Three Ways Authors Can Market their Own Books
You can do some marketing and promotion for your book without spending a fortune. Here are three tips for promoting your book and building your marketing platform.
Tip #1 Get the Maximum Mileage out of FREE Social Media
I know time is money, right? Are you using social media to the fullest? If you're not on social media, you should get it moving. Social media doesn't cost money just time and effort. Have fun with it. Create a fan or personal page. Go on once in the morning and post and once in the evening and post. Make sure you're consistent and do it. Post links related to your book (e.g., book reviews and interviews) and keep building your community. The more exposure your book gets the more people will "follow" or connect with you, and the more people connect with you the more exposure for your promotional efforts. But with the price tag of free is simply the best and most economical way to promote your book.
Tip #2 Start blogging and tie it to social media
Use another FREE service like this one (Blogger). Have a graphic designer produce a banner or heading for it, and then use it to create your look and feel. Graphic design fees and your time is all this costs. Your time will be spent blogging daily. Yes, daily! Blogs that are not regularly updated look abandoned. Make sure you blog at least once a day and create a theme to your blog. Mine is business, marketing, publishing, storytelling, and inspirational ideas for better living. You will find that if you develop themes, ideas will come to you. For books, your themes should be based on the ideas or concepts from the books. If your book is a romance, for example, create a blog that deals in issues of personal relationships. Make sure your blog posts to social media to get maximum exposure and pull in an audience.
Tip #3 Start a newsletter and use a service like Constant Contact for distribution
A newsletter over time when consistently arriving in people's in-boxes will produce results. Whether it's more book sales or overall interest in your career and what you're doing, it always works. Write a weekly newsletter and like your blog, be consistent. Don't start, stop, start ... you can't build readership that way. Do it every week.
Tip #4 Networking
Tip #4 answers tip #3's inherent question: how do I build a mailing list for my newsletter. Go out and network and build a mailing list using people's cards. Always ask permission of your subscribers or you'll get Spam Alerts. Be respectful, ask and most people will say yes or simply say, "Can I add you to my newsletter." And make sure you use an easy "unsubscribe" button.
Tip #1 Get the Maximum Mileage out of FREE Social Media
I know time is money, right? Are you using social media to the fullest? If you're not on social media, you should get it moving. Social media doesn't cost money just time and effort. Have fun with it. Create a fan or personal page. Go on once in the morning and post and once in the evening and post. Make sure you're consistent and do it. Post links related to your book (e.g., book reviews and interviews) and keep building your community. The more exposure your book gets the more people will "follow" or connect with you, and the more people connect with you the more exposure for your promotional efforts. But with the price tag of free is simply the best and most economical way to promote your book.
Tip #2 Start blogging and tie it to social media
Use another FREE service like this one (Blogger). Have a graphic designer produce a banner or heading for it, and then use it to create your look and feel. Graphic design fees and your time is all this costs. Your time will be spent blogging daily. Yes, daily! Blogs that are not regularly updated look abandoned. Make sure you blog at least once a day and create a theme to your blog. Mine is business, marketing, publishing, storytelling, and inspirational ideas for better living. You will find that if you develop themes, ideas will come to you. For books, your themes should be based on the ideas or concepts from the books. If your book is a romance, for example, create a blog that deals in issues of personal relationships. Make sure your blog posts to social media to get maximum exposure and pull in an audience.
Tip #3 Start a newsletter and use a service like Constant Contact for distribution
A newsletter over time when consistently arriving in people's in-boxes will produce results. Whether it's more book sales or overall interest in your career and what you're doing, it always works. Write a weekly newsletter and like your blog, be consistent. Don't start, stop, start ... you can't build readership that way. Do it every week.
Tip #4 Networking
Tip #4 answers tip #3's inherent question: how do I build a mailing list for my newsletter. Go out and network and build a mailing list using people's cards. Always ask permission of your subscribers or you'll get Spam Alerts. Be respectful, ask and most people will say yes or simply say, "Can I add you to my newsletter." And make sure you use an easy "unsubscribe" button.
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