Writers write, and many of us would be more than happy to stay in that cozy little corner and let the experts take care of the scary stuff, like marketing.

But today, whether you’re a self-published author or signed with a major publisher, you’ll need at leastsomemarketing savvy to show on your part. The good news is, there’s nothing to be scared of—but it will take effort.

In this post, we’ll show you everything you need to know about marketing a book, and the tools that will help you get the job done.

How to Market a Book

Follow these 11 steps for a successful book marketing strategy.

1. Do thorough market research.

Market researchis something you should be actively working on before you even start writing your book. That is, you should have a pretty concrete idea of the kind of book you want to write, as well as who would be interested in reading it.

Your answers to these questions will guide your writing and the marketing strategies you’ll use to promote your book.

You’ll want to research the following:

Genres

Understand the conventions of your chosen genre. After all, genres offer guidelines for reader expectations, and when it comes to those expectations, surprises are rarely a good thing.

For example, if you’re going to write a romance novel, you don’t need to craft a cookie-cutter story, but you should respect the conventions of that genre, which include a generally happy ending. (So if you choose to have your two leading lovers die tragically at the end of the book, that’s fine, butdon’tmarket it as a romance and throw readers for a loop. Sell it as a drama or tragedy, instead.)

Search for comparable, best-selling titles within the genre you’ve chosen. Take some time to study what they have in common as far as their content, titles, descriptions, and even book covers. Keep notes of what you observe so you can come back to these important details later.

Target Audience

Once you have a solid idea of the kind of book you want to write, it’s time to learn more about the people who would read it.

Study reader profiles on Goodreads to learn more about your target audience’s demographics, including their gender, age, income level, their reading habits, where they buy books, and other common interests.

Filling in these details will give you a reader profile that will help guide the rest of your marketing decisions and strategies.

2. Make a plan and start early.

Create a detailed marketing plan before you even finish writing your book. Don’t think that this is something you can wing and pull together at the last minute!

事实上,最好是开始推广你的书基于“增大化现实”技术ound 6–12 months before your planned launch. (For a more detailed strategy, check out our post onhow to start marketing your book early.)

Your ideal marketing plan will vary depending on your book, but you’ll definitely want to have at least some sort of timeline planned out to help you stay on track.

3. Grow your online presence.

Build and optimize an author website. Set up anauthor websiteas soon as you can, well before your book’s release. This is essential, as it will serve as a main hub for all things related to you and your book. You can use your website to easily connect readers to your social media profiles, your email list, and of course, your books.

You should also use your website as a blog, where you post valuable content (depending on your audience, this could be informative, entertaining, or insightful), and engage with your readers. Read more about how you canblog your bookto build your author platform.

From your website, your readers should easily be able to sign up for your mailing list. (If you don’t have an email list yet,start one!) Your email subscribers will be an invaluable resource when it comes to spreading the word about your book and even getting reviews.

In addition to your website, you’ll want tobuild a social media presence—but use it wisely! That means using Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to connect and engage with your followers, but don’t let it zap your productivity. Know when it’s time to turn off notifications for a while and get back to writing or working on your marketing plan.

4. Learn the ins and outs of Amazon.

Even if Amazon isn’t the only retailer you’ll be using, most likely you’ll still make a good bulk of your sales through them, which is why it’s so important that you’re set up for success.

Set up your book page with a captivatingbook descriptionthat will sell your book. (For help with this, look back to your market research and see what kinds of descriptions have succeeded in the past.)

Build yourauthor profile pageand add a well-writtenauthor bio. Be sure to include a call to action at the end of your bio that asks readers to sign up for your newsletter or visit your website.

Thoroughkeyword researchand the rightcategorieswill also be key to your success on Amazon, so be sure to study both of these topics so you understand how to use these tools.

5. Run ads and promotions.

Familiarize yourself with important advertising and promotional tools, including ads on Amazon and Facebook, and promotions like Kindle Countdown Deals.

Amazon adsare displayed on the product pages of other books, and also in the search results when shoppers are browsing. You can choose to use product display ads, which require you to target individual books, or sponsored产品广告,让作者keywo目标rds for their book.

You can learn more abouthow to use Amazon book adsin our interview with bestselling author Derek Doepker.

Facebook adsappear on Facebook and can be used to sell your book directly, and they can also be a powerful tool foradvertising your email listto get more subscribers.

BookBub adsappear at the bottom of BookBub’s Featured Deals newsletter emails. Advertisers can target readers based on their author interests, preferred categories, geographic location, and favorite retailers, and choose between PPC (pay-per-click) and CPM (cost-per-thousand-impressions) ads. Learn more in ourBookBub ads tutorial.

