6 Tips to Stay on Top of Book Marketing Part 2
This is a second part of from the post 6 Tips to Stay on Top of Book Marketing Part 1. Authors have to realize that they must always be promoting their books. New authors have to dedicate time to promote their work as their biggest hurdle is that people don’t know about the book.
Social media offers authors a way to get their book to their target audience. An author Facebook page and website is only the first steps to getting the word out about a book. Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn are also excellent and inexpensive ways to promote.
Please read on for other effective book marketing tips.
1. Post Your book on Amazon. (Ask people to post reviews of your book.)
More than half of all book sales occur on Amazon. An author cannot afford not to use this platform. The book description and information about the author are on the first steps. Amazon offers the KDP program that lets them exclusively sell the book online for a set period, usually 90 days. During that time Amazon promotes the book through various incentives to get people to read it.
Ask your friends and supporters to post honest and authentic Amazon reviews. Multiple reviews attract readers.
Amazon also has various ad campaigns so that an author can try to get their books in the hands of their target audience.
2.Develop a newsletter list.
This is a key thing that people sometimes miss. Whenever an author is at an event he/she should have a place where people stopping by can leave their name, email and social media handles. Once you have this information you can send people updates. Be careful on how often you do this. It is recommended to send a newsletter once or twice a month. Make sure that the information in the newsletter is not just asking people to buy your book. Include information your reader might need to know so that they will see your newsletter as valuable.
3. Send press releases about your book to the print, online and broadcast media.
Press releases can get your book to potential readers. I like to write press releases when I am doing an author event. The press releases tells people what they will learn if they come to my event, information about me and my book. Newspapers are hungry for content so writers should use that to their advantage. Perhaps you can share tips on something and then at the end of the release mention information about your book.
4. Get online reviewers from various blogs that appeal to your audience.
Instagram is a great place to find book bloggers. Book bloggers are people who love to review books and you can find many of them to do it for free. Some of the bigger book bloggers charge a fee to review books because they have huge lists or traffic. In the beginning an author should stick with bloggers who don’t charge.
Send a brief pitch telling the author why your book would appeal to their audience and ask them to review your book on their site and Amazon. You can send them an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) in PDF format. It is important to give book bloggers time to review your book. This strategy works especially well before the book is published. When the book is officially published having a bunch of reviews and pre-orders can help book sales.
5. Create a media contact list.
There are hundreds of podcasts, Facebook Live and other shows that talk about books, authors or topics related to your book. Ask your Facebook friends if they know of any bloggers who may be interested in having you on their show. Do a lot of research in this area.
Always thank the host for having you on their show. Get a link to your interview and share it with our contacts and on your social media channels.
6. Send updates to mailing list of media hits
Authors should share their writing goals with their ambassadors. Ambassadors are people who are part of your book marketing team. These are the people who are part of your pre-book launch campaign. They are excited for you and your book. You will let these people get special pricing for your book and win prizes at your book launch parties. They may also have the chance to see ARC’s.
An author should take care to grow this list. Always ask for contact information. An author could share once a month media placement for their books and links to reviews and interviews.
Mailing lists are a way that authors can engage and interact with their readers.