Marketing and book sales are definitely entwined, but how closely?
How much marketing do you have to do to create significant sales opportunities?
Let me tell you this, we had an author come to us recently and say, “If the book sells on its own, I may not need to do a lot of marketing.”
And what was our response?
There are 4,500+ books published every single day. No book sells on its own. No author becomes a success without a lot of hard work.
So what should you do to improve both marketing and book sales?
Think of marketing and book sales as a single concept.
You can’t have one without the other.
So to keep them closely connected (and know you’re making real progress) you have to have a plan.
- Download our free monthly planner in the resources section.
- Print at least 3 copies.
- Fill out all 3, that’s 3 months of marketing and promotions.
- Repeat efforts are encouraged!
Yes, consistency is key. So some efforts can, and should, be repeated monthly.
Your social media plan should be consistent. Choose a few themes for certain days of the week and keep that going for at least three months so you can get a real feel for how followers are responding and what they tend to engage with most.
Limited time discounts are also great on repeat, especially if you have multiple titles, rotate through them.
BookBub ads are another slam dunk that you can run every single month. They’re great for any topic, but they’re really popular for genre fiction especially. BookBub ads are inexpensive, available to anyone, and create hundreds (if not thousands!) of impressions with new potential buyers who are avid readers.
Marketing and book sales also get a big boost from special promotions.
Plan to do some sort of special promotion at least once every three months.
Not sure what your options are, or feeling a little short on creative ideas? Sign up for email coaching and we can brainstorm.
And please share this image on your social, it’s especially appropriate this month!
Caption what your most effective book marking strategy has been for your brand and encourage others to share theirs in the comments of your post – there’s a lot to learn from each other.
Resources and Free Downloads
Download our free monthly book marketing planner
7 Reasons your book isn’t selling – what to check on Amazon
How marketing and book sales are supported by your backlist
How to sell your self-published book to bookstores and other retail
Understanding how to make a stronger connection with readers
Marketing your book without social media is possible – here’s how
We’ll, Bookbub might be the most effective but I certainly don’t find them inexpensive!
V.M. are you talking about BookBub Deals or ads? Ad budgets are controlled entirely by the author, so they’re really customizable to suit a variety of budgets and special promotion needs, that’s why we’re such big fans. Deals are typically more expensive than running ads.
Plus, it’s very, very difficult to get permission to advertise with BookBub. I don’t remember all of the requirements besides a certain number of book reviews with a certain star-average, but they’re quite demanding. So much so that I haven’t been able to advertise, even though my book has 48 reviews with a 4.2-star average. A marketing expert said, however, that if you are able to advertise, you definitely will make a profit.