The basic premise of book marketing is this: write great books that people will want to read—then effectively market them. If you’re self-published, use professional editors, designers, and formatters so your book looks amazing. If you’re traditionally published, your publisher will handle that part. But nowadays, most of the marketing will still fall to you.

Here are several tried and true tips to develop your author platform, social media, and book marketing. Let’s go!

1. Know your demographic. Who is your ideal reader? Most authors have no clue (I know I didn’t at first, either). The best place to start: Pew Research Center. Pro Tip: Everyone is not your demographic, no matter how much you want that to be true. Find your niche and talk with (not blast and spam) those readers.