Extra Extra, Read All About It!

Photo by Kate Trysh on Unsplash

The time has come to pull out that marketing blazer and suit up! 

Now, theres a few ways you can go about creating an effective marketing plan for your book! 

First, Advertise on Social Media

Use what you already have! Facebook is arguably one of the best advertising platforms for authors! You can not only notify your friends and family, but also target specific audiences, from fans of other authors, precise demographics, and specific locations. Even with a low budget of just $5 a day, you can easily test and scale your ads. You can become a marketing guru! 

With Instagram being owned by Facebook, you can also advertise directly onto the platform using visual content. And with social media being what it is, you have the tools to reach millions of people. By using hashtags on Instagram and Twitter, you can engage with possible readers, and even host Q&As for your followers. 

But theres more. Create pins on Pinterest and watch your impressions flourish. Post on LinkedIn and connect with other authors! The world is literally at your fingertips. 

Next Up, Build your Mailing List

Though social media is a giant in itself. Nothing compares to the power of a mailing list. Email marketing is absolutely essential if you want to make it as a self-published author. Theres no way around it! It’s a direct connection between you and your reader.

But yeah, I know what your thinking. It’s the hardest thing of all. To get people to subscribe to your mailing list. It’s another email in their mailbox, and with digital minimalism being a thing, it’s hard to get someone to allow you into their inbox. But theres one simple technique that is known to work wonders! It’s called a ‘lead magnet’.

It’s an offer to your readers, an incentive (like a free ebook, course or giveaway) in exchange for their email address, and bingo! You get accesses! But please, please, don’t take this invite for granted. Don’t bombard them with content, no one wants to see you in their inbox everyday for say 10 days straight *wink* 

Real talk; just be respectful!

And Lastly, Discount/Promotion Advertising

This idea is simple, you give away your book or sell it for a discounted price to gain readers. Book Gorilla, The Fussy Librarian, Freebooksy, BookSends, Bargain Booksy, and Bookbub are excellent places to advertise these promotions. 

There are other options you can explore. Amazon advertising, Google AdWords, Goodreads advertising. You can also look into your metadata and SEO on online stores. Sell your book directly from your webpage, but it can be tricky and in most cases won’t raise your sales by enough to compensate the work you put in! So focus on your mailing list and social media platforms. Tell everyone you can that you wrote a book! There are tons of free ways to get the word out there, so start considering them!

Next, we’ll talk pre-release buzz!