A lot of authors are desperate to figure out how to market a book the right way, but too often the sole focus is on sales–and that’s typically the biggest misstep an author can make–aside from not marketing a book at all.
Let me explain!
Sales are always the goal, if you wrote a book but don’t care about selling it I’m not really sure why you’d even be reading this post!
But sales strategies can derail the quality of your reader engagement in ways that are hard to recover from.
When figuring out how to market a book in meaningful ways that keep it classy, you have to focus not on sales, but on the reader experience and reader engagement.
How to Market a Book Without Focusing on Sales
You’re not going to sell books by shouting that you have a book to sell.
You’re going to sell books because your cover is impressive, your description is clever, your website is professional and unique to your brand, and your social media communicates that you’re likable, intriguing, funny, helpful, knowledgeable – whatever makes sense for the kind of books you write and the kind of persona that is naturally appealing to your buyer market.
Now with the simple checklist above in mind, I still want to be clear that determining how to market a book in a way that will resonate with your potential buyers is not as simple as getting all those things right.
Those elements are just the start.
Book marketing and author branding require some trial and error, and a hell of a lot of growth as a professional in the publishing industry. So don’t get discouraged too quickly, give new strategies at least 2-3 months to sink in, listen to what readers respond to (and what they don’t), and use that to refine your ongoing book marketing plan.
Resources and Free Downloads
Avoid Looking Like a Book Marketing Amateur podcast
Updating Your Book Marketing Plan for Holiday Sales
Avoid This Big Mistake When Launching a Book
Check out KM Weiland’s site, she’s an excellent resource
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