One of the most frequent comments I hear when people come to me after they’ve written and released their book is, “I realize now that I didn’t spend enough time marketing it.” They regret that they didn’t bother to learn book marketing strategies. They spent their time and effort on purely getting that book out of their head. Then hoped to get to best seller — and “hoping” is not an actual strategy.
I get it — it’s seems like a huge project just to write the book. There may not be a lot of bandwidth left to think about marketing. Maybe you’re convinced getting to seller is about manipulating an algorithm so why bother. However, this huge mistake will cost you the success of your book. Trying to go back and market after you release your book is much harder than gaining momentum for the release.
If you don’t talk about your book before you’re done, you are missing a huge opportunity. It’s a little like showing up to a party where you don’t know anyone, trying to make a grand entrance and no one turning their head to even look when you arrive. They don’t know you so why would they be excited you’re there?
It’s the same with your book. They don’t know anything about your book. Why would they be excited for its release?
Start Talking About Your Book as Soon As It’s an Idea
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I know it probably sounds scary to talk about your book before you’ve even penned one word, but I promise it will actually help you get it done. Letting people know can give you a sense of accountability too. Be specific — give them a date that they can expect it to be completed.
Now, if you have any naysayers or people saying that writing your book is long, hard, tedious, virtually impossible, block them out! This is a no negativity zone and you cannot afford to let other people’s fears sabotage your success.
As you write, keep sharing what you’re doing. Ask for feedback and suggestions but be selective with which you use. Remember you’re not writing to please everyone, you’re writing for your own purpose and for what you want the reader to walk away with at the end.
It may seem counterintuitive, but sharing some of your writing struggles (not drama) helps to humanize your journey and you’ll gain more fans.
Need help getting those raving fans? Check out his free training I did: https://youtu.be/dVyDX26lU2s
Leverage Social Media
If you’ve been wondering where you’re sharing and who you’re telling, say it on social media. There are roughly over 3 billion people using social media and most of them check daily. The average American spends 2 hours per day on social media. So go where you love to hang out and find out where your ideal audience is hanging out too.
Two simple ideas to grow your reach:
- Ask your friends to share your posts
- Find books similar to yours and share, “If you liked _______, you’ll love my new book _______ coming out ______.”
It’s important to keep a list of people who have liked your posts or commented. These are the people who are expressing interest in your book. Keep this list close by on your release date so you can remind them all it’s the day to purchase.
Get Features
Chatting up your book before it’s done helps to grow excitement. Remember your goal is to gain momentum and increase excitement leading up to the day of your launch so you can sell lots of books when it’s released. If you can guest blog or be interviewed on podcasts, you’ll be able to share your upcoming book (and grow your list) so that you’ll have even more people purchasing your book on release day. Your author bio should include your “forthcoming” book.
How do you get these opportunities? You have to ask!
How to Allocate Your Time
Social media marketing shouldn’t take you more than 15-30 minutes a day. I’ve found that using scheduling tools has helped me cut down the time I’m on social media and it also helps me keep organized. Additionally, I don’t get sucked into watching cute baby videos or scrolling through nonsense. I wrote a blog post called Top Tools to Automate Your Social Media Activities So They Doesn’t Rule Your Life that may help you save time.
Vickie Gould is a book coach, content marketing strategist, best selling author, and speaker. She believes that everyone has a story to share and a journey orchestrated for their positive growth — and that those experiences should be written in a best selling book.
Vickie helps entrepreneurs to write, self-publish and leverage their own business books to share those stories, grow their following, create more impact and turn readers into clients through her Easy Writer Program, one-on-one coaching and her free Facebook Group, Write Your Biz Book.
She has written 10 best sellers such as Easy Writer (named after her signature program) and Standing in the Gap, and helped nearly 100 others to become best selling authors as well. Get her cheatsheet called 5 Secret Strategies to Write Your Book Quickly at: bit.ly/5secretstrategies.
