The journey of publishing and marketing a book is as exciting as it is complex. By the time you’re at the stage of promoting your book, you’ve already spent a lot of time with your manuscript: first crafting it, then copyediting and/or proofreading it, then you made it look lovely through typesetting, and you might have even had it translated into other languages. You’ve come this far… but there’s one more step to complete on your way to literary stardom. It’s time to give the final push and market your book.
In this article, we’ll explore together a number of strategies to promote your book once it’s finalised. It doesn’t matter if you’re a first-time author or if you’ve been through this journey many times before, we’re sure that these tips will help you connect with diverse audiences and make your book a total success.
1. Invoke the mighty power of social media
The number of people around the globe who use social media in 2023 is an astonishing 5 billion. Even if only a tiny fraction of those 5 billion people ever come across your social media content, that’s already a huge number of potential readers that you could reach through different channels, like Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. The key is to create engaging posts with valuable content, relevant hashtags, and engaging visuals to increase your reach. Expert tip: authentic, short-form video content is king in 2023.
The universe of social media is vast and always in flux. If you need a hand creating a social media strategy (and sticking with it) to craft the unique content that you need to promote your book, head to our marketing service page to find out how we can help.
2. Gather reviews and testimonials
Authentic and honest reviews from real readers give your book public validation. How often have you visited Goodreads or checked buyer reviews on Amazon before you decided whether or not to buy a book? You should encourage your readers to write a review of your book on popular platforms, or even on their own blogs or social media channels, especially right after your book is released. Consider also reaching out to colleagues and asking for their honest feedback and testimonials, which you can then publish on your site, to give you more credibility and persuade potential buyers to finally click on “Buy”.
3. Organise a book launch and other online events
Some authors are more of the shy type and prefer to stay behind the scenes, and perhaps you’re one of them, but you should consider organizing a book launch event to give you and your latest book more visibility. You can organize an in-person event at your local bookshop or library, or a live online event that can be accessed on streaming platforms or social media channels. During the event, you can share excerpts of the book, organize a Q&A with the attendees, host an online quiz or contest, or even invite a guest author to co-host the event, connecting you with a broader audience.
If you enjoy the experience, you can turn it into a recurrent event and organize webinars from time to time to update your readers on the success of the book, give them a sneak peek into the work you’re currently doing, and much more. Digital discussions are a brilliant marketing tool that helps you increase your visibility and nurture a personal connection with your readers.
4. Create a website…
In our ever-changing digital world, establishing a personal online presence has become essential for most individuals who want to do any kind of business today, and this includes authors. Your website is an excellent way to get your readers to know you better, to showcase your portfolio if you already have one, and, of course, to promote your shiny new book! If you never had a website, it’s time to create it, and if you already have it, it’s probably a good idea to give it a revamp to infuse some life into it and engage your audience. And don’t forget to add a blog! Not sure whether you actually need a blog? Scroll down to find out.
5. And optimize it for SEO
Some authors are more of the shy type and prefer to stay behind the scenes, and perhaps you’re one of them, but you should consider organizing a book launch event to give you and your latest book more visibility. You can organize an in-person event at your local bookshop or library, or a live online event that can be accessed on streaming platforms or social media channels. During the event, you can share excerpts of the book, organize a Q&A with the attendees, host an online quiz or contest, or even invite a guest author to co-host the event, connecting you with a broader audience.
If you enjoy the experience, you can turn it into a recurrent event and organize webinars from time to time to update your readers on the success of the book, give them a sneak peek into the work you’re currently doing, and much more. Digital discussions are a brilliant marketing tool that helps you increase your visibility and nurture a personal connection with your readers.
6. Start a blog
Adding a blog to your website brings many benefits, from SEO to brand awareness, lead generation, engagement, and more. It might well be the most cost-effective marketing tool you have. And although maintaining a blog can seem like an overwhelming task at first, all you need is a handful of high-quality blog posts per quarter to keep your readers and the search engines interested and begin driving organic traffic to your site, which will ultimately widen your reach and that of your book.
You can publish posts related to the topic of your book, behind-the-scenes about how your book came to be, guest posts with fellow authors, reader Q&As, personal entries talking about life events that inspired you to write, etc. Don’t forget to share these blog posts on social media to drive even more traffic to your site, which will help you build your brand and establish yourself in your niche over time.
Are you out of inspiration? You can hire our professional marketing services and we’ll take good care of crafting a series of posts and articles for your website. Visit our marketing service for more information.
7. Email marketing
Email marketing is another excellent marketing tool for you as an author. It allows you to build mailing lists of readers who are interested in knowing more about you and your work, and this, in turn, gives those readers a little window into interesting content, promotions, upcoming releases, and more. This fosters a special connection with your readers that goes beyond your books.
To make it happen, your email newsletters need to be carefully crafted; they should feel and sound professional, seasoned with a dash of enthusiasm and a bit of mystery. Your newsletters should be captivating enough to motivate your readers to click the call to action. To make this happen, your emails should contain great copy – we can definitely help with our marketing service.
8. Paid advertising
We cannot wrap up this list without mentioning paid advertising. A paid advertising campaign with killer copy on platforms like Amazon, BookBub or Google Ads can go a long way. While other initiatives, like social media posts, blogging, or email marketing, don’t always target a specific audience, paid advertising gives you the possibility to target readers based on their demographics and preferences. You’ll need to invest not just time, but also some money, in a well-executed paid advertising campaign, but the benefits can be substantial. There are a lot of potential readers out there looking for their next great read; captivate them with a strategically designed paid advertising campaign while you foster the loyalty of your existing reader base. And if you’re not sure about how to do this, ask us!
To wrap things up
Promoting your book is a multi-step journey that combines a series of strategies. We’ve discussed mostly online strategies here, but there are dozens more online and offline initiatives you could put into motion on your way to literary success, which we’ll come back to soon. Marketing your book is also an evolving process that requires constant attention and input along the way.
The objective is to keep your readership interested, connected, and engaged while you reach out to new readers and new markets, and this is possible when you apply the right strategies and carefully curate your copy across all your different marketing efforts. Your input is crucial, but remember that you’re not alone in this journey: our professional marketing services are always available to you. Read more about our marketing service and drop us a line to discover how we can help.
