Tips for How to Market a Book
by Mary Kole | Former literary agent, now a freelance editor, writing teacher, and IP/story developer for major publishers and creators.
So you’ve written your book, and now it’s time to figure out the daunting next step: how to market a book. That’s where this guide comes in. In this article, I’ll be exploring the various ways that you can learn how to market a book effectively so that you can get your work into the hands of readers, generate book sales, and start collecting your own network of readers who will eagerly follow all of your future efforts.
How to Market a Book: Create a Website or Blog
The first step in learning how to market a book is to create an online presence. This can be done by creating a website or blog for yourself, as well as setting up social media for writers accounts on sites such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. You could even try using LinkedIn, which can have some professional applications, especially for writers of nonfiction. This will allow people to easily find information about you and your book. Additionally, having an online presence gives you more control over how people perceive and interact with your work.
Start Developing an Audience
Once you have established an online presence for yourself and your work, the next step in how to market a book is to start building a target audience who will be interested in reading and promoting it. There are several ways that you can do this—one way is by joining writing groups or forums related to your genre or topic and engaging with other writers who may be interested in reading and reviewing your book. You might even try to engage with some well-known reviewers for an influencer marketing campaign.
You can also use a social media platform for writers to connect with potential readers; post excerpts from the book or share interesting tidbits about the research process behind it. Lastly, don’t forget about traditional methods like public relations outreach to traditional media outlets, interviews, and word of mouth—these still remain effective ways of getting more eyes on the book.
How to Market a Book: Plan Your Launch Strategy
Once you have built up some anticipation for the release of your book, the next step in how to market a book is planning a book launch strategy. Decide when the ideal time would be for releasing the book (e.g., near major holidays, if your book has the potential to be leveraged as a gift) so that it gets maximum exposure. Think about whether offering discounts would be advantageous, or running a free promotion. Create promotional materials, such as press releases or paper swag like bookmarks and book plates. Devise giveaways for readers and run them on social media. All these actions should ensure that when the book is released, and your efforts for how to market a book will go off without a hitch.
Learning how to market a book is no easy feat—but if done correctly, it can be immensely rewarding. With enough planning and effort put into developing an online presence and audience base before the launch date arrives, you should see great success once readers begin getting their hands on copies of the work. Not only will you maximize book sales, but you will grow your target audience, which will be hungry for all future releases you do.
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