In the course of promoting my books and the message of diversity and inclusion, I’ve started thinking about it as a business, trying to ascertain best practices and effective go-to-market methods. I found lots of useful outreach methods, tools that automate outreach, and tried lots of different routes to market. It’s something I’ve been thinking about alot more since launching my third book “My Friend Kiara“.
Advertise and they will come?
Like most entrepreneurs, I assumed that if I spend on advertising I can attract some business which might grow. So I started by using a local PPC management service. Ad dollars in, book sales out right? It took quite a while before I managed to get a positive return, lots of A/B testing, but it eventually worked. Not every month is a positive return, and if I account for the original months where I lost it wasn’t worth it. The biggest problem with the advertising is that I wasn’t building customers that would come back. After they’d bought one book, there wasn’t anything for them to come back for. Now that I have 3 books it might be a different equation.
Run a creative marketing campaign
Do something different and stand out. Reasonable advice that you’ll hear all the time. There aren’t many creative marketing campaign ideas left for books. There’s a lot of tried and tested mechanisms though. School book readings, library and book store readings. They drive awareness and garner sales. Seeding samples at book clubs and organisations that are involved with the topic of your book (unless you write murder mystery, in which case avoid murderers and the recently murdered).
My book “Anika and the Difficult Drone” had a great tie in with a local drone piloting company. There are some seriously great female drone pilots who were thrilled to talk about their work, and that really worked to help promote the book.
Everyone loves Video Content
A Video trailer is now a must have for any new book launch. It’s not just about being on TikTok or YouTube, it’s just the fastest way to get people introduced to your book, and it’s incredibly effective. I created one for my first book “Who’s inside that hat?”, schools and libraries use it as internal promotion before I turn up for a book reading. It doesn’t need to cost a fortune, and is absolutely worth doing.
Could you do more on TikTok or YouTube? Probably. I’m too video shy to be on those platforms much, so I can’t really speak to how effective they are for books.
Social Validation
Word of mouth is still the most powerful form of marketing. Today that means reviews. The numbers are unquestionable, customers will change their purchase decisions based on review sentiment and freshness of reviews. So make sure you have a constant ongoing effort to get fresh 5-star reviews.
After your family and friends, it’s interesting how much effort it takes to get people to spend a few minutes to write a review, or a few seconds to click the button. Make shameless requests at the end of your book for reviews. Hand out sample copies and request for (objective) reviews. It is worth the effort to do this. Don’t waste money on (overpriced) paid review services, but do check-out platforms like BookSirens.
Build a community
Whatever your topic is, build a community around it. Even if you have just one book, and never plan on writing another, a community of advocates will help promote your book, and build authority in your field. This could be as simple as regularly posting and engaging with other specialists on LinkedIN, Twitter or Instagram. Be present and be heard. That is why you wrote a book in the first place isn’t it?
What’s stopping you from being a successful author?
There is a big difference between knowing what to do, and actually doing it. To quote Derek Sivers “If information was the answer we’d all be billionaires with prefect abs.”. There’s nothing new, unique or unusual here. It’s about putting in the work, and reaping the benefits. I can see a straight line correlation in my sales numbers when I actively work on promoting my book, as compared to those months where I’m busy with my family & day job.
Yes it’s hard to begin with but it gets easier. Stay focused on three key elements, (1) Get Reviews (2) Build a community (3) Partner with others on your topic
