The brilliant thing about marketing a book is that its readers exist, somewhere, and they will want to find out about your book. To reach your readers you don’t always have to spend money either.
Here are my top five free book marketing strategies.
1 – Optimize Your Online Presence
- Have a killer cover and blurb and be consistent about using them across all your online channels.
- Check everywhere your book appears and that your presence is consistent and correct. Decided to change your blurb? Fine – but make sure you replace it everywhere your book appears. Its useful to keep a list if you aren’t using a publisher who manages a feed to all your outlets.
- Have a decent author picture and biography and again, keep it consistent.
2 – Keywords are, Well . . . Key
Identify the keywords for your book and utilize these in copy and on book outlets to help readers find your book. Especially important if you are self-publishing.
Keywords are the words that people are most likely to use when searching for your book or a book like it. There are some amazing online tools, including Google’s suite of keyword tools, that can take the heavy lifting work out of identifying what your keywords are.
3 – Get Social
Social media can really help you set out your stall and communicate with your audience. It’s especially useful if you don’t have a website. It’s a place you can direct people to find out more and to have a dialogue with you. And it’s free! Unless you choose to promote with ads, which is a valid use of a limited budget. Choose a social media channel that is appropriate for your audience. Check out what your audience is using in terms of social and go there to reach them.
A word of warning here – if you are a social media naysayer or not committed to updating at least weekly then this is not for you. You only get out of social what you put into it. If you aren’t committed then put your precious time and effort elsewhere.
If you aren’t sure about whether social is for you then take advice from a marketing expert. I might know one!
4 – Cosy Up to Your Local Bookshop
I get it. If you were a massive extrovert you probably wouldn’t be a writer BUT you want your books to be seen and gain an audience. That’s much harder online. If you have a local bookshop then talk to them about possibly stocking your book. I have a ton of advice around this but generally, think about what you can offer your bookshop to incentivize them to take the book. Ask yourself – If they take my book what can I do to help them sell it?
5 – Keep At It
So your book has launched and you haven’t earned enough to retire to the Bahamas? Well, 1) you might need to manage your expectations about author earnings a little BUT 2) The game isn’t over. Your readers are still out there and you can still utilize so many channels to reach them. Word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful book selling tools and that can take a while to build. Feel like you’ve explored every channel and your book is still languishing? Then it might be time to reach out to an expert to inject some creative promotion ideas into your marketing strategy or to check you really have explored every avenue. But the main message is – Keep the Faith!