Many of the Best Book Marketing Campaigns Rely on Publishing Schedules

by Penny Sansevieri | Dec 22, 2020 | Book Marketing Basics

Reading Time: ( Word Count: )

Reading Time: 3 minutes

There’s no all-purpose recipe to cook up the best book marketing campaigns, but there is an old saying in book promotion that points to an important ingredient:

The best way to sell your first book is with your second, and the best way to sell your first and second titles is with your third release, and so on.

There’s a reason for this. Readers make an investment of their money and time, and a better way to build reader credibility (and future sales) is by offering them lots of content to keep coming back.

It’s absolutely true that readers will buy a book by an author who chooses to only write one book. But that’s not really the point of this particular post.

The best book marketing campaigns require investments of more than just money – you need to put in the time (lots of it) and sweat equity, and, let’s face it, most of us have a lot of hope riding on our books. So launching a single title seems a bit like a wasted effort.

Sure, you may only have one book in you. Maybe you have a memoir you are eager to write. But bigger, broader sales and success are often driven by a semi-aggressive publishing schedule.

I’m not saying that you need to publish a few books a year – but one a year, with other content sprinkled between releases, is a great way to create the best book marketing campaigns for the new year.

Let’s have a look at some ideas that might spark some creativity around your publishing game and help you plot and plan some publishing success in 2021 and beyond!

Readers are Your Most Important Asset

As I mentioned previously, readers will absolutely buy a book by a single-release author. But once you have someone in your reading funnel, why let them go?

Appealing to your readers’ needs offers a great benefit to not just the reader, but to your book sales as well. Whether it’s publishing a couple of books a year, or a book and other content, once you spend the time and money to introduce yourself to your reader, why not give them more reasons to visit you?

Following through with more content is a cornerstone of the best book marketing campaigns.

Writing a Series

If you’re writing a book that’s part of a series, my suggestion is not to wait too long to push out the second and third books in the series. Why? Readers get impatient. Also, readers might easily forget you and your book if you wait too long.

So when you’re releasing a series, waiting a year between books is often too long. If publishing books closer together is too aggressive for your schedule, we’ll look at some other options later in this piece.

Many Best Book Marketing Campaigns Rely on Publishing Schedules

Writing Bonus Content

Your publishing schedule doesn’t have to mean you’re pushing out tons of new books.

If you’re a fiction author, the best book marketing campaigns can very easily be built on publishing novellas or short offshoots of your primary story between major releases. Look to the cutting room floor for inspiration.

If you write non-fiction, consider doing workbooks or more niche companion books between major releases. Workbooks, in particular, are super popular.

You could also create a video series, like a video tutorial that walks readers through your existing book – and you can charge for that, too. There are a lot of options, outside of an aggressive publishing schedule, to keep readers engaged, and reader engagement is the beating heart of best book marketing campaigns!

Benefits of a Consistent Publishing Schedule

Authors often find it challenging to keep the book marketing messaging going. After a book is released and some time has passed, I always get asked: what should I do now?

A consistent publishing schedule gives you lots of social content, newsletter content, video content, and blog content with teasers, updates, and discounts for earlier books in the series, all of which are great for sharing and extending your messages out to existing readers while also pulling in new ones.

Pushing out new content, whether it’s a novella or a workbook, is also a great way to keep the marketing wheels turning in between major releases, so if releasing two books a year seems daunting, you have some solid options.

A publishing schedule isn’t always about the next book, sometimes it’s about the content you’ll publish to keep readers engaged and coming back for more. For tips and tricks that also help create the best book marketing campaigns, check out the Free Resources and Downloads below!