Importance of Book Marketing for Authors and Ways to Achieve it

Writing is not limited to jotting down your experience or thoughts on paper and just putting it out. Every author needs to remember that it needs to be valuable and provide insights to its readers. 

It should be able to carve a lasting remark, the process of which begins way earlier than even writing itself. Here is when book marketing comes into the picture. 

Book marketing is very salient for authors, and in this article, I am throwing light on some of them.

1. To Build a Personal Brand - 

Book Marketing is not just about the branding and promotion of a book but also the promotion of the author itself. It’s as accurate as every breath that readers today have become keener and more conscientious about the author and the book itself. 

Whenever a reader searches about the writing of his favourite genre, he googles the author, goes through the reviews and checks out the experience and background of the author. 

The impact of writing, the understanding of language, and the connection with a reader play a significant role in creating a wholesome reading experience that can be built and enhanced via personal branding.

2. To Understand the Reader's Behavior - 

There is an infinite number of books available in every genre, so how does the author recognize his reader base? How does the author bridge the gap between his book and the readers? 

In understanding the reader preference, book marketing plays an essential role.

3. To Build a Genuine Reader Base - 

Along with the fathomless books, the count of readers is also not at any resting stop. So, contemplating the narrow road is much better than shooting arrows in the open air. The return on the book will be bounteous only when it reaches its actual readers.

4. To Boost the Sales - 

Similarly, like cooked food is supposed to be eaten and not kept in the fridge, the author aims to sell the book in the market to earn handsome revenue. 

Whether nationally or globally, the market cap will be worn off only by marketing it rightly and eventually boosting sales.

5. To Increase Your Influence - 

No feeling is more incredible than acknowledging and applauding your work's feedback. Even if a single individual is influenced by the words you have written, undoubtedly, the review will travel around and spread its wings. And that’s how your influence will induce from one reader to many.

Now that we’ve understood the importance of book marketing for authors, nonetheless, newbie or well-known, let’s check out some of the ways how you can achieve it:

1. Personal Blog - 

It is a thumb rule for any author who wants his writing to be versed widely. This is also a complimenting factor in personal branding, as highlighted above. 

In addition, the blog can be updated with previous or upcoming prints, the reader's feedback, your reviews in the same genre as other authors, and while you are working on your latest book.

You can always create a buzz about it to catch the reader’s attention and build an existential base. You can run some offers for early buyers, make a great mailing list by collecting details through the submission form, referral discount, and generate affiliates for your book.

2. Social Media - 

Among widely used social media platforms, X is one of the breakthroughs from breaking news to just a know-how tweet that can be significantly exploited to rapid-fire your followers. 

There are plenty of Facebook groups wherein the readers get together to share the recommendations and non-recommendations of specific books and authors. A Dedicated Facebook page could provide a beneficial edge through some daily activities.

Like in the physical world, word spreads from one mouth to another. Similarly, the chain is trailed on social media, especially on Linkedin. 

So you can always follow and be engaged on the pages, and groups where your targeted users visit the most and direct traffic to your platform.

3. Guest Post & Review Websites - 

Guest post is an added advantage to building your audience base and getting acquainted with other writers and publishers. Joining the community and exchanging guest posts can work out a great deal. 

You can enlighten yourself with more expansive areas and increase your writing scope, learn about other writings, what readers like and dislike most and generate more ideas.

You can always register yourself as an author on review websites like GoodReads, LibraryThing, and BookLikes. These websites don’t charge you to sign up, and you can conveniently promote your books, events, releases, and interviews.

4. Spend Time on Book Cover - 

We’ve often heard the statement ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover,’ but as much as you want to live with it, the cover does play an important role. 

So do not hesitate to hire a graphic designer for your book cover. The cover can be for a new one or a revamp for an existing one. 

Keep on experimenting with it, and it’s always good to hear directly from the customers. So run a check before giving the go-ahead. 

Design multiple options and compare them among the audience. Adding a blurb helps, readers understand the crux of the book. But mind you, the blurb's quality and quantity need to be subtle.

5. Distribution Channels - 

You can get in touch with retailers and aggregators as per your requirements and budget. 

Some of the largest retailers are Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing for digital books and Create Space for print books. They allow you to boost your sales a great deal. 

Apple iBooks is one of the retailers selling out in different countries and allows you to price differently based on geography. 

Some famous names include IngramSpark, Kobo, and Draft2Digital. Please note that each channel has an individual criterion for selling and commissioning, so it’s better to explore and compare the options carefully, especially for the newbies.

Conclusion - 

You author needs to promote your books, and we hope that the above points will help you do that effectively. Promoting a book can be tedious, but you can achieve it with practical methods.