A successful book keeps selling over time. That means that you need a marketing plan for your book.
You already know who your ideal readers are.
You have a clear idea how your book helps them.
Hopefully, you also know where they are active – social media, podcasts they follow, YouTube channels they subscribe to, journals they read, etc. Now it’s time to explore the potential tools available to you to help to market your book.
Content marketing
You’re a writer, so writing about your core subject is part of your marketing campaign.
You’ll need a posting strategy for social media – which platforms, what about, how often. Which groups on your chosen social platforms might be good places to be involved – not to sell (most group admins throw out people who try to sell), but to influence?
Posting articles regularly on your own blog, and in other places is also a useful way to stay visible and show off your expertise. You’ll need a plan, where to post so your ideal reader sees your posts, subjects to write about, frequency of creating content and posting.
Email campaigns to your list, reminding them about your book – that might be in a regular newsletter or as a PS to other marketing you’re doing for your business.
You might create a lead magnet that is an overview of a chapter to grow your list. You could follow that up with an autoresponder series that deliver a series of value-led emails, including a call to action to purchase the book.
Ads on Google, Facebook or LinkedIn can often grow your list too – or even make sales. You can usually define your audience very specifically, so ads are shown only to people who match your criteria.
If you have addresses you might even try direct mail. A good postal campaign can be surprisingly effective.
Networking
If you’re in business networking is an excellent way to build connections, not just to potential clients, but to people who will recommend you to others. The same applies to selling copies of your book. Certainly when I launched my last couple of books, my network were quick to purchase and gave me some great reviews too.
You’ll need to ensure you’re in the right groups – where your ideal reader attends. And you’ll need to create a good pitch for your 45-60 second slot. The more people you have 1-2-1 meetings with will increase your level of recommendations too.
Website
Make sure you book features on your website, with launch notices on the home page, then, after the launch, a dedicated page showcasing the book with links to purchase, whether that’s to your publisher’s website, Amazon or you plan to fulfil orders yourself.
It’s worth knowing the keywords people search on and including those in the copy.
Where to start
You don’t need to do ALL of these, or you would never have time to do any other work. But you do need to think about which activities will be most effective in reaching your potential readers.
Pick a couple of things and get good at them, then you can add more. Remember this isn’t a short burst, it’s a long haul. If you do it right your book will continue to sell year after year.
