By J Seph | Twitter: @jsephwrites
You’ve finished your self-published book and you are ready for your work to reach the masses. What is your plan to successfully generate sales? Have you put together a marketing plan to reach your target audience? No matter how well-written your self-published work is, do not rely on chance and/or word of mouth; sales without a marketing plan leads to no sales at all. Let’s go over a few marketing tools you may want (need) to work into your marketing strategy.
Generally speaking, your self-published book demands a website. This is a place to introduce both you and your self-published release. Your website should also serve as the primary destination for potential customers. An easy to navigate Home page, an attention capturing About page, and a purchase link should be the building blocks of your website. A great website should serve as a hub to raise interest and awareness to visitors of who you are, what you are selling, and why your work is a must-have. Depending on what domain hosting service you choose there may be some great website templates to get you started, or you can contract the work of web page design to a third party. As a rule of thumb, a top-level domain will typically leave a greater impression on potential customers than a subdomain.
Social media, some of the particulars I’ve discussed in another blog post, can be a great way to market your book. Social media serves a similar purpose to a website with a few useful additions. For one, you’re more likely to have engaging interactions on social media than the comments of your website. Also, social media also provides a bit more information about your followers than visitors to your website. This can allow you to make some generalizations about the demographics of potential purchasers. That information can be used to enhance/modify your marketing plan accordingly. In addition, social media gives you access to potential buyers of future self-published releases.
Another marketing tool for self-publishers is Google Adwords. This platform allows you to place ads for targeted keywords on Google searches as well as targeted ads on websites that host Google Ads. This is not a free tool and does require a moderate amount of experience for the best results. This is something that can be handled by freelancers on sites such as Fiverr for a modest price. Monetary investment is involved, but if done correctly Google Adwords is worth the investment.
Podcasting is a powerful marketing tool currently. Find podcasts related to your genre or self-publishing/publishing in general. This is a great way to introduce your work to a new audience. In my experience, there are tons of podcasters open to providing you a guest appearance because they thrive on providing content to their listeners in much the same way as an author thrives on providing content to their readers. Seek out those podcasting platforms that are a good match for you.
Lastly (and drumroll…), third party sites such as this one, Direct2Author.com! Direct 2 Author is a very self-publishing friendly site with a built-in audience where your work will definitely be showcased to potential customers. Direct 2 Author has flexible plans and pricing to fit within a variety of budgets, even a free and free-trial options. Direct 2 Author also has associated social media pages that allow you to network and engage in the community.
This is just a short-list of marketing tools for self-publishers. Be sure to cater your marketing plan and marketing tools based on your needs, niche, genre, target audience, common self-publishing industry practices, amongst other considerations. Have you come across any self-publishing marketing tools not previously discussed here? Please join the conversation in the comments below.