The truth about book marketing is that a writer has two jobs. The first job is to write a really great book. The second job is book marketing. No one will buy a book if they don’t know about it. Even if the book is being published by a traditional publisher, the writer will need to do most of the marketing.
Successful book marketing, like any other job that depends on marketing, is primarily about building a client list. As a writer, you might call this a readership or a fan base. In any case, the goal of your book marketing should be to collect a list of email addresses of as many of these readers as you can.
Here are seven ways to build a list of readers.
1. Join a Writer s Group. Most writers love to read. Join a local group or an online group and offer them the first chapter for free in exchange for signing up on your list.
2. Social Interfaces are an important part of book marketing online. Make a My Space page and a Facebook page. Make sure that you create a business Facebook page. This is slightly different than a personal one. Don’t forget to Twitter. These online communities can help you create a large list of followers.
3. Speak Regularly at Local Organizations. Your church, the Kiwanis Clubs, Soroptimist Clubs, Lion s Club, Elk s Club, local book clubs, libraries, locally owned book stores, and many other service groups need speakers on a regular basis. Ask everyone to sign up for your digital newsletter or a free report.
4. Write in your Blog weekly(at least). Create a blog website. A blog is an online journal. You can share your writing journey with your readers. If you’re writing fiction, tell them what dilemmas you run into. Maybe you have to make a choice about something in one of your character’s backgrounds. Your readers can help you choose. If you’re writing non fiction, you can tell about problems you may have getting information. If you re not techie (like me) and you want cheap, you can start a blog website in about ten minutes for free at Blogger.com. Offer a free monthly newsletter. When readers sign up, you add them to your readers’ list.
5. You can write articles and post them to article directories like Ezinearticles.com, isnare.com, and articlemarketer.com. You will want to write articles that are related to your book. This is obvious if you’re writing nonfiction. If you’re writing fiction, you can post articles about writing fiction and about creative writing. You could also post articles about the locale of your novel. Consider writing a review of another author’s book in your genre. It doesn t cost anything to post these to the article directories. Other people can come and copy these articles and spread them all over the web. There s a place to include some information about yourself and you can link back to your blog site. You want people to come back to your site and sign up for your list.
6. Give out something free. The best way to get people to sign up for your mailing list is to offer something free. Give away a free report, a free ebook, a free newsletter, a free chapter of your book. You want the item to be something related to your book. Something that can be digitally downloaded is much easier to distribute.
7. Visit Forums. Forums are places online where people with the same interests go to chat. Do an online search for “your topic forum”. Participate in the forums. Leave your blog’s web address so that your forum friends can come to your site and sign up on your list.
Rather than waiting until your book is published and then trying to find people who want to buy it, your readers will be waiting to buy your next book. They know your name and they like your work. Best of all, they’ll be excited to tell all their friends about your newest publication.
Author Resource:
Julie Coan has been a writer/educator for more than twenty years. Make sure your book is a success by learning all the latest book marketing techniques. You can find more information about book marketing by visiting her website at http://www.WritingBooksIsEasy.com .
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