8 TIPS TO MARKET SELF-PUBLISHED BOOKS-Part 1
You love to write, aspire to be a New York best seller and envision seeing those hardcover copies of yours in your favorite bookstore, sounds familiar? If so, then most probably you would like to stick around for you are in for some juicy tips to help you market and sell your self-published book and fulfill your dream.
1) Start your marketing campaign early:
Start building interest and speaking about your “Upcoming Book” 6 months before the actual launch. Traditional book marketing campaigns start 1 month before the official launch, but I learned this innovative way from the author of the New York Bestseller’s list for two weeks in a row Lewis Howes. Lewis spoke about his unconventional approach at least twice on this podcast ( The School of Greatness). Here are three ways to make the most of an early marketing campaign:
a) Write about your book, book-writing process and experience on your blog. Create a genuine buzz by clarifying who is this book for? Why and how is it going to be different than anything else on the market? You can also provide some “Behind-the-scenes” scoops or utilize your Instagram by posting behind-the-scene photos. This will help you and your book get in front of more potential customers and you never know which reporter or TV station will reach out to get your book featured, leave some space for your imagination and never underestimate the degree of kindness people have, trust me you will be amazed.
b) List, pitch and schedule your pre-launch interviews. When you start early on you could make a list of all the people, in your domain or closely related industry, who you wish would agree to interview you. Most of the podcasters, radio show hosts and niche websites are fully booked for months in advance so secure your seat by starting early, pitching your idea and carefully scheduling your pre-launch interviews.
c) Start gathering emails. Legally! Unless you are brand new and know nothing about online marketing, you are aware of the number one lesson every online marketing guru teaches “The gold lies in the list” , meaning people who show interest in your work and voluntarily give you their emails through signing up for your newsletter, are the most primed and ready-to-buy from you customers. Those are the ones you want to focus on just a couple of weeks before the official launch, during the launch and after the launch. Those are you buddies, tribe, people who get you and appreciate what you bring to this world.
You can encourage people to join your tribe by offering a discount coupon or as part of being eligible for a giveaway you will do during the launch, a signed copy or even a free chapter from your book. When you offer something valuable, people are willing to give their emails out so get creative and give before you can receive.
2) Have a simple yet NINJA website!
If your business doesn’t have an online presence then you simply…do not exist! No matter how non-tech person you are, you can pull up a simple, basic, yet very efficient website in less than 48 hours, promise!
Here is what your website ought to have to be a NINJA website:
a) An “About” page. About the book and about the author, and yes do include your professionally taken photo or a professionally done trailer video. When I say “professionally” I don’t mean expensive, all it means that make sure it doesn’t look tacky. Tip: train yourself to invest rather than go the DIY route or free route, whenever you can afford.
b) Shop button & page: Your website’s main menu should have a clear and visible “Shop” button. Sounds obvious? Can’t tell you how many times I had to point this out to clients during consultation sessions! Make it easy for your customers to find your shop page and to complete the transaction with minimal steps and zero pain.
c) Blog page. Yes, you have to blog and it is supposed to be easier for you than anyone else because you are a writer! Evil smile!
d) Testimonial page
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3) Testimonials, reviews and social proof:
Social proof, social proof & social proof. You may or may not be able to get feedback, testimonials and blurbs before launching your book but once it is out, encourage people to share their genuine feedback. A side note here, do take permission (and get it in written form) before posting those testimonials on your website so you won’t get into any legal trouble.
Do include blurbs from well-known personas in your industry. For example, if you are writing an Islamic children’s book, you could reach out to a fellow children’s books author, someone who specializes in or sells children’s products (food, clothing, toys, or/and cloth diapers), a female preacher (Da’eya) who is a mum, or any well-known persona who fits your target audience criteria. In the case of children’s books, the mother is your target audience not the baby/child, so speak to her, acknowledge her and serve her needs by providing her with the social proof she needs to follow your work and consider buying your book.
4) Google alerts:
One of the most mind-blowing AND underused FREE resource. What it does is it sends you a notification or what is known as an alert every time your name or your book’s name is mentioned on a blog or a website. But again why is this important; you get to know the feedback (Hello! Collect testimonials tip) and you get to know more about your customers, their social media habits, on which platform they spend most of their time and what do they wish you could have offered/could offer in the future. There are more tips on how you, as a writer, could use Google Alerts but first let me show you how to set up your free account first.
Setting up your account:
a) Sign up for a Google account if you don’t have one.
b) Sign up for a Google Alters through your Google account: http://alerts.google.com
Ideas on how to use Google Alerts:
- Track your name, and the book’s name: If someone is commenting, speaking about your book- hopefully in a positive way- you could hop on their blog/website and comment back, say “Hello” or “Thank you”. A great way to build connections. Moreover, if your book get featured or a niche site posts a review about your work, you shouldn’t miss the opportunity and share what they said about your book like CRAZY!
- Set “Alerts” related to your work/industry: For example, if you are writing about early childhood education, set an alert for early childhood education. You might be wondering what to do with these alters once they appear, well if a “News” result showed up, maybe you could comment on the article or connect with the reporter/journalist or even put the writer’s name and contact information in your “Media to be contacted database”. If a blog result showed up then you may comment (again) or even better connect with the blogger and either offer up a guest post or invite them to post on your site if you wish.
- Get notified of upcoming events: As a social media and online marketing geek as I am, I have to admit the importance of live, human connection and networking is crucial for having and sustaining a business. Use Google alerts to search for book festivals, Islamic festivals (if you are targeting the Islamic community with your books) or/ and writers conferences. Attending those events won’t only allow you exhibit your book, connect with potential clients and other writers but would also provide you with potential speaking opportunities.
Click here to get notified when part 2 is out.
