Should You Work With Book Promoters?
by Mary Kole | Former literary agent, now a freelance editor, writing teacher, and IP/story developer for major publishers and creators.
As a writer, you’re likely familiar with the term “book promotion”, as well as with book promoters, the people who execute marketing and PR (public relations) on behalf of their clients. When you realize that so much of being a published author is marketing, your first thought may be to hire book promoters. Book promoters can take the stress and uncertainty out of marketing your own work. However, there are some essential things that all writers should know before working with book promoters, publicists, or marketers. Let’s take a look at what these key points are so you can make an informed decision about whether or not hiring book promoters for your marketing efforts is the right option for your writing career.
Understand Your Goals for Working with Book Promoters
Before hiring book promoters, marketers, or a public relations agency, it’s important that you understand your goals and objectives for marketing your book. Whether it is to increase sales or create awareness of your book, having clear goals will help you determine if hiring a book promoter is the right decision for your situation. It will also give the book promoters something to work towards and provide them with direction on how best to market your book. You should also have a bare minimum goal for what any given campaign or publicity push will achieve. Just like with a character objective, if you don’t know what you want, or what your KPI (key performance indicators) are, how will you know if you’ve achieved what you set out to do?
Research Book Promoters
Not all book promoters or book marketing services are created equal. Before hiring any individual or company, do your research and find out more about their experience in the industry, as well as their track record of success in promoting books like yours. Not all marketers are created equal, and not all specialize in every category, genre, or target audience. Do they consider themselves as PR (public relations) professionals, and have contacts within traditional media outlets such as newspapers or radio stations? Are they knowledgeable about online marketing tactics such as search engine optimization (SEO) or leveraging social media for writers? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you determine if your intended service provider is someone who can effectively promote your work and get it in front of its intended audience. To do that, again, you must know who you’re targeting and what you want out of any campaign.
Book Promoters’ Fees and Services
Once you have identified potential book promoters, reach out and discuss fees and services offered by each one individually. You will be surprised by how much a lot of marketing services cost. There is also generally no guarantee of results. That’s why you need to do a lot of research into book promoters and strategies before pulling the trigger on engaging a professional. The more prepared you are, the better they can help you. They have the contacts and experience, but you should have the vision.
If you discuss book marketing services and fees ahead of time, and get a client agreement in writing, you will make sure there are no misunderstandings down the line regarding what services are included in their fee structure and what services they may offer at additional cost. Ask your potential book promoters questions regarding timelines, expectations, strategies, deliverables, etc., so that everyone is on the same page before writing any checks. If any book promoters don’t seem confident asking questions, do not go with them. Intuition is a big part of hiring any kind of consultant or service provider.
When done correctly, working with professional book promoters can be beneficial for any writer looking to create awareness around their work or increase sales of their books. However, there are some key points that must be considered before making this decision—understanding writing career goals, researching promoters, and discussing fees/services—for this effort to be successful and worth the investment of time and money. By doing due diligence prior to signing any contracts or agreements with a promotion service provider, you can rest assured knowing you’ve made an informed decision about how best to promote your work and get it into the hands of readers everywhere.
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