by Annette J Beveridge
Book marketing – for many authors is a necessary evil. Yet, it needn’t be a drama. One tip is to start the marketing process before you have even written the book. Create a checklist and refer to it often. Consider what you can do to give your book a lift and tick off each task as you complete it. By doing so, it enables proactive steps to the book promotion process. If you have already written your book, don’t worry, you can still incorporate book marketing into daily life, just do a little at a time. Plan ahead. Here’s how.
Book Marketing Tricks
The following are easy to implement book marketing tricks. Try some or all of them. You choose.
1. Set up a Twitter account and build up a following. Take time to engage with other writers or readers in your genre. You could soon be talking to writers and readers all around the globe. Get ideas, join creative forces, gain inspiration. These contacts can help you with book promotion by liking and sharing your tweets. Don’t forget to use the relevant hashtags so your book can be found.
2. Create a Facebook page other than your personal one and start to develop a following on there. Gradually, people will start to see your posts but here’s a word of warning, Facebook will restrict the times that your posts are seen unless you boost posts and run ads. It is still worth having a dedicated page. You should also consider setting up Facebook ads as they can be seen by the people who love your type of book.
3. Plan your book reviews now. Take a look at Amazon’s top 100 reviewers and narrow it down to your niche. This can be a bit time-consuming but it is worth doing as some quality reviews can really give your book a head start. Amazon does not support reviews for books on preorder but it is possible to get some great reviewers prepared – which in turn will help you to further your book promotion tasks.
4. If you are not a member of Goodreads yet, sign up now. You can
5. Consider a press release. If your book is newsworthy i.e. you have written it to coincide with a specific event or if it is topical, then, the media might be keen to interview you. Not sure how to get a press release, click here.
6. Share snippets of your book across all social media channels. Choose the snippets that incite interest and interaction. This is a great way for your book to be seen. Don’t forget the more followers you have, the more those snippets will be shared. If you are writing a book now, create some compelling snippets as you go. Strengthen those words. You can also create visual posts and these will stand out from any text promotions.
7. Use Amazon’s book promotion tools to help escalate your book up the Amazon rankings. It can take a lot of time to prepare for book promotion and to find sites that promote your book (free and paid) during the event. If the budget allows and if time is restricted, we can help you out. Why stress when you can have the work done for you?
Summary
So, that’s it. Some easy ways to approach the book marketing process. But don’t think you have to go it alone or that it is too difficult. It is a simple fact that authors have to go the extra mile to get their books noticed. Build it into your writing and publishing checklist and do a little at a time. You will get real results.
Annette J Beveridge is the author of 16 books in her own name and has ghost-written numerous books for clients worldwide. She is also the editor of Creative1 Publishing.