You can market your book with these 10 strategies
By Rachel Thompson
It can be daunting for authors when you have no idea how to market your book, yet it is essential to get your book in front of readers to make it successful. Here are the most important and effective book marketing strategies authors can use to promote their books and reach a wider audience.
How Can You Market Your Book?
Your author platform is a slow build, so keep that in mind. Overall visibility is the key to connecting with readers.
For more info, take a look at my BadRedhead Media 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge – 30 days of easy-to-follow instructions to build your author platform and sell more books! Available in both ebook and print.
-
Build an Author Platform
The first step in book marketing is building an author platform. This includes creating a website, blog or vlog, social media accounts, and an email list as your basic first steps.
Your website should be the central hub for all your book-related content and should include information about your book, your author bio, blog topics related to your interests, and a way for readers to contact you.
Social media accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, can be used to engage with readers and share updates about your book (and don’t forget TikTok #BookTok and YouTube #BookTube – video is popular).
An email list is a great way to stay in touch with readers and tell them about upcoming events, book signings, and new releases. For more, read this terrific list of tasks from Reedsy.
-
Network with Other Authors and Industry Professionals
Networking with other authors and industry professionals is an important aspect of book marketing. Attending book festivals, writing conferences, and book clubs can be a great way to connect with other authors, publishers, and literary agents. Joining online communities, such as Goodreads, can also be a great way to connect with other authors and readers.
As I mention in my book, The 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge, you want to connect with other writers, but not only other writers. Readers are everywhere. Grow your accounts strategically.
-
Create a Book Trailer
Creating a book trailer is a great way to give readers a taste of your book and build buzz. A book trailer is a short video that can be shared on social media, on your website, and on YouTube. It can be a simple animation or a more elaborate production, but it should be engaging and give readers a sense of what your book is about.
To learn more, visit Animoto for free options.
-
Host a Book Launch Party
Hosting a book launch party is a great way to celebrate the release of your book and build buzz. You can invite friends, family, and media members to the event, which can be held at a bookstore, a library, or even your home. The event should be focused on your book, and you should have copies available for purchase and signing.
Zoom became super popular during the COVID-19 period, so be sure to consider an interactive, web-based platform as well. In fact, you can now hold audio-only spaces on Twitter Spaces (mobile-only), Clubhouse, or do video ‘lives’ on Facebook or Instagram.
I did a Twitter Space launch for my seventh book, Broken People, and had several hundred attendees!
-
Guest Blogs and Podcasting
Guest blogging and podcasting can be great for reaching a wider audience and promoting your book. Reach out to bloggers and podcast hosts in your niche and offer to write a guest post or be a guest on their show. This can be a great way to introduce yourself and your book to a new audience and build relationships with other bloggers and podcasters in your niche.
Consider joining popular blog-sharing memes, such as #MondayBlogs on Twitter – every week, thousands of bloggers participate by adding that hashtag to their posts on Mondays. Share your own, retweet others, gain more site traffic, and followers. Win/win.
This type of content creation is incredibly helpful in growing your overall visibility in Google and other search engines, and increasing reach and engagement.
-
Advertise
Advertising is another great way to promote your book. You can use platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google AdWords to reach a larger audience. And Amazon ads as well! These platforms allow you to target specific demographics, such as age, location, and interests, and can be a great way to reach potential readers.
Here’s a tip: created free universal links with BookLinker. They also have a fantastic blog. Read more here.
-
Book Giveaways
Giveaways are a great way to build buzz and promote your book. You can give away copies of your book, e-books, or even a Kindle. This can be a great way to reach new readers and encourage people to share your book with their friends.
I use both Rafflecopter and King Sumo. Both have reasonable plans.
-
Reader Magnets can Market Your Book
Helpful to authors because they provide a way to entice potential readers to sign up for an email list or take some other action to help the author stay in touch with them. This can be especially useful for authors who are just starting out and are trying to build an audience for their work.
If you sign up for my BadRedhead Media newsletter, I send you my top 10 blogging tips! Learn more here.
By offering a reader magnet, such as a free e-book, tips, resources, or a discount on a book, authors can attract people who are interested in their writing and get them to take the first step toward becoming loyal readers.
In addition to helping authors build their audience, reader magnets can also help authors sell more books. By staying in touch with readers through an email list or other means, authors can keep their readers informed about new releases, promotions, and other events related to their writing.
This can generate buzz and excitement around a new book, leading to increased sales. Additionally, by providing readers with exclusive content or offers, authors can create a sense of loyalty and engagement that can help drive sales over the long term.
- Booksweeps is an excellent company that offers free books in exchange for email promotions for about $50. Mind the fine print: they run email growth promos, and BookBub follower promos. Be sure to pick which is right for you!
