5 Tips for Marketing Your Book

Image Source: (Firmbee / Unsplash)

Marketing your self-published book can be difficult when you don't have any experience. Hiring a marketing professional can be expensive, but it can be worth the investment. But there is a lot you can do yourself, so here I'll give you 5 tips to get you started. 

1. Go to Your Audience

When you are starting to advertise your book, think about your target market. Where does your target market go for advice on what to read? Do they prefer one platform over another? For example, a lot of YA readers are on twitter so it would make sense to advertise there. 

2. Use Social Media

Build your author brand early, and a great way to build an audience is on social media. It's free to create an account, and an easy way to engage your audience. Pick a platform that your audience uses and focus on that. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the number of platforms, so choosing one is a great way to start. Interact with your audience to grow your follower count and your base. Make sure you're authentic and not spammy—just posting ads for your book won't encourage readers to engage with you. Join in conversations happening in your audience, share other books or other content they might enjoy—engaging readers will help establish a base and will ultimately lead to sales.

3. Send out ARCs

Sending out ebook ARCs (advance reader copies) is a great way to get your book to reviewers, bloggers, etc. without spending any money. Think about where your target audience gets book recommendations, and reach out to those people. The only investment here is your time, so it's a great way to generate interest. Sometimes authors give readers copies in exchange for a review, which is especially helpful on platforms like Amazon where reviews heavily influence purchase decisions.

4. Start Marketing Before the Release Date

A great way to get sales going is to do a preorder, and start advertising before launch to generate interest and excitement. It might seem easier to ignore marketing while you go through the process of writing, revising, etc. but if you don't market your book it won't sell. There are many books published every day, so you have to make yours stand out. Readers might stumble across your book on their own, but to get consistent sales you have to let your audience know your book exists. In my next post I'll lay out a timeline for marketing your book.

5. Make a Plan

Think about what you are going to do to market your book. Have a plan and timeline before you start marketing. If you don't have a plan, ads might end up looking sloppy or inconsistent.