Every day we are bombarded by a constant stream of book marketing tools, techniques and trends. Social media apps adding new functionalities, YouTube videos, podcasts, Amazon algorithm developments, website changes and email marketing updates. Added to this is the highlight reel of social media, making us feel that everyone else is hustling so much harder and smarter than we are. It’s enough to make even the most persistent author feel like giving up. So how to succeed in marketing without going insane from information overload? Here’s the secret: Simplicity. If you have too much to do and not enough time to do it in, trim your marketing down to the basics and focus your efforts where it counts.
Give your readers what they want
Successful book marketing is always with your ideal reader in mind. Aim to know your target audience as well as possible. What appeals to them? Why do they read your books? What is it that grabs their interest? The better you know the mind of your readers, and how you can bring them value, the more successful your book marketing will be.
Concentrate on doing you
Identify your unique selling point as an author. What do you offer your readers? How do you differ from other authors in your niche? What do you do well? Try to sum this up in a few words. In an oversaturated market your unique selling point is your way to differentiate your work and draw attention.
Make it genuine
Be yourself. There is no point trying to portray a persona that is not true to who you are. Being sincere helps you establish real connection and trust with your readers.
You don’t have to be everywhere at once
Being on a myriad of social media channels is not going to bring you a flood of readers. Concentrate your efforts where it counts. Choose the social media platforms and forms of promotion you know will reach your readers. Think about where your ideal reader is likely to be online and offline. What posts will catch their eye? Check your current social media analytics: What social media platforms are performing well for you? On what type of posts do you receive the most engagement (comments, clicks, likes, shares)? On what days? At what times? Adjust your marketing to suit your readers.
Quality over Quantity
Quality content wins over quantity every time. Aim to do less, better. You want your readers to be thrilled to receive your newsletter or see a new post so aim to give them value-packed content.
Consistency counts
There are plenty of authors who come out with a bang, posting four times a day then find this isn’t sustainable and drop off the radar a month or two later. Pace yourself and make it manageable. Set a marketing schedule that you can sustain long-term. A content calendar can be a fantastic tool here for setting out your schedule and planning in advance. To streamline further look into using free automation tools, such as Hootsuite or Buffer.
Although every new tool and trend promises overnight fame, book marketing is a long-term game where quality and consistency count. Stop listening to the overload of ‘new’ advice. Keep your marketing genuine and have your readers in mind, always.
Let’s face it: Most authors know that they should be growing their audience on social media but they are unsure about how to go about it. There are a number of marketing tactics you can use to generate interest in your work. Many of them free. All of them easily accessible. Here is what you can do to grow your social media today.
400 million users a day means you can’t afford to ignore Instagram Stories any longer. For authors, Stories can be a fantastic way to take your readers behind-the-scenes in your writing, show them what you are currently working on and keep them updated on upcoming events. In this post we cover all the Instagram Story content ideas, tips and tricks you need to reach readers, increase follower numbers and boost book sales.
Ah social media, the great double-edged sword of book marketing. On one hand, it is a fantastic tool for reaching readers, building a following and promoting your books, on the other, it can be a major source of distraction and wasted time. Here's how to market your book without frittering away those precious writing hours.
Twitter has been the social media author platform of choice for years now and despite competition from newer social media (Instagram, anyone?) Twitter’s popularity continues to increase. Twitter now has 330 million monthly active users and that number is growing by 4% annually. With so many people in the literary community on Twitter it’s a fantastic place to connect with fellow authors, agents, publishers and industry professionals. In this post we look at the top Twitter tips to increase your tweet visibility and connect with more readers than ever before.
As a writer your book marketing to-list can seem endlessly long. Often authors are already juggling multiple roles with full-time work, writing, childcare and other responsibilities. You may be navigating the steep learning curve of self-publishing, on top of which you are expected to do all your own book marketing and now maintain a regular presence on social media as well. How to fit in time for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram when it all seems too much? Let’s look at how you can work smarter instead of harder by simplifying your social media in three easy steps.
Looking for the best hashtags to grow your readership? Wondering how many to use for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube? Hashtags remain one of the most effective ways to grow your visibility and increase reader engagement. In this post we look at the golden rules of hashtag usage on every social media platform and essential hashtags for writers.
Social media is an integral part of your book marketing strategy but how long do your posts remain effective for? How many days or minutes until your content no longer appears on your reader’s Facebook feed or Instagram stream? All authors can benefit from knowing the average lifespan of their social media posts and how to extend post visibility to reach more readers. So let’s examine the major social media platforms further.
Video has been dominating marketing for some time now and going live leverages the benefits even further. Live streaming on social media is a fantastic way to stand out from the author crowd and connect with your readers in real time. The average adult consumes more than five hours of video per day and over a fifth of that amount is on mobile devices. With live streaming being available on almost every social media platform it’s becoming easier than ever to connect with your followers in real time.
If you are keen on trying out live streaming keep these tips in mind.
Facebook remains the world’s largest social media platform with over 2 billion monthly active users, many of whom use the site on a daily basis for both work and business. This number still continues to grow, with Facebook reporting a 14% audience growth annually. With such popularity surely Facebook should be the number one social media platform on which to promote your book? Dig a little deeper however and a different picture emerges.
With over 800 million users, Instagram is a massive marketplace that writers can’t afford to ignore. A solid Instagram following means more readers, more book sales and stronger connections with your audience.
So how do you grow your Instagram following? Here are 11 top tips that will help you grow your influence and reach more readers.
As a writer, you know how satisfying to have a flash of creative inspiration and feel that you just can’t type the words fast enough. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen every day. The reality is that you’re going to have days when you don’t feel motivated to write at all. Learning to say motivated is a valuable skill for any writer to learn. After all, if you waited around to feel 100% motivated before you write anything then your book may never get written. So let’s look at what you can do to stay inspired to write.
If we take up a new sport or learn a language or musical instrument we don’t hesitate to tell our friends. Yet to admit to writing, not on your life! For this reason, most writing advice books begin with the sage advice to declare yourself a writer. Surely beginner music lessons don’t begin with the advice to declare yourself a musician as you pick up your instrument every day. So why does the simple act of arranging words inspire so much self-doubt and public angst?
It seems that anyone trying to make it in a creative field has at some stage struggled with the dark cloud of self-doubt. It hardly comes as a surprise when you are going against the mainstream, creating something from nothing and in many cases working in isolation. Putting your work out for public consumption means rejection is inevitable.
As a writer you must grow a thick skin and not waste a second of your time worrying what anyone else thinks of you. Build your self-confidence and you will be bullet-proof. Know the following on your journey.
'To be a writer is to embrace rejection as a way of life' - Dana Stabenow.
The journey of every author comes with the challenge of rejection. Throughout history, talented authors have been rejected and overlooked. Even literary geniuses such as J. R. R. Tolkien and John Steinbeck have suffered the sting of dismissal. Here’s six famous authors that once faced rejection.
Our authors’ answer to their most overwhelming struggle was unanimous: Market Saturation. Their secret weapon? Instagram, Book Bub, email newsletters, and bloggers were amongst the most popular. We also chatted networking and approaching publishers with many authors stressing the need to consider all publishing options before going the traditional publishing route.
Creative doubt can be a crippling force, stopping you from writing or showing your work. It’s the what-if questions asked late at night – What if no one likes my book? What if people judge me on my writing? What if I’m laughed at? What if no one buys anything I write ever again?
Know this - You are not alone. Ever since humans begun to create they have been plagued by thoughts of fear and inadequacy.