Of course, BookBub also runs promotions, where authors can submit the details of their price promotion for a chance to be featured in BookBub’s Featured Deals newsletters, which reach thousands of readers.

Similarly, withKindle Countdown Deals, authors can put their books on sale in the Kindle Store for a set period of time, showing audiences the huge savings that are on the line and reminding them time is running out. To participate, your book needs to be exclusive to the Amazon Kindle store (and not published on iBooks, Nook, Kobo, Google Play, or anywhere else). Learn more in ourKindle Countdown Deals tutorial.

Check out this list ofbook promotion sitesfor more options.

6. Get book reviews.

Book reviews are critical to the success of your book. Many readers look to a book’s reviews on Amazon or Goodreads before deciding whether or not to buy the book.

Actively seeking book reviews should be an ongoing effort. Before your book is released, you can send out some advanced copies to friends, colleagues, or fans and ask them kindly to write a review.

This effort should continue once your book is released, and even in the months and years after. Your book could have 50 stellar reviews on Amazon, but if they’re all from 2 years ago and older, that could signal to shoppers that your book is dated, so be sure you get consistent reviews.

For tips and a template for emails you can actually send, check out our post onhow to get book reviews.

7. Schedule virtual tours and do interviews.

Okay, so you may find it a bit challenging to book a signing tour of Barnes & Noble stores across the country unless you’re already aNYT畅销书,或名人是谁写了cookbook. But that doesn’t mean you can’t plan a successful book tour!

Virtual book toursandblog toursare just two of the ways you can get exposure for your book and your author platform by reaching hundreds and even thousands of people (that’s much more than can fit in a Barnes & Noble!).

Of course, you can still work with book shops to organize in-person events as well. Learn more in our guide tohosting a book signing.

8. Create a book trailer.

Trailers aren’t just for movies—you can make them for your books, too!Book trailerscan be great tools for fiction and nonfiction books alike, you just have to find the best way to communicate your book’s idea and the value it will give readers.

The reason these trailers are so effective is that they are easy to share on social media, and they’re more engaging than simply posting a synopsis to Twitter or Facebook.

For inspiration, check out these10 examples of effective book trailers.

9. Build a fan base.

No matter how “unknown” you may feel, it’s never too late (or too early) to start building a fan base.

To do this, you’ll need to frequently engage with your readers. Talk to them online, answer their questions, comment on their fan-fiction—you can even ask them for ideas and poll them on what your hero should do next.

Do what you can to create a following that’s rooted in both your work and your personality. Once you’ve built up a fan base, you can ask their help inassembling a street teamto help you promote your book.

10. Measure results.

Whenever possible, try to find ways to track the results of your efforts so you can figure out what’s working and what isn’t.

This goes for ad campaigns, social media posts, promotions, and everything else you can think of. If you see that your target audience responds well to something, definitely keep doing more of that. For more on tracking your Amazon sales, learnhow to create a universal Amazon affiliate link.

11. Keep it up.

It’s not enough to focus all of your marketing budget and efforts on the weeks surrounding your book’s launch. Most of these steps are things you’ll need to work at consistently, even after your book has been published.

And since social media and marketing strategies are always evolving, it’s important to keep studying and stay informed. Try reading up on thetop marketing books, and make use of helpfulmarketing toolsto make sure your plans run smoothly.

How Do I Promote My Book?

The efforts that publishers put into marketing their books can vary greatly. If you’ve been picked up by one of the Big Five, you’ll certainly have more connections and resources at your disposal, but that doesn’t mean that traditional publishers will doeverythingfor you.

It’s still ultimately up to authors to build their platform and grow their base, and that’s just the minimum. With smaller, independent publishers, it can still vary, but those that do invest a good deal in marketing tend to be pretty hands-on.

For example, at TCK Publishing, we help our authors schedule promotions, grow their email lists (and use our own), seek reviews, and more.

If you’re deciding whether or not to sign with a publisher, definitely ask them how much and what exactly they’ll do (if anything) to help you market your book, so at least you know what to expect. In any case, though, it’s best to learn as much as you can about these strategies so you can stay involved and monitor progress.

More Book Marketing Tips

No matter which publishing route you pursue, take some time to learn more about these marketing strategies so you can ensure you’re on the right path with your book.

For more tips on getting publicity for your book and your author platform, check out our post onhow to get book publicity.

Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!

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