Thoughts on Marketing Your Book: For Real People
I am not a marketing expert, and I want to be clear about that here. What I can offer you in this realm is some best-practice advice and a few wacky ideas for those of us who can’t help but cringe when we hear the word “marketing.”
Quality writing IS quality marketing
Here is the first and best piece of advice I can offer you: best practice in any publishing venture is to publish only the most coherent, tightly edited version of your work. Launching a published book out into the world with typos and inconsistencies will undermine even the most fantastic marketing strategy. Instead of rushing to get your book out there, play the long game. Sometimes your first book is the best marketing tool for your second book. Sometimes your second book redirects readers to your first book. If any of your books are poorly edited or amateur in any way, your credibility as an author is gone and no amount of fancy marketing is going to resurrect it. The only way out of that hole is perhaps to publish a third, thoughtfully and professionally edited book to regain your readers’ trust, and that’s still going to be harder to market, at least at first. So, meticulous editing and consistency are key to your credibility and longevity as an author AND to your marketing strategy.
Most of the clients I work with do not have Big Five publisher budgets, and many handle their own marketing as well. Most of my clients are also real people, by which I mean authors who have a story to share and are better at what they do than they are at selling what they do. To be sure, I count myself among these friends and colleagues. My advice to all of us, including myself, is to think long and hard about what we’re best at and find a way to turn our current expertise into a marketing strategy that feels both effective and comfortable. For example, as an author, you know your audience. You know how unique and special they are, and you know what makes them tick. This is one place where authors excel. So, how can you market to your specific audience?
Identify your ideal reader
Sometimes getting your pre-publication or published book into the hands of a few devoted readers can create a ripple effect. Especially if you’re on a budget, you might consider sharing your book with friends or even a book club that focuses on reading within your genre. You could also approach this as a more formal process by assembling a “launch team” of pre-readers and beta readers who will offer you real reader feedback before your book hits the shelves, whether literally or metaphorically. This can give you the chance to make last minute changes if necessary. You might then ask these same readers to post honest reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, and wherever else your book might be available for review or purchase.
If your work is niche or genre-specific, this can be an excellent low-pressure strategy. IF your book is well-written and well-edited, your readers are likely to share or recommend your book among readers with similar interests, who will then do the same, and so on. Many readers are quite loyal and will continue to buy and read a favorite author’s work as long as that author continues to publish. Developing name recognition and consistency are vital to success with this kind of long-term marketing strategy.
Many readers of print books are old souls in a new AI-driven world. Small local bookstores do still exist, and they hold a specific charm for certain populations of readers, whether those readers are looking for nostalgia or authenticity. Schedule a reading. Meet people. Put yourself out there, on a small scale. Build a solid foundation of readers locally before aiming for a national or international audience. Or, similarly, attend genre conventions and set up a booth. You could even set up at your local farmer’s market if your audience might include readers who value a slower, more tactile life. Join your local Chamber of Commerce and market yourself through their channels to people who are interested in reading about their local community or supporting their community by reading a local author’s work.
If you choose to manage your marketing yourself, beginning on a smaller, more local scale, you’ll still want to create a media kit, a sell sheet, press releases, and an author bio. You’ll need to keep these documents updated and available as your book makes its way though increasingly wider channels. You may want to create an author website and sell your book directly. Here you could post a sample chapter or some Q &A with the author human interest features. If your book is related to your business or another established project, you might post sales media and a purchase link on your business or project website. Selling your book directly does not preclude you from also selling on Amazon and via other vendors. It’s simply another avenue for distribution and marketing.
The emotional aspect of marketing your book
If you’re anything like me, every single other part of the writing and publishing process feels more comfortable and more accessible than marketing. Marketing is scary because it’s an emotional event, and one we have very little control over. As authors, we make many, many decisions throughout the writing, editing, and design phases, and we have at least some small sense of control over these choices. But we cannot control how readers will react to our work once we release it into the world. We can do everything possible to create and publish the best possible version of our writing. And then we abdicate much of that control.
Writing is deeply personal, whether we are writing fiction or non-fiction from an academic, professional, or personal standpoint. It can be devastating to read harsh or critical reviews of our work, and it can be still harder to maintain a solid marketing strategy in the shadow of looming negativity. This is one reason I suggest starting locally, with friends and colleagues and neighbors who are likely to give you kind, honest feedback rather than with a large-scale onslaught that is more likely to inspire unfeeling responses from keyboard warriors who feel justified in their cruelty by virtue of distance and anonymity. In other words, take steps to build up your community and your confidence before you go big. None of us can make everyone happy, and it’s important to remember whose opinions carry weight for each of us.
