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.
2.Where is your ideal reader spending time online? That’s where you need to be. Most authors spend their time on their personal Facebook, whining about how their books aren’t selling. Facebook is the largest social media channel in the world – but is it where your readers are? If your books are YA, you need to be on Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and YouTube, which all skew younger. Additionally, all those Facebook personal account posts don’t help you in Google Search.
3. Be social on social media. Too many authors blast and spam (“Buy my book!”) with little to no interaction, which is not only ineffective, it also violates almost every social media channel’s rules. Listen, retweet and share, interact and reply. It’s not all about you. And for all that’s holy, cancel that automated DM (direct message) welcome on Twitter. Newbie mistake. Your reader wants to know WIIFM (What’s In It For Me), not you, the author. Always be thinking about ways you can be generous.
4. Blog at least once a week. This is effective for your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Not sure what to blog about? Focus on your branding and keywords. What are you most excited about? Remember, we brand the author, not the book. Write about what you are authentically passionate about or an expert in (Hint: it doesn’t have to be about writing!). Too many authors write about writing. Unless your book is about writing, and your demographic is other writers, your marketing needs an adjustment.
In addition, learn how to optimize your blog posts for SEO. Google is the largest search engine in the world, and it loves fresh content, but only if it can find it. Learn more here about how to optimize your posts for Google.
5. Add your social media icons and book links to your website and blog. This seems so obvious, but many authors don’t do it. If you make people search for ways to find you (or share your content or books), they’re out. Top right is typically the best placement on your site for follow buttons; top and bottom of each post for share buttons, sidebar for books.
Work with your website designer for your best options.
I’ve included many resources here (mine and others). Work on these and I’ll follow up in my next post with five more tips.
The BadRedhead Media 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge is now available! Do you want to learn how to energize your book sales in a month? Then you need to buy this book.
