Writing a book is a big accomplishment. Most likely, your book will be the work of months or years, and as such you’ll want to show it off to the world.
However, many people think the battle is over once their book is published, and then start wondering after weeks of silence why nobody is reading their book. Is it too boring? Am I a bad writer? Why isn’t it flying off the shelves? The pride of your achievement might be dulled by less than stellar sales results.
Never fear, people do want to read your book, but getting it into their hands is something you need to be clever about.
Even if your book is the next big hit, if people don’t know about it, it won’t fly off the shelves or get thousands of downloads on Amazon. A strong marketing strategy is what you need to make the most of your literary creation.
Here are the steps you need to think about when marketing your book to get it into the hands of your readers:
Strategise carefully
I know, producing a book is a stressful and all-consuming task, but you need to take the time to develop a marketing strategy. In fact, you should be thinking about marketing from the moment you write your first word. Trust me, it will pay off in the long run.
Your strategy should be based on what your objectives are. Do you want to make money from selling your book? Are you going to use it as a tool to be seen as an expert? Are you hoping it will create new business opportunities for you? Whatever they are, your strategy needs to start here.
This is also where the target audience comes into play. When you were planning and writing your book, you probably already had an idea of who you’d like to sell it to, so you’re ahead of the game. Your strategy should also include time frames and measureable targets—for instance, “By the end of the first six months I want to have sold 1,000 books.”
Identify your niche
While you may have identified your audience in the initial planning and writing phase, you need to dig a little deeper and understand their habits, who they are and how they consume information.
It is these insights which are going to help you develop tactics that will hopefully put your book in their hands. For instance, if you’re targeting those in the fashion industry, think about partnering with a popular fashion blogger and doing a book giveaway.
Promote yourself ahead of time
Before your book is even launched, start building your profile so your audience becomes familiar with who you are. Launching a book isn’t enough these days to put you on the map or build trust; you need a solid profile. Your book will resonate much more strongly if you’ve already built trust and credibility.
You can do this a number of ways. For instance, pitch yourself as an expert to journalists, develop a personal website, start blogging, get on social media—just make sure everything you do is related to your book and your audience.
Dig out the distribution database
Will your book be on Amazon, iTunes or in book stores? Think about how people will get a copy of your book.
I spent about 12 months building a database through free offers, Facebook ads and lead magnets on my websites and blogs, knowing that a database is key to my Unknown To Expert business model.
When I launched my book, From Unknown To Expert, I offered my database a copy of my book for free for a limited time, and I offered other products that related to the book.
Another idea is to think about other organisations or people with customer bases similar to your target audience and see if you can do a deal about offering your book to their customer base.
Continual promotion is the key
It’s normal for a new book to get the most attention when it’s just published, but marketing a book is a long term activity.
Use PR, social media, speaking, add it to your bio, give it out at networking events—keep looking for ways to get your book into the hands of the audience that matters to you. Create scarcity, but also do free book offers or bonus offers to keep interest piqued. Or maybe offer discounts at certain times, like the end of the financial year.
Having your book published is a major life achievement. Ensure you make the most of the opportunity and have in place a marketing plan that will help get your book read by the people that matter to you.
Sydney Public Relations Agency, CP Communications provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that get amazing results. Contact us today. For more great tips visit our website www.cpcommunications.com.au.