-
Author Branding
I wrote a quick-read 99c mini-book on author branding with my top tips and easy-to-follow exercises gleaned from my own ten+ years of successfully branding my many clients. These tips will help you connect with your ideal readers, curate value-added content, and set expectations for readers.
If branding confuses you (and let’s be honest, it can be overwhelming), this is a great, easy breakdown for any new blogger, writer, veteran author, and even small business.
-
Consistency
Google loves fresh content, so take the time to write regular blog posts, learn how to optimize them for SEO, and share them all over your social media. Create a consistent newsletter (monthly, quarterly, whatever works best for you). I recommend MailerLite – affordable. Use a social media scheduling tool to make filling your social media planner easier and less stressful. Buffer is a good deal and super easy to use.
Don’t have a website yet? Visit my friends at Authobytes and mention my company, BadRedhead Media, LLC, for a 20% discount on a new website build!
And be real. It can’t be said enough – authenticity, who we are as people, connects us to our readers in a way that can’t be done via AI. Find your ‘why’ and share it (kudos to free ChatGPT, however, for helping me create a base foundation for this article). I’ll discuss using AI for writing in a future post. For now, read more here.
It’s Essential to Market Your Book
In summary: book marketing is essential for getting your book in front of readers and making it successful. Building an author platform, networking with other authors and industry professionals, creating a book trailer, hosting a book launch party, guest blogging and podcasting, advertising, and giveaways are all great ways to promote your book and reach a wider audience.
Remember, book marketing is an ongoing process, and you want to constantly look for new ways to promote your book and reach new readers.
For more in-depth details, take a look at my three books written specifically for writers:
- The Badredhead Media 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge (Updated)
- How to Best Optimize Blog Posts for SEO: 25 Tested Tips Writers Need to Know Now
- The BadRedHead Media Fast and Easy Guide to Powerful Author Branding
***
Join Rachel every Wednesday for her free #BookMarketingChat on Twitter Spaces at 11 am pst/2 pm est, sponsored exclusively by BookLinker. Got questions? Follow her on Twitter @BadRedheadMedia (DMs open).
by Rachel Thompson (@BadRedheadMedia) February 19, 2023
***
How do you market your book? Did I miss anything? Please share below in the comments! Have you signed up for my newsletter yet?
About Rachel Thompson
Rachel Thompson released the BadRedhead Media 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge in December 2016 to rave reviews. She is constantly updating the book, and released a newly updated version in 2020 in both ebook and print.
She is the author of the award-winning, best-selling Broken Places (one of IndieReader’s “Best of 2015” top books and 2015 Honorable Mention Winner in both the Los Angeles and the San Francisco Book Festivals), and the bestselling, multi-award-winning Broken Pieces (as well as two additional humor books, A Walk In The Snark and Mancode: Exposed).
Broken People was released in late 2022, and won ‘Best in Category’ for Nonfiction with the Book Excellence Awards. Read here for more info!
Rachel’s work is also featured in Feminine Collective anthologies (see Books for details).
She owns BadRedhead Media, creating effective social media and book marketing campaigns for authors. Her articles appear regularly in The Huffington Post, Feminine Collective, Indie Reader Medium, OnMogul, Blue Ink Review, and several others.
Not just an advocate for sexual abuse survivors, Rachel is the creator and founder of the hashtag phenomenon #MondayBlogs and the live weekly Twitter chats, #SexAbuseChat, co-hosted with Cee Streetlights and Judith Staff (Tuesdays, 6 pm PST/9 pm EST), and #BookMarketingChat, co-hosted with Melissa Flickinger and Dr. Alexandria Szeman (Wednesdays, 6 pm PST/9 pm EST).
She hates walks in the rain, running out of coffee, and coconut. A single mom, she lives in California with her two kids and two cats, where she daydreams of Thor and vaguely remembers what sleep is.
***
- BadRedhead Media 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge — Top Seller AND a Great On Kindle Selection!
- How to Best Optimize Blog Posts for SEO: 25 Tested Tips Writers Need to Know Now
- Award-winning bestsellers Broken People, Broken Places, and Broken Pieces
***
Catfishing in America
#8 in the Camilla Randall Mysteries: Murder, Mayhem, and Mr. Wrong…
From the Bad Baldhead to the Bad RedHead — great post!
Good tips as always from Rachel! I want to try a virtual launch party on Instagram some day but cringe at the thought no one would show up.
Rachel—Thanks for a great post. Thanks, too, for the excellent tips. Appreciated!
Hi Rachel! What’s your view on TikTok / BookTok as a marketing tool? Wishing you, Anne & Ruth an enjoyable day.
