I can’t stress enough the importance of beginning to market your book before it is actually published. Even as you are writing the beginning chapters you should be asking yourself, “How am I going to get my audience to want to buy this book as soon as it hits the shelves?”
Marketing a book, no matter if that book is the next #1 Best Seller or the worst book on the planet, requires forethought, planning, and money. You cannot wait until you’ve published and hope that the masses will love it. Chances are they won’t because they don’t know it’s there!
There are several venues that you can use that are relatively low-cost and because of that require a certain amount of time to kick into any gear at all. Some of these are:
1. Web presence. You need a web site. You shouldn’t wait until you’ve sent the book to print but rather would be well-served to start this when you are writing the book. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t initiate a dialogue and work on search engine placement before you are published. Why not set up a basic site that covers who the author(s) is(are), what the book, COMING SOON!, is about and why we need this book NOW! You can and should have a newsletter, or at the very least announcements of importance, like—My New Book goes to Print Next Week! Building an audience takes time, and it cannot be rushed. You can spend oodles of money on Google Ads, Yahoo keywords, and so on but mostly you need to have your presence out there for a certain length of time before it begins to start rising in the search results. Unless you are independently wealthy in which case, go for a good adword campaign and you’ll be popping up in everyone’s side panel!
2. Press Releases. Vital! The least expensive and most important piece of marketing you can do. Do one for anything that is either newsworthy or of human interest. Do them as often as you can devise new hooks that don’t sound like just a reworking of the previous releases. You are hoping an editor picks this up and either runs it as is or wants to interview for more information. Write as if you are doing a story for the New York Times or Chicago Tribune.
3. Good marketing collateral. Invest the money to have good business cards, posters, sell sheets, brochures, and fliers designed. These are your advertisements and should represent you professionally as well as attractively. Get these done when you have the cover designed. Don’t, however, assume that a cover designer knows how to design marketing materials. Some do, many don’t. (Cover design is a whole other topic and needs to be in its own post!)
4. Set up speaking engagements. If possible, have a full calendar for 3 months by the time you send your book to print. Take a carton of books with you everywhere you go.
5. Hire a consultant, if you can. If you have budgeted for marketing, hire a marketing consultant to guide you through this process. There are many who specialize in book/publisher marketing.
How much you invest in marketing will be determined by 2 things:
- Your budget
- Your goals
Even with a small budget you can do some marketing. Scale the above to meet with a low budget. Add to the above when you have a larger budget.
Regardless of the extent, start marketing now … before the ink on the last chapter has dried. You’ll be very glad you did, later.
