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Tips On How to Market Your Book
You’ve written your book and it’s ready for the world! Now, what happens after the book is published? Shout from the rooftops and let everyone know? How should authors go about marketing and selling it in this digital era? Book marketing can seem reasonably easy. After all, marketing your book should come naturally once you’ve written it right? Well, when it comes to book marketing strategies before you start it’s good to know how to market your book and what things to consider. So let’s dive into how to market a book.
Market Research
First, you’ll want to start off with some market research. Book marketing starts with understanding what’s out there. Depending on where and who your market is there are different book marketing strategies to undertake. But don’t worry if you’re unsure of how to market a book – there’s also book marketing services!
Research Genres
Step one in the market research phase is to have a look and research genres. Where does your book fit in? Marketing your book means balancing the art of making your book stand out with making sure readers interested in your genre find your book.
Research Readers
This is where you then need to research readers. Book marketing involves discovering and speaking to the readers your book would most appeal to. So what are they like? There are book marketing strategies that work better with one audience than with others. Depending on what their interests are marketing your book also involves finding your readers.
Product Research
Although there are many different types of readers and they may not all fit into one category some generalizations can be made. For example, a majority of readers purchase books online. This means that the answer on how to market a book lies online as well. From making sure that your product, in this case, your book is searchable and findable. This type of product research will make it easier for your readers to find your book.
Establish A Presence Online and through Social Media
Beyond the big online stores, book marketing also requires that you establish a presence online. Your book marketing may start with market research, diving into research genre and readers, as well as product research to make sure your book is hitting all of the marks. However, the crucial next step is making sure that you have an online presence to meet them there!
Consumers do the majority of their research online, so a website is the first thing you should focus on, especially one that is easy to read on mobile too. This gives potential readers a place to quickly and easily find all the information they need.
We know you’re probably thinking social media accounts are a great marketing tool, but you never know when a social media platform will change an algorithm or remove content, while your website will allow you to have complete control of what potential customers see.
Instead, be strategic and selective with social media. Depending on the content of your book, choose the networks where your audience hangs out. For instance, if your book is catered to business professionals, LinkedIn may be best, followed by Facebook and possibly Twitter depending on the industry. If you created a graphic novel or any other type of book that is very visual, you may want to start with one of the more visual platforms, such as Instagram and Pinterest.
Joining online forums and groups that are relevant to your topic can also find those who would enjoy your book and become an easy sell. However, this is something that should be authentic after you’ve actively participated in the group without promoting your book. Allow natural connections to be made and build your reputation as a serious author on a subject or genre.
Begin Advertising Online
Once you establish a presence online your next step in book marketing is to begin advertising online. While having your presence helps marketing your book readers still need to find their way to you! When you begin advertising online you can get your book in front of more people.
Advertising on Amazon and Facebook
If you’re wondering how to market a book online the first step is advertising on Amazon and Facebook. These two platforms with strong book marketing strategies will make it easy for your readers to find you!
If you want Amazon to recommend your publication to others, it’s crucial to get good reviews from your early customers. A decent number of genuine reviews under any book adds credibility. Readers who purchased your book sometimes need to be reminded to help out by leaving a review so don’t be shy!
BookTubers on YouTube
Do you know what a BookTuber is? You can probably guess, but it’s a community on YouTube for book lovers! Many of these BookTubers are sent a free copy of a book in their preferred genre and then give it an honest review. This can potentially reach millions in your audience!
You can even make your own BookTuber video talking about the process of researching the book, giving your personal take on the story, or just talking to your audience about how they can get their own copy and how much you’d like to hear their opinion. This is a very supportive community that appreciates the struggle of making good books known to the world.
With so much to do, start today and chat with one of our team members about how to market your book with our help!
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