How to market your book

In recent weeks, a couple of authors have approached me to help with marketing their fiction books.

They know I’ve written three business books that sell through Amazon. (Here they are, thanks for asking.) The most recent was published in 2013, and I don’t do much to market them any more. Yet Kindle sales still trickle in every month, and the print copies are great to sell or give away at events where I speak.

Each time I replied: “Sorry, I don’t do book marketing.”

But, being a helpful kind of person, I searched Google to see if I could find someone to help them.

I found several companies that offer book publishing services and include marketing alongside that, but couldn’t find anyone that just does book marketing on its own.

So I collated some of the ideas I discovered into this list:

• Collect as many reviews as you can, both to print in the book and to be published on Amazon. Share them widely
• Ensure your Amazon author page is up to date
• Build a squeeze page or entire website that’s focused on your book, with all other activity directing people to that URL
• Host a launch party and book signing where you give a talk, maybe in your local bookshop. Get photos
• Print sample chapters into a booklet and hand them out at a busy mainline train station
• Send a press release to your local media, and to any location mentioned in the story
• Create a visual of your book cover with ‘coming soon’ printed across it, and share that across social media
• Offer to write a guest post for a blogger with an readership similar to yours
• Offer a free book to newsletter readers of someone who shares your target audience
• Include a page in the book with a QR code or URL linking back to a special landing page on your site
• Add a newsletter signup on your website. Give away the first chapter free in exchange for an email address. Send subscribers special offers, regular updates on book progress, inside secrets, and maybe even invite story development ideas
• Use Facebook ads to your target audience. When they opt in to your newsletter, they get the Kindle free (available via KDP Select for 5 days every 90 days – weekends are best)
• Get someone to interview you on video. Upload it to YouTube, embed it in your blog, and share it on social media
• Do giveaways on Goodreads
• Once the book starts selling, it’s quite easy to appear in the top 10 of a single Amazon category for a few hours, but don’t claim your book is an Amazon bestseller unless it actually is

I hope this is useful. If you have any other ideas, please add them in the comments below.

photo credit: What’s in the Window @ Magus Books via photopin (license)

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