There’s a lot to think about when it comes to marketing your book. Do you need an on-line presence? How will you create a buzz about your book? What can you do to get people interested in purchasing it? The whole subject can be a bit daunting.
Do you need an on-line presence? I’d answer this question with a big YES. Social media sites like blogs, Facebook, Google + and Twitter offer authors a great way to network. You’ll not only meet tons of interesting people, you’ll make connections. You’ll be able to watch what others do and decide which of these techniques are right for your book. Not to mention, if you have an on-line presence, you’ll have people who know you and will be interested in participating in your book launch and giveaways.
Do remember that social media is a way to network and meet interesting people. There’s nothing more annoying than accepting a friend request or following someone and suddenly getting hit with a ton of requests asking me to buy something. Build relationships with your friends and followers by commenting on posts you find interesting and retweeting updates you think others might enjoy.
How will you create a buzz about your book? Well, if you have an on-line presence before your book is released, you can share your journey from idea to publication on your blog. You can tell your friends on Facebook what stage in the process you are at. You can tweet to your followers how revisions are going. You’ll have people who can’t wait to see your cover reveal and are excited about attending your book launch. They may tell their followers. Your potential reach is limitless.
Sites like GoodReads, Amazon and Barnes and Noble offer a way for readers to tell others about the books they enjoyed by giving them an option to like, rate and review the books they read. GoodReads has different groups where readers who enjoy the same genre can chat about the books they've read. If you purchase a YA paranormal romance on Amazon, they will provide a list of other books people who bought the YA paranormal also purchased. Amazon also has tags that provide another way to group books. When someone searches “young adult fantasy” Amazon will pull up a list of all young adult fantasy. The more tags a book has, the higher on the search results it will be. Barnes and Noble also recommends books to their customers.
What can you do to get people interested in purchasing your book? This is the easiest question to answer. Although far from easy to do. Write an amazing book that will pull a reader in and keep them turning the pages.
I don’t pretend to be an expert on marketing a book. I’m new at all this and I’m still learning myself. I recently discovered Plug YourBook! Online Book Marketing for Authors by Steve Weber and decided I’d include it in this post. In his book, Steve covers all the things I already knew and a host of things I didn’t. From the benefits of word of mouth to building your website to finding reviewers for your book, Steve provides valuable tips for everyone. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has questions on on-line marketing a book.
If you have tips for marketing a book, I'd love to hear them.
