Don’t Watch While Your Book Flops! 5 Must-Do Marketing Tasks for Every Author and Every Book

Don’t Watch While Your Book Flops! 5 Must-Do Marketing Tasks for Every Author and Every Book

In my role as a book coach and author advisor, I am also involved with planning and advising on a well-rounded marketing strategy for getting your book in front of your audience. Not just your ‘target market’ – and those who read this blog regularly know I never use that phrase; it’s too masculine; who wants a target on their back, even in marketing? – but the audience we’ve identified for the book.

Your audience, by the way, is not all women. Or all men. It’s not even all women in business. Or all men in business. When we work together, we drill, baby, drill…down, down, down, to find that core group of people who will be eager to read your book. Oh, and some of them become beta readers, a topic I wrote about two weeks ago.

Because this is such a big topic, and a hot topic, I thought I’d share a little advice on marketing and promotions this week. Here are five must-do things to incorporate into your book promotion efforts to see success with your published book.

1. Email Marketing

You have email. I have email. We all have email. Any talk or content you see saying email marketing is dead is dead wrong. This form of marketing is one of the most successful ways to both connect with your market and to engage with them. When people opt-in to your email list, they are asking you to send them content. Educate them. Entertain them. Inform them. And don’t be afraid to get promotional once in a while.  

Building and maintaining an email list isn’t easy, but if you start while you’re writing the book, you will be light years ahead of other authors writing similar content. Email marketing allows you to communicate with readers, share updates, offer exclusive content, and promote your book launch. A well-crafted email campaign can drive engagement and sales better than social media if you do it right.

• Why You Should Do It: Emails land directly in your readers’ inboxes on a regular, consistent basis. If I opt-in, I am inviting you to contact me directly. Ask me questions. Offer me deals. Teach me. Entertain me. You have my complete attention.
• Best Practices: Use compelling subject lines, personalized content, and clear calls to action. Segment your email list to send targeted messages based on your readers’ interests and behaviors. And track your results.
• Email Marketing Platforms: MailChimp. Constant Contact. AWeber. Convertkit. At Master Book Builders, we use Zenler.

Learn more: 8 Must-Do Tasks To Complete Before You Launch Your Book

2. Promotions

Many authors use promotional activities such as discounts, giveaways, and special offers (a signed book! Readers love signed copies of a book), to create excitement around their books and to attract new readers. These promotions can be run on various platforms, including your website, social media, and online bookstores like Amazon.

• Why You Should Do It: Promotions get people excited. Your audience wants to engage with you. Using promotions, you invite them to get free stuff like eBooks or courses. Content that can help them achieve the goals you’ve given them in the book. Promotions also boost sales, encourage word-of-mouth marketing, and increase your book’s visibility in a crowded market.
• Best Practices: Make sure your promotions create urgency. Have a firm deadline for entering. Think about combining promotions with email marketing and social media campaigns to maximize their impact.

Learn more: Book Clubs | Gift Guides | Book Promotions

3. Book Signings

Readers love book signings! If they are done right. That means understanding how to promote your book signing. Use your email list. And reach out on Facebook or Alignable to connect with local readers. Book signings offer a personal touch, allowing you to connect IRL with readers to build relationships and create lasting memories. Pssst: They also offer opportunities for media coverage and can generate buzz in the local community if you gather a few other local authors to join in!

• Why You Should Do It: Any in-person event will go far in building that loyal fan base. No reason you can’t shine like a rock star, just like Taylor Swift. Be the Taylor Swift of your book’s genre.
• Best Practices: Partner with local bookstores or libraries for signings. I know folks who have held successful book signings in cafés or coffee shops. Promote your event on social media and through local media outlets to attract attendees. Put up flyers and get your beta readers to announce the book signing. Pssst: make sure you have your ‘reading’ ready by practicing the passage from your book that you plan to read out loud.

Learn more: How To Hold Book Signing Events at Your Bookstore, from Forbes Books

4. Public Relations (PR)

Investing in good PR is a smart step in getting media coverage and interviews. PR professionals have a database of contacts you and I do not have, nor will we have. A good PR professional can connect with the right person at the right media outlet faster and more effectively than you or I reaching out with a query ourselves. Getting in front of major media can significantly boost your and your book’s profile. This raises your credibility as an author and gives weight to your authority, positioning you as an expert in your genre.

• Why you should do it: Media coverage reaches more people. It generally reaches the right people. And it provides great content for your website’s media/contact me page.
• Best practices: Create a press kit, use our friends at YES! Press for press releases and build relationships with journalists, bloggers, and influencers in your niche by subscribing to Peter Shankman’s Source of Sources database.

Learn more: Visit our go-to PR person Andrea Pass Public Relations

5. Social Media

I know, you hate social media. It’s time-consuming, confusing, and overwhelming. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok just make you cross-eyed. I hear this all the time from authors. They want someone else to do their social media for them.

Everyone understands that social media is powerful. It’s the best way to build an audience, engage with readers, and promote your book. With consistent, strategic use of social media, you can amplify your reach and create a strong author brand. You just don’t have time!

I was talking with an author about this just today. Time + investment = success.  That’s just the way it is. If you truly can’t do it yourself, there is help. Mind you, there is no marketing or promotional program you won’t have some commitment to and some involvement in, but if you want your social to be managed by someone else, okay. I get it. Talk to a professional group. Like Spry Media. We trust them. They take the time to learn who YOU are and what your BOOK is about before trying to post as you.

Doesn’t mean you won’t have to engage, also. But at least you won’t spend the hours and hours needed to create success on your own. And you’ll learn as you go, so someday, you may decide to take over your own social media work.

• Why You Should Do It: Your readers want you as much as they want your books. A few true fans, described by Kevin Kelly in this essay online, will serve you well for many years. By engaging on social media, you show you’re attentive to their needs and you have an opportunity to answer questions, show sneak peeks of your next book, and much more.
• Best Practices: Develop a content calendar, engage with followers regularly, and discover where your followers hang out on the platforms you use. For instance, on Instagram, you want to be part of the Bookstagrammers group. Read this BuzzFeed Article.

Learn More: Kindlepreneur has a great article on this. Check it out!

Conclusion

Incorporating these five strategies—email marketing, promotions, book signings, PR, and social media—into your book promotion plan will put you on the path to success.

While each one plays a unique role in building your audience, increasing visibility, and driving sales, doing all of them together is masterful!  Yes, they come with a cost. Yes, there is an investment. Yes, you have to participate. That’s just the way it is.

Learn more about each of these using the links provided and do some of your own research. Get comfortable with this idea: you are the best marketer for your book. Everyone else you bring on board is a team member, not a manager. Take charge and watch beautiful things happen.

p.s. AI can help with some of these tasks. I used ChatGPT to develop the outline for this post. I then polished it with my own thoughts. So, 90% of the post is mine, but ChatGPT did come up with some usable content but no links I liked.