Marketing Your New Release
So, you’ve written a book. Congratulations! But now what? How do you get that book into the hands of readers? How do you even find readers? The answer is marketing, of course, but if you aren’t a marketer by trade, the world of publishing marketing can seem completely arcane and confusing. Here are a few tips that can help you organize your thoughts and make a solid marketing plan.
Metadata, Boring but Necessary!
It’s not the most exciting part of creating a book, but it’s a vital piece of the puzzle when you’re looking for readers. The reality is, self-publishing is a crowded space, so making sure you are creating metadata with keywords that will bring your target audience right to your book is vital. The good news is, if just the thought of marketing analytics makes you yawn, you don’t have to figure out metadata alone. You can reach out to us here at SPS and we’ll be more than happy to help you craft metadata to increase your book’s discoverability.
Develop a Basic Marketing Message
Who will love this book, and what do you think will get readers excited about your book? Work on developing a few different types of quick messages that can get a reader’s attention quickly. Think of a few keywords or tropes that will get the attention of readers, and develop marketing messages that you can put on your website, socials, and other outlets. Just be sure to keep the tone and messaging consistent! And if you haven’t already, this could also be a pretty natural time to start thinking about a business plan. Even better, we’ve got a free template that can help you get started!
Get Ready for Socials
This is a big one! Once you know how you’re going to market your book, be sure you’re ready for social media. Update your profiles to feature your new book cover. Develop a hashtag. If you’re not already a part of book-centric social media groups like BookTok or Bookstagram, start working on content that will gain viewers in those spaces. Make sure you’ve got some graphics that feature your book title, the cover, any hashtags you’re using, as well as some great pull quotes from your book that both you and your readers can share easily. And if you’re finding working on your online platform to be a daunting task, drop us a line here at SPS. We’re more than happy to help you carve a corner of the internet out for yourself and your growing readership!
Find Reviewers
Reviews are a huge part of book marketing. So making sure you can get copies of the book into reviewers hands (even advanced copies when you can) and making sure you encourage your readers to leave positive reviews on places like Goodreads and Amazon will help get your book in front of readers, but it will also help pique the interest of potential readers. If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to finding reviewers, try putting out a call for book reviewers on your socials or other online reading groups.
Call in the Experts
If thinking about all of this has got you feeling overwhelmed, don’t worry! You don’t have to do this alone. Even better, there are a lot of amazing people out there that can help you market your book and get it in front of as many potential readers as possible. So don’t be afraid to call in the experts! Our incredibly talented colleagues over at Written Word Media can help you through some of the really complex parts of the book publishing process like email promotions, brand building, and can even help you navigate complicated online platforms like Amazon and Facebook. You can head to their website to check out their services to start building your marketing dream team today! Book marketing doesn’t have to be scary, and with the right tools and the right team, it won’t be.