The weather has certainly changed where I live and perhaps where you are too. Fall is in the air with a chilly crispness and brightly colored leaves that prompt more tea drinking and pumpkin spice coffee drinking depending on your preference. (This part is not for my friends down under though. I know you’re warming up!)
As the weather changes and we snuggle up, it can be a great time to come up with more ways for promoting, publicizing, and marketing our books. So as I sit here with a warm cup of tea, I thought it might be fun to create a quick list of simple possibilities that you can take a look at and then act on the items that appeal to you most. An added bonus is that it may stimulate more of your own ideas.
As you may know, I often talk about strategy, and strategy is important, but sometimes you just need a list of tactics. Not that you don’t have plenty to do, but the items below are pretty easy and not too time intensive, so shall we take a look? Good. Let’s go.
Some book marketing tactics include:
- Offer your biggest supporters sneak previews of your new book. This is information you can dribble on your blog, social media, or in your newsletter. In the interest of leveraging your time, you can do all three, and the best part is that it’s a way of sharing content that isn’t all salesy and yet draws the interest of others in what you’re doing.
- Offer your devoted fans advance copies of your new book. This is especially effective if you ask for an Amazon review in exchange for a copy. However (back to strategy again) there is a way and a process for doing this so that you successfully get the reviews. Otherwise, you may end up asking several times for that review only to finally give up because, really, how often can you ask without it feeling weird?
- Have a page on your website for information nuggets or short stories, and add a new one every week or month depending on your time and schedule. Remember, this is supposed to be fun and inspiring for you — not drudgery and a big chore, so pick nugget and stories that are fun to share.
- Promote each weekly information nugget or short story on your social media channels, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and even LinkedIn. This obviously depends on where you like to hang out, and most importantly, where your target market likes to hang out.
- Host a contest for topic suggestions for your weekly information nugget or short story. Come to think of it, I like the idea so much that I may host my own contest for topic ideas. I’m always interested in what you want to learn more about, so drop me a line.
- You could even host a contest for the best information nugget or short story where the winner will have his or her story featured on your website. That would be fun for you and for them.
- Then, of course, you would link to the winner’s story on your social media pages.
- Have free book give-away contests for those interested in your work. This can be an excellent way to build your list.
- Celebrate those who love your work by featuring one of them each month on your blog, website, and social media accounts. You know they will promote that, and most likely their friends will continue to spread the word. Leverage! (Strategy again. Can’t help myself.)
- Ask your tribe to post pictures of them reading your book in various settings. Get pictures of yourself reading your own book(s) in various settings or, the books written by other authors (post and tag them as it shows good will and builds social capital). It allows you to return the love to another author, shows how much you love to read, models what you’d like your tribe to do with your book.
- Get to know your community even better by polling them on their likes, dislikes, and opinions on your ideas for books or promotions. You’ll get some wonderful responses, and you’ll have the chance to develop a thicker skin. That’s just the way it is.
- Consider doing as Janet Evanovich does and have a contest during which your readers title your next book, then dedicate the book to that winner. This one is very fun, and you know they are going to promote the heck out of it. You can too, again without being salesy.
Those are just a few of the many ideas you can use to promote your book. The list really is endless, but one of the key points to remember is how important it is to have some fun. I see more people get stumped and then start procrastinating because they tell themselves what a chore it all is. Publicity and marketing can be enjoyable and uplifting. I may have to start my own campaign with that very idea in mind and generate a list to market the message, but first, another cup of hot tea. More to come!
To your success!
Joanne
P.S. Up and Up…coming up with those ideas. Let’s go!
#bookpromotionideas
#bookmarketingtactics
#bookpublicity
#marketingisfun
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