, like local bookstores, know about that date as early as possible. Bookstores are a great outlet for selling your book. But it may take several weeks to get an event scheduled, so the more advanced notice you give, the better. Plus, they generally like to schedule new-book release events within the first six months of the publication date.
You’ll also want to send notifications about your next book to your reader email list. If you don’t have a list, start putting one together ASAP! Begin with your friends and family, then add anyone who’s shown interest in your writing. If you have a large number of contacts, think about using a mail service like MailChimp or MailerLite, or see if your website provider offers the service. My provider, Wix, has a marketing mail service. But I would have to upgrade to a more expensive plan to support the number of contacts on my email list. So, I use the free version of MailerLite, which has worked well for me.
Of course, you’ll also want to make sure your author website main page is blanketed with announcements and info about your upcoming book. To entice readers who visit your website to also sign up for your mailing list, think about offering them a first-look at your cover design or book title from your website page. Or maybe a peek at the first chapter?
Close cousins of your email list and website are your social media sites. Take advantage of these platforms and get existing and potential new readers excited about your upcoming book by posting pics of the cover. Keep them updated on the book’s progress, or maybe consider running a contest where the prize is using the winner’s name for one of the characters in your book.
You may also want to offer pre-orders for your book. Check with your chosen publisher to determine what the rules are for offering that service. Another idea is to offer an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) to readers with the hope of getting good reviews to include with your book when it’s released. Check out this blog, “Advanced reader copy: Everything writers need to know”, by MWEditing, to learn more about ARCs and how to get them.
After the book is released, if you’re publishing through KDP (Kindle Publishing Service), you’ll want to use their A+ Content. It’s a combination of images and text that are displayed on your book’s Amazon webpage under "From the Publisher". Check out my Amazon pages for The RH Factor and MYND Control, to get an idea of what you can do. KDP makes it easy to make this content by providing templates. I created my A+ Content images using Canva, which I discussed in the “Book Covers” blog of this series.
Some authors like to use ads to promote their books. Facebook and Amazon ads are the most popular. Amazon ads can get complicated, and I’ve never found them very effective. But it still might be worth checking out the information in Advertising for KDP books. Maybe you will have more success than I did. You could also run a KDP price promotion if you are a member of Kindle Select. There are two types of promotions: A Countdown Deal which offers your book at a sale price in varying price jumps, and a Free Book Promotion which offers your book for free. Both run for a limited amount of time.
Once you’ve got your A+ Content designed, why not take it a step further and use those images to create promotional marketing material? Bookmarks are great giveaways to potential readers. You’ll also want to include them with the copies of your book you send to bookstores and other potential brick & mortar sellers. If you have the capability to sell your book directly from your website, why not offer a cup, pin, or sticker for a small additional charge? Besides potentially increasing your revenue, other people may see these things on your readers' desks!
Don’t forget the press. Research your local newspapers to determine who writes book reviews for them. Then contact them directly and request a review. Do the same for bloggers, podcasters and YouTube content creators. Look for reviewers or interviewers who specialize in your genre. Try for a spot on your local Public Access TV or Radio station.
Another avenue some authors pursue is awards. Sure, it looks great to have a gold badge next to your book, and there are some legitimate awards out there. But I’m afraid most of them just want your money. Be wary of any contest that charges a high fee for you to enter. And most importantly, read the fine print. Some contest rules state that they can sell your book to a third party! Read this blog, “Awards Profiteers”, at Writers Beware, before paying to put your book in an award contest. As a rule, I stay away from those contests.
After releasing MYND Control, I sent emails to hospital neurology departments and neurologist organizations inviting them to read my book. I thought doctors who studied the brain might find it an entertaining read. At the time, I hadn’t signed up for MailerLite yet, so I had no way to tell if any of my emails were opened. But who knows? I might have gotten a few new readers. The point is, think out of the box. It never hurts to try something new.
Not long ago, I discovered an interesting YouTube channel called The Cozy Creative. The creator, Lidiya Foxglove, writes fantasy books and has been a self-supporting author for over fifteen years. I like her channel because she’s informal and informative. The reason I mention her here is because she recently started a series of videos titled “How to Market your Self-Published Book”. She states she will be doing marketing experiments and reporting back on whether they were successful. I hope to pick up some tips through her trial and error, and maybe you can too?
Marketing can be an expensive and time-consuming process. But if you want to sell more books, it's unavoidable. I’ve spent many hours and a bit of money trying to figure out what type of marketing works best for my books, but have not yet discovered that perfect silver bullet. There is no “one-size fits all” solution, so be ready to try out a lot of different ideas. Hopefully, one or more of the methods I’ve mentioned here will give you the results you want.
You may be someone who loves the marketing side of things. For me, even though I used to sell high-tech computer systems to large corporations for a living, it’s quite another thing to sell my own books—to find an audience of readers willing to take a chance on a new author.
I know I barely touched on some of these marketing topics. There’s simply too much to cover in one blog! Maybe in the future, I will delve deeper into each of these ideas. For now, I’ve tried to hit on the most popular—and what I think are the most effective—tools and outlets—and steer you away from the ones you should stay away from!
Remember, it’s up to you to decide how much time, effort, and money you want to spend. If you find that marketing your book is taking all the joy out of the self-publishing process, try concentrating on the one or two strategies you find most interesting.
Writing a book should be fun. If you find none of the activities interesting, don’t do them! Quit worrying about how many books you’ve sold and go back to what you really enjoy—writing!
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