Marketing and monetizing your book requires a different set of actions and strategies than those used to write the book.
Actually, marketing should start as soon as you make the decision to write the book and continue throughout the writing and publishing process. The goal is to attract and connect with fans, readers, and prospective buyers who are anticipating the book launch. Using your author website, social media platforms, and your email list you can develop a community who will be interested in you and in your upcoming book.
I encourage the students in my Fast Track Author Program to start building their identity as an author right away with a few simple techniques:
- Changing the headline of their Linked In profile to add: Author of the upcoming book (book title) sends a powerful message to their connections but also helps the writers think of themselves differently.
- Creating a Facebook business page for themselves as an author or for their book is another way to start attracting fans and followers.
- Building an author website or landing page with the ability to capture email addresses and sending communications to subscribers on a regular basis.
Of course, interrupting the writing process to perform marketing activities is the last thing an author wants to do.
Not to mention the question of what type of information to share when the book is only partially written.
Fiction writers can share information about the book’s characters, their back stories or artist renderings of them. They can share information about the book’s location and teasers about the plot. I work with nonfiction authors. We don’t have those types of visuals to share but there’s no reason to panic.
I like to make the marketing activities flow naturally from the milestones you reach as part of the writing process. Below are five things to share with your social media fans and email subscribers.
All of them are subtle ways to call attention to your book and will make it easier to generate future sales
1. The planned publish date of your book. This should be one of the first things you share with followers. Periodically remind them especially as the launch date approaches.
2. A copy of the book cover. Usually, your cover designer will give you more than one option. You can even have fun with this by sharing the versions and asking fans to vote on their favorite.
3. When advanced reader copies (ARCs) are available. Your most avid followers will want to be the first in line to get an early peek of the finished manuscript as well as help you out by providing feedback.
4. Excerpts from the book. This works really well if you plan to include inspirational quotes in the book. Create a graphic using a stock photo with the quote overlaid on top. Post it to your social media sites.
5. The book launch party date and details about the event. Whether you have a live event or a virtual event, share the information. Encourage your followers to invite others.
6. Use blog posts to build a connection with your readers, and build anticipation about your book. In your first posts introduce your topic and your goal for the book. Share the benefit statement that you created in your one paragraph book description and your ideal reader. Let them know you’ll be sharing behind the scenes information as you go through the writing process.
