Marketing your book won’t happen overnight. It takes time and planning to get solid, steady sales of your book and e-book. It doesn’t matter in what genre you are writing, or whether it is fiction or non-fiction. Without planning, your marketing will be haphazard—and so will your sales results.
Here are ten steps to take today to increase your book sales in 2017.
- Write down your plan now—and follow it. Who should you contact for speaking engagements? When will you do e-book promotions? Are there book festivals or other events where you would like to have a booth? How often will you Tweet, blog or post to other social media? Mark it on the calendar now.
- E-book promotions are easy and inexpensive. Make a list of where you will advertise your promotion, and the dates that you can promote; .99 cent promotion are a great way to raise awareness of your book.
- Whether or not your book is published yet, start today to tell everyone about it. Begin with friends and family. Mention it in your holiday newsletter. Post it on Facebook. Talk about it at holiday parties. You never know who you will meet who might want to buy your book.
- Get business cards or postcards made. Business cards have the advantage of easily fitting in your pocket. Put a jpeg of the book cover on one side and the Amazon link to your book on the other, as well as your contact information. Then, when someone asks what you do, hand them a card.
- While you are talking about your book with friends and family, ask them not only to buy it, but to put a review on Amazon. The more reviews you have, the better.
- Look for like-minded bloggers and ask to guest blog on their site. Be sure to reciprocate.
- If you aren’t tweeting already, set up your Twitter account and learn how to tweet.
- If you are just publishing a book, particularly if it is your first book, plan a book launch event. This takes time and organization. Give yourself several weeks to plan a successful launch.
- Send your book to experts for reviews. Place the reviews on your website as soon as you receive them.
- Develop a media kit—and use it! Send it to local media. Maybe you can get a feature article. If you have a speaking engagement or other event coming up, research the media in that area and with your basic media kit, add a press release about the specific event.
Of course, there are a lot of other things that you can do to market your book. These are just a few of the basics to get you started.
If you would like to learn more about book marketing, plan to attend the 2017 Winter Writers’ Weekend, March 3-5 at the Logan Inn in New Hope, PA.