Authors starting out, and sometimes seasoned authors, struggle
with this tricky concept of producing a marketing plan, or marketing campaign,
whatever you want to call it.
So I am going to very briefly, but effectively, give you some
examples of what you can do in a marketing plan.
1) Give out advance review copies (ARCs) to
bloggers who will run your review during the release of your book. Make note of
these links so you can promote them intensively for your book launch and even afterward to keep the sales going!
2) Reach out to radio shows, podcasts,
anywhere that you can discuss your book to a new audience, and again, promote
your appearance.
3) Put together a book launch party on
Facebook or Goodreads just to make people aware of when your book is released.
4) Put your book up for pre-order and let
people know.
5) Word of mouth, on social media, let people
know that your book will be released on a certain date. Ask contacts for
retweets, mentions etc to increase awareness.
6) Get reviews before book release.
Now Amazon won't allow this, but Goodreads will! List the book on Goodreads a
month before the release, send out to reviewers, and when they have read it,
assuming they enjoyed it, ask if they wouldn't mind posting reviews/ratings on
Goodreads.
7) Do a short horror story collaboration
before launch. Work with an author in your genre on a short story and promote
it. You are tapping into the other writer's loyal readers, and they are tapping
into yours, win win!
8) Contact papers/magazines. Any publication
that you think would be interested in mentioning, reviewing your release, email
them. Don't hesitate, just do it. The worst they will say is an incredibly
polite 'no'.
9) Put together a press release. Look online
and there are links of how to write a press release.
10)Promote press release. Generally, promote it, but there are websites
online that will feature press releases for FREE. But some do charge so do your
research!
11)Do a blog tour. Give away snippets from the release for bloggers
to feature on their blogs, being seen by the blogger's audience.
12)Make a book trailer, or pay someone to do
it. And yes, promote it.
13)Change all profile pictures on social
media to the book cover for the upcoming release, building a hype.
14)As soon as you get the cover back from the
designer, or you finish making it (clever you!) do a cover reveal to your
readers.
15)Contact other authors and ask for mentions
to your book. But be polite, and don't assume they will say yes.
16)Put together a newsletter, build a
subscriber list, mention to them when the book is available to purchase. And
remind them on the release date.
17)Have a news section on your website and be
very clear that you have an upcoming book and when it is available for pre-order
and to purchase.
18)Imagery is everything. Make or pay someone
to produce some bold, professional looking banners for your book. Look online
at what authors are putting on their banners. I will be blogging a list of what
to feature on banners, where to get images, or where to find people who will do
a fantastic job for a reasonable fee. So watch this space! Or you can always
subscribe to my newsletter if you so wish, I email monthly, including blogs and
links to help other authors, as well as my upcoming releases etc.: http://wesleythomashorrorauthor.weebly.com/
TWO CRUCIAL THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN BOOK MARKETING:
1) Be super polite and understanding.
2) Do anything and everything that will build a hype.
Oh and use your
common sense. If on Facebook you only have 50 likes on your author page, then
promote every so often. Whereas if you have a Twitter account with several
thousand followers, you can promote more frequently. Don't spam, that will give
people a bad impression of the book before it's even released!
Stay tuned for Part 2 – make sure you subscribe (you also get a
free book) so you don’t miss any future articles/posts.
If you’d like to read more articles like this or require author
promotional services and/or editing, check out Wesley’s blog here.
