Use your book as a marketing tool to grow your business!
Few authors make a livable income from selling their books alone (including me!). However, there are many ways having written a book allows you to make more money, by attracting new clients, growing your business or brand, and positioning yourself as an authority — which will lead to you raising your prices for your services.
You may come to see that writing your book is the easy part, and it’s the marketing and selling it which can be difficult and sometimes frustrating.
Using your book as a marketing tool to serve yourself and your business, and marketing your book to sell copies are two separate things and you should approach them differently.
An example of using your book as a marketing tool is if you use the fact that you’re a published author in the industry as a selling point or credential to land a speaking engagement.
An example of marketing your book for sales is bringing copies of your book to a conference, book fair, or speaking engagement and selling copies to attendees while there.
Marketing your book can sometimes feel like a second job, but it’s an important aspect in book publishing, no matter how you choose to publish! If you go with traditional publishing, the publisher will have ways to market your book, but it will still be up to you to do a lot of your own marketing, too.
Having written a book allows you to:
- Launch or further your personal brand (or that of your company).
- Position yourself as a thought leader and an expert in your field.
- Give yourself an immediate perception of authority, credibility, and legitimacy.
- Attract clients and act as a lead generator, which helps you sell more products or services.
- Provide a straightforward way to educate people on your industry or topic.
- Create a passive income stream.
- Launch or grow a business.
- Provide more opportunities for media and publicity.
- Open doors for getting into public speaking or consulting.
24 Book Marketing Ideas
Here is a list of 24 marketing ideas. Hopefully, this list will spark some ideas and inspiration in you and you may come up with new ideas I’d never think of!
- Create an opt-in within your book to add to your mailing list (see chapter six for more on this).
- Use HARO and PodcastGuests to be featured in articles and podcasts.
- Run a preorder campaign before you launch.
- Create a Goodreads account and connect your book to your name there.
- Write an article on LinkedIn.
- Write a blog post on your personal blog.
- Do some guest posts on other people’s blogs.
- Announce your book to your email lists.
- Update your website with your new book and a link to purchase.
- Create targeted ads on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
- Run a Google AdWords campaign.
- Write and distribute a press release.
- Do livestreams on Facebook or YouTube with Q&As and talk about your book and the writing process
- Do a Reddit AMA (“Ask Me Anything”).
- Host a book launch party.
- Do book signings at local bookstores or libraries.
- Make simple graphics on sites like Canva to post on various social media platforms.
- Submit your book to websites that do editorial reviews.
- Send your book to individual reviewers who post on their own platforms.
- Put an excerpt of a chapter or two on Wattpad and include a link to purchase the rest.
- Do a giveaway.
- Try a Kindle Countdown deal (price promotion) or use other Amazon promotional tools available to you through KDP (if you enrolled in KDP Select).
- Be a speaker at an event or conference (and bring copies of your book to sell).
- Attend book fairs, festivals, and conferences (you can even purchase a booth and bring plenty of copies to sell).
Get creative and think about how you can get your book or information about you in front of a wider audience. These are only some of the ways you can market and advertise your book, and I know you’ll be able to come up with many more.
It’s up to you whether you choose to use your book as a marketing tool or market your book at all. Just know that being a published author can serve you well in your life and business.
Check out my book Concept to Conclusion: How to Write a Book and learn everything you need to know to conceive of, outline, write, publish, and market a book! Or check out my first-ever beautifully illustrated kid’s book I Love You Bigger Than All The Stars In The Sky.
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Just signed up for Wattpad and am looking forward to using it as a writer.