Newbie Authors
It doesn’t matter whether you are writing fiction or non-fiction or wherever you are in the publishing process; as an author, you should know how to market your book and how to connect with your ideal readers.
Without further ado, let us jump into the list of essential marketing strategies that will help you market your book and connect with your ideal readers.
Establish Your Goals
The first strategy is that you should really know what your goals are. The thing is that when you have a goal, you have something that you can aim at. In other words, you have a destination, and when you have a destination, you can form a plan or a strategy about how you will actually reach your goal.
This is also how you can define success. The definition of success is different for every individual – what might mean success to you won’t be the same for your friend.
Understand Your Ideal Reader
As an author, you must know who your ideal reader is. Believe us when we tell you that this is the cornerstone of marketing. When you make the mistake of trying to talk to everyone – you will actually end up talking to no one.
When you focus on talking to one specific person without worrying about limiting your views, you will get better results. By talking to one specific person, you are not limiting yourself. When you focus on your ideal reader, you can get very specific within the content that you write about, within the different interests that you share, within the books, and within the genres that you talk about.
What it does for you is that you can really hone in and have your ideal reader think that you are directly talking to them. Your ideal reader will feel this strategy is more personable and engaging.
Focus on Two Strategies
As a newbie author, we recommend you check out this thorough self-publishing guide so you will feel less overwhelmed around the launch of your book. As you get closer to the launch of your book, you might try to do a million different promotions. Even if you opt for the traditional route of publishing, you will still need to do a major part of the marketing yourself.
Instead of getting into panic mode and trying tons of things to see what sticks – you should identify two or three different marketing strategies that you can focus on instead. This way, you will set yourself up to do really well.
The rule is to do fewer things and do them really well rather than trying a hundred different things and having a watered-down version of what could work.
The main focus here is to avoid getting overwhelmed and focusing on quality instead of quantity.
Start Connecting Soon
You will never find the perfect day to start incorporating your marketing strategies. So, the best thing you can do is to start now. As a matter of fact, from the very minute you decide to write a book – fiction or non-fiction- that is really the time when you should start connecting with your ideal reader and start growing your audience.
When it comes to leveraging social media for marketing, you should know that it takes a while for social media to develop the know, like, and trust factors. So, you should start connecting with your ideal readers as human beings soon instead of an author trying to promote their book.
By starting with the basic human element, you will find that you are able to connect with people on a much deeper and more personable level rather than coming off as someone who is desperately trying to promote their book.
Connect Locally
You have tons of knowledge and experience with your librarians, your local booksellers, your local writer groups, and local book clubs. You should connect with these local people as it is a great way to not only get things started on your marketing but also make more connections and get some insight into tips or tricks that you might need to know.
By connecting locally, you will also be able to get the word-of-mouth going.
Publish a Newsletter
After you have successfully connected with your ideal readers on a human level on social media, it is time to take your social media connections and drive them to your newsletter list with an incentive. You have various choices when it comes to an incentive, such as the following:
- A free PDF
- A free checklist
- A free download
You get the point – you will want to give your readers something as an incentive to have them sign up for your newsletter list. When you take those social connections and drive them to your newsletter list, you know that you are making the much-needed connection, and you are warming up that led by giving them something that they can take and learn from or be entertained by.
Keep Talking About Your Book
Another great marketing strategy is to keep talking about your book. Usually, this is the follow-up phase, which comes right after the promotional phase after your book comes out. By keeping up the talk, you can leverage it as the best time for yourself to continue your sales.
More often than not, authors only focus on the promotional phase right after they publish their book. You should know that your book has an infinite lifespan. On that note, if you keep talking about your book through social media or the newsletter, you will continue to drive connections and awareness, which in turn will continue to drive sales.
The Takeaway
When marketing your book, you should have a clear understanding of where you are at in the marketing process. The thing is that when you understand where you are at in the marketing process, you will understand what you need to be doing within your marketing. For instance, you might be in the attraction phase. You could also be in the follow-up promotion phase. Knowing your place in the marketing phase can have a great impact on the overall marketing of your book.
