How to Market a Book: 7 Strategies

It might feel like you’ve already done the hard work.

You’ve spent hours with a keyboard or notebook in your hands, writing away. You’ve edited, edited, and edited some more—and may have even struggled through the complicated process of self-publishing.

Now you have to go to the next step: marketing your book.

This entails getting your book “out there,” earning an audience, and generating sales. You just need to understand how to market a book.

With the right marketing tactics, there’s nothing stopping you from selling your book around the world and building the fanbase of your dreams—well, nothing but time and effort.

How to Market a Book

No matter how good a book is, no one will read it if it doesn’t have the right marketing.

International self-publishing websites like Amazon have brutal algorithms that punish the unaware. In order to get yourself that “best selling” tag, your best bet is to look away from the shops and start focusing on your audience.

In many ways, having a book is like having a website. It can be absolutely brilliant, but if it’s not presented to the right people, it won’t take off.

Luckily, with the help of modern technology, finding readers doesn’t have to be an impossible journey.

Strategy #1: Research Your Niche

Any good marketing starts with research.

For this reason, marketing shouldn’t just be an afterthought. It needs to be a part of your process from the very conception of your book.

If you fail in your market research, then you may find you’re writing a book that nobody wants to read. In some cases, this might not be a problem (such as you are writing for passion), but if you want to make sales and know how to market a book, then your writing has to be informed by your research.

Fanbase

I always talk about the importance of targeted content. No matter what you’re writing, it’s impossible to accommodate everyone.

Instead, you have to focus on the people who are most likely to enjoy your book.

This is where it’s helpful to create a reader profile. Ask yourself questions about what your ideal reader looks like and build a picture of their character. Understand the following about them:

Demographics.
How often do they read?
How many books do they read?
How fast do they read?
What information are they looking for?
How do they consume content?

Yes, your writing comes from you and is an expression of yourself, but it’s always important to keep your readers in mind. This will help you with the writing process, but it’s also going to help your marketing, and, eventually generating reviews.

Genre

If you tell someone you love reading, then what’s the next question they’re likely to ask?

“What genres do you read?”

Genres are one of the main ways we categorize books, so you should have a good picture of where your book fits into this. Each genre has unique characteristics that …read more

Source:: Kiss Metrics Blog