How to Market Your Book

It’s a common question I hear from authors: How do I market my book? It's a big, daunting question. And while there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, there are some tried and true best practices that have helped other authors get their books in front of readers. In this post, we'll walk through seven steps you can take to market your book—including planning ahead, knowing who your audience is, and building an effective author platform before publication day.

Plan ahead.

Planning ahead is one of the most important aspects of marketing your book. It will help you to be more efficient and effective and avoid wasting time, money, and energy.

Planning ahead will also help you to avoid being overwhelmed by all these tasks that need to be completed before your book launch.

Create a marketing book plan.

One of the most important things you can do in your book marketing plan is to create a clear vision of what you want to achieve. You should know your audience, what message you want to convey, and how best to reach them.

Once you're clear on these things, it's time to make a plan!

Figure out who your target audience is.

The first step to marketing your book is figuring out who your target audience is. This may sound obvious, but you should know that there's a difference between "I want everyone" and "everyone who likes X." If you don't know what that difference is, then let me tell you: the first one is vague and unhelpful, while the second one points directly toward what kind of people will be interested in buying or reading your book. Where do these people hang out? Are they on Facebook or Twitter? Do they enjoy sci-fi fantasies about space travel? Are they into self-help books about how to achieve happiness? How can you reach them effectively through social media or email campaigns?

Writing for an audience can feel limiting at first—you might not even know who this person is! But limiting yourself may actually help you write better content for them, which will make them more likely to share it with others and get new readers excited about reading your work too!

Know how to reach your target audience.

The most important thing you can do when marketing your book is to know who your target audience is. Once you identify the type of person who will be interested in reading your book, it becomes much easier to reach them effectively.

To create a target audience persona for yourself, start by asking yourself these questions:

• Who are my readers?

• What do they like?

• What don’t they like?

• Do they want me to send them information about their favorite topics? If so, how often should I contact them with updates and reminders about upcoming events or promotions?

Knowing how to reach these individuals will help determine what content best connects with those who are most likely going to buy from you based on their interests and preferences. For example, if someone loves sports but hates cooking or listening to music while relaxing at home—they may be less likely than others not to have any interest at all in either activity.

Connect with the right bloggers, journalists, and reviewers.

The second step is connecting with the right bloggers, journalists, and reviewers.

You can find some of these people on social media and through mutual contacts, but for many of them, you’ll need to dig a little deeper. Look for book blogs that cover similar content to yours, or search by topics related to your book in Google and see who is writing about them. Check out what they write about, too; if it matches up with your own voice, then they might be worth approaching directly!

If you’re going down this route, then be sure to follow their guidelines carefully — use their preferred email address (if they have one) or get in touch via social media rather than cold-calling them by emailing the generic info@websiteaddress.com address (because most bloggers work alone out of their homes). If someone has asked for an exclusive review copy before the publication date, then don’t bother contacting them until after publication day — it's frustrating for everyone involved if reviewers receive multiple books at once!

Figure out how to get endorsements.

Endorsements are a great way to get people talking about your book. Endorsements can be from experts or other authors who are in the same field as you.

It's best to get endorsements from the right people, so research these individuals beforehand and make sure they're the right fit for your book. If they're not an expert on the topic of your book, then it won't do much good to have them write an endorsement for you!

Get creative with book excerpts and other content teasers.

Book excerpts and other content teasers are an easy way to get people interested in your book. They can be short stories, chapters, or even just snippets of information that give readers a taste of what's inside. These excerpts also offer a reason for people to buy the full text because they're not getting everything right away.

Here's why this strategy works:

• It gives them something tangible to talk about and share on their social media pages (which is essential for building buzz).

• It will help you build some pre-release hype around your upcoming release date!

Make sure you’re publishing on the right platforms.

Once you have a manuscript that you’re ready to share with the world, you need to think about where it will be published. This is an important decision and can help determine how successful your book will be.

Publishing on the right platform is especially important if you plan on marketing your book or getting it reviewed by a media outlet or other influencer. The best place to start is by thinking about how your book will be read:

• If someone were going to read this over lunch, would they want something light and easy to digest? Or are they looking for something meatier that takes longer?

• Is this a short story collection? A novel? An essay collection? A textbook for students learning English as a second language? A self-help guide for people suffering from anxiety in the workplace? Knowing what genre(s) best fit your content will inform which platforms are most appropriate for distribution (more on those later).

Invest in paid advertising.

Because paid ads are a more targeted way of reaching your ideal reader, they are one of the best ways to market your book. However, you can’t just buy ads anywhere and expect them to work. You need to pick the right type of ad for your specific goals.

In other words, if you want more reviews or sales, paid advertising may not be the best option for you. If your goal is getting in touch with new readers or influencers who can help spread awareness about your book (or both!), then paid ads might be worth considering since they will help reach a new audience and get them interested in what you have written.

Use social media to its full potential.

Social media is an excellent way to build your brand, share your expertise and knowledge, and share content from the book.

Engage with your audience by responding to their comments, questions, and complaints. Let them know that you're there for them!

Use social media to promote the book as well by sharing links on Facebook and Twitter.

Build an email list early on.

Building an email list is a great way to get your name out there and start building a community around you. The earlier you do this, the better off you'll be. The easiest way to build an email list is through your website—most blogging platforms have built-in tools for capturing emails. If not, there are many sites that offer free signups or easy integration with MailChimp and other services that can help with lists and automation (see resources below).

Once you have all of those names, it's time to figure out what exactly they're interested in hearing from you about. One way is by doing surveys; another is by asking people who come into contact with your brand what they'd like from it (this could mean attendees at events or readers of social media). Whatever approach works best for the type of person whose inboxes you're filling up will help keep them coming back for more information about what's going on in their favorite author's world!

Build your author platform before publication day.

• Build your author platform before publication day.

• Create a website that you can direct your fans and potential readers to.

• Have an email list ready so that when you release a book, people can buy it immediately and get the first edition (signed copies).

• Create a blog to write regularly about topics related to your books so that readers know more about you and what inspires you as an author.

There are many ways to market your book, but some work better than others for different types of books and audiences.

• You need to know your audience.

• You need to know what they want.

• You need to know where they are.

• You need to know how they like to be marketed to.

• You need to know what works and what doesn't work for your book, genre, and audience.

We hope these tips will help you get your book in front of the right people and make it a success. Remember that marketing is something that takes time and effort, so don’t give up!