A summary
Book marketing is a many-faceted thing. The first thing to know is that marketing begins and ends with a high quality product; your book. No matter how connected you are, these connections are only ever as good as the book you are leading people to, so make sure that is taken care of before you start Tweeting. Then, it’s time for social media, websites, distribution, press-releases and events.
A little deeper
We have written many articles which explore the marketing and promotional approaches of our authors - many of whom are selling very well indeed - and the main point which can be distilled from everything we have learned over the last two decades, is that marketing is effective when it leads people to a good looking, well-written book. So, once you have this cornerstone in place, how do you send people to it? Modern authors have a multitude of options available to support and accelerate the sales that will occur ‘automatically’ by having a great cover and some good reviews on the online retail outlets. So, what should you do first? Potential readers often want to know a little about an author to give be reassured that their potential investment of time will be worthwhile. To this end, open social media accounts, make them look good and allow readers this opportunity. From Facebook and Twitter, a website should be linked so people can go a little deeper into you and your titles and sign up to your mailing list. Your distribution setup is also crucial for visibility - making the right keyword choices for your Amazon account can enable you to tap into genre fans’ searching habits, while pricing your book correctly and having a great product description are ‘shop-window’ essentials. A press-release will help to give your launch some impetus and will be a good thing to have handy when you approach your local independent book-sellers. When you set up launch events, such as a book reading or signing, be sure to have business cards, postcards and posters handy to make a visual impact, and make people remember your title.
While most self-publishers are responsible for their own marketing, all have different specialisms and skills. We know many authors who are great at setting up meetings, selling face-to-face and getting their books into local retailers, but cannot easily engage with online promotion, while other authors are more than comfortable blogging and Facebooking, but are not as good at representing themselves away from the screen. Whichever camp you fall into, we are able to supply the tools and advice you need to complete your marketing repertoire. We deliberately don’t offer ‘one-size’ packages but will speak to you in person to find out what you require in your own unique self-publishing situation. If you simply require assistance with distribution, or setting up with social media platforms, then we can help. If you need an entire suite of marketing tools, we can do that. we’ll create a bespoke marketing package suited to what you actually need.