Thank you for the great advice! It’s very succinct and to the point and will be very helpful for those starting out on this writing-a-book road!
Great checklist of what to do! I’ve managed all but the email list. Too late now since I may be done.
Thanks so much! and LOL
I feel that, Cat. Invite your friends via DM or PM – also, be sure to invite via your subscriber/newsletter list as well.
thank you, Ruth! I appreciate being here as always x
Hi Garry! Depends on your demographic and comfort. YA, NA, Fantasy, and Romance are the most popular. Nonfiction how-to’s are also very popular. And we can’t forget True Crime – people are super into it.
If writers hate the idea of being where the younger crowd hangs, then focus on the other platforms you’ve spent years building.
That said: one writer friend went viral on her 2nd video (I think?) and ended up with an agent so you never know!
I think I’m making some progress in building a platform. I told myself I’d enter more contests this year and I’ve either written or rewritten four stories in the past three months. I’ve made improvements to my blog. Plus my novella is two-thirds done. I know building a platform is a slow process. I can’t do it any other way.
Hi Rich! I literally just read this quote: “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
It does take a long time. Any writer who doesn’t have experience in platform building feels this deeply.
Hey, I have 8 books out and do weekly free audio spaces (on Twitter) and still have to work on my marketing DAILY. It’s a necessary evil in this world.
Do what you can. That’s a huge step.
NEVER too late to start a newsletter! Create a great reader magnet to get folks to sign up for your newsletter (I recommend starting with MailerLite’s free version) and do a Booksweeps for $50 email sign-up promos.
Not difficult and you’ll get hundreds and hundreds new emails (and FCC compliant) of potential readers. Worth it!
great post, I’m limited because of a stroke but recovering everyday, I love reading and your posts. Thanks for the info,
I totally agree that a book will not sell by itself. Content may be king — but promotion is the supreme ruler! The important point I like to make with authors is that when they try to use a marketing technique that practically everyone else is already using, the technique will not be very effective. For example, I stay away from social media. There are others who agree with me about this being a poor marketing technique. “Shannon DeVito, director of books at Barnes & Noble, was recently quoted in the New York Times, “The only reliable part about social media is that it’s unreliable.”
Also, check out this article by this book marketing expert:
“One of the biggest falsehoods that authors and publishers believe is: Social media sells books. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
https://www.startawildfire.com/2022/01/social-media-stinks-selling-books.html
A lot of the other more common techniques are also unreliable or totally useless. I say this as a writer who has written 17 books and has sold well over 1,000,000 copies of my books (mainly self-published), I have 3 books that are true international bestsellers, ones that have each sold at least 100,000 copies in the print edition, and my books have been published in 22 languages in 29 countries.
The key to my success has been to do what others don’t do. I have come up with 75 to 100 of my own unique “marketing” techniques that 95 percent of authors and so called “book marketing experts” are not creative or smart enough to come up with. I have used similar unique “marketing” techniques to get over 111 books deals with various foreign publishers around the world. These “marketing” techniques involve what my competitors are NOT doing — instead of what my competitors are doing.
Just a note that my “How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free” was self-published in 2003 and still sells well over 10,000 copies a year. What’s more, my “The Joy of Not Working” was first self-published in 1991 (over 30 years ago) and still has sold an average of over 1,500 to 3,000 copies a year for the last 10 years. Very few books have that staying power in the marketplace. A lot of this has to do with my 75 to 100 unique book marketing techniques that the vast majority of authors and so-called book marketing experts are not creative or smart enough to come up with.
Here are words of wisdom from much people smarter than me that have guided me over the years:
“It’s better to do a sub-par job on the right project than an excellent job on the wrong project.”
— Robert J. Ringer
“Even the most careful and expensive marketing plans cannot sell people a book they don’t want to read.”
— Michael Korda, former Editor-in-Chief at Simon & Schuster
“A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one.”
— Henry Ford
“Good isn’t good enough.”
— Mark Coker (owner of Smashwords)
“Very Good Is Bad — It’s Not Good Enough!”
— Seth Godin (My favorite Marketing Guru)
“The shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that it is in their interests to promote yours.”
— Jean de La Bruyére
“In the arena of human life the honors and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action.”
— Aristotle
“Books work as an art form (and an economic one) because they are primarily the work of an individual.”
— Seth Godin
“Writing is the hardest way to earn a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators.”
— Olin Miller
“Your success and prosperity are too valuable to depend on crowd funding or lottery tickets.”
— Seth Godin
“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.”
— Christopher Morley
Wow, look at you, 2bcreativeblog! It’s a slow build and takes maintenance – go at your own pace. Readers will come around. x