Think About Book Marketing As Soon As You Can
IT IS NEVER TO LATE TO START
MARKETING IS THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL BOOK SALES
Marketing is the bane of many authors’ existence. However, marketing can be fun if you make it a game or a challenge. Start small make a commitment to 10 sales, 100 sales, or 1,000 sales a week, month, or quarter. Set your intention and go after it. Take one creative action every day. Think of it as an opportunity to learn more and become a better professional author and/or business person.
If you want to have long-term success as an author you are going to have to learn a few marketing skills.
“But can’t I just hire someone you moan!” Yes, you can hire someone but no one can sell your book as well as you can. You know the material inside and out. You can answer any unexpected or compelling questions that might come up, and you can probably answer better than anyone else.
MARKETING CHECKLIST
To get you started here is a quick marketing checklist with 12 activities that you can engage in to get you started on your way to success:
1. Develop a marketing budget. What or how much are you willing to invest to promote your book? Is it $500, $2,000, or even $5,000 what is your BIG bodacious goal?
2. Identify current resources you have available to you for promoting your book. Family, Friends, Associates, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, current customer list, professional groups you belong to that would be willing to buy or promote to their list, local media connections, associations, community organizations, and the like.
3. Be sure to add “Call To Actions” throughout your book so that you can maintain a relationship with your reader. What do you want them to do next? Email you, engage in a consultation, go to your website, follow you on social media, visit your course promotion page, or something else. Write up a list of things you want the reader to do after they read your book then feed them into your chapters at appropriate moments.
4. Reserve the URL for your book title or something close (or maybe you just secure authoryourname.com or booksbyyourname.com).
5. Set up a lead capture page to get your reader’s email and where you can offer appropriate book bonuses that accompany your book. This might be your own 5, 7, or 10 steps to a solution, a journal, a workbook, an ebook, or a free giveaway or contest where they get a chance to win an inexpensive gift that relates to your topic. This can offer an additional enticement for people to purchase your book. You will want to have a way to follow up with these new leads once they submit their information. There are many expensive and inexpensive technologies available to automate this process.
6. Have a professional cover designed for your book that is easy to read and eye-catching for potential readers then create some posts or generic social media graphics to use in promotions and marketing.
7. Determine the price of your book. Consider offering it at a discount at the time of your launch to drive sales and increase the likelihood of getting to best-seller status.
8. Develop your pre-launch and official launch campaign. Consider a pre-release ebook launch within Amazon as appropriate.
9. Map your plan out day by day. Consider various promotional methods: develop an e-mail series with enticing subject lines, create a series of video promotions, or have someone take a photo of you holding your book in your hands (this can easily be created by printing out your cover and wrapping it around another book).
10. Look at all the different marketing options (google Book Marketing Strategies and see what others are doing, check out blogs, articles, or just other author promotions that catch your eye, and take a screenshot or photo with your phone) for future reference.
11. Consider the four P’s of Marketing (Product, Pricing, Placement, and Promotion) and create a marketing and sales funnel?
12. It is a good idea to develop at least three strategies for marketing your book. If you aren’t sure, utilize someone who specializes in this area and can manage your launch campaign and lead capture.
Cheers to you becoming the best-selling author that you deserve to be. Share your knowledge with the world start today so you can profit tomorrow!
I wish you nothing but good fortune. Marketing and distribution strategies are the best ways of getting your best-seller into the hands of many. They are the keys to getting qualified clients seeking your expertise and your services or products.
I will discuss the many different distribution outlets in future articles. If anywhere along the way you find you need a little help, just contact me and I will be happy to assist you.
Remember to email publish@lizlawess.com if you have questions or if you want me to address a particular marketing or distribution strategy in a future article.