Author Marketing - Dawn A Denton

It’s tough to write a book, but the challenge really begins once the book has been published. Author marketing is like any other marketing for a product or service. Throwing a book on Amazon does not mean it will be seen or noticed. You really do need to work to get eyes on your work.

Create your author or book One-Sheet

This is where you brag! Share statistics, endorsements, and key facts about your book. Consider who you will be sending this to, and the information they will need to be sold on your book, and YOU. And don’t forget to add contact details.

Add an ‘opt-in’ to your website

There is a direct correlation between the side of your email list and your income. Once people notice you, they want to know more about your writing. You can send out a regular email with ‘behind the scenes’ of your writing, your writing journey, and your musings. Your fans will love this! And of course, you are preparing them for your next book.

Reviews

There are two aspects to reviews:

Ask for reviews: you may think people will just write a review, but they will forget. Most readers don’t realise how important their reviews are. They may tell their friends and family how good your book is, but they won’t necessarily write a review. Ask readers directly. You can do this in person, on the phone, through emails, and on social media.
Thank you readers for their reviews: it’s lovely to read a good review, but thanking your readers for taking the time to write something about your book is very important. If the readers have written a review on a website listing, there may be the capacity to reply to their review, comment, and reply to each review. This is not only a nice thing to do, but the algorithms will love this and push your book higher in search requests. This is not possible on all platforms but try, as much as you can. And, if you know the reviewer, please thank them personally too. They will be really quite chuffed! You can also thank them on social media (tag them if you can) and write a ‘Shout Out’ blog (with links to their websites if possible).

Social Media

Although writers are creatives, it’s often a challenge to come up with social media posts. Plan your social media around national or international events, special holidays and awareness days. This is content people are already engaging with online and will help boost your posts into the newsfeed of more people who follow you. These posts will also reach many more people if you use the relevant #s.

Also make sure all your social media profiles have the words ‘writer’, ‘author’, and your niche.

Shipping Promo

A good promotion is to create a giveaway of your book but charge for the shipping only. It works really well to get copies out to as many people as you can, which can. of course, generate more reviews.

Host Something

Your book is filled with something people can learn from you. If your book is non-fiction, you can host an event around the topic or theme of your book – a conference, YouTube channel, podcast, event, webinar, seminar, or workshop. You are now an author which raises your profile as an expert in your field.

What if your book is fiction? You can still host an event around the messages in your book, the journey of your writing, or bring other writers together to share their experiences of writing. You have something to share, and it’s not only your book, it’s YOU.

Google your Competitors

Find out what others in your niche are doing. Google them to find out where they are listed, what they are blogging about, where they are featured, and what they are doing to pop up everywhere. You can learn from and adapt to what others are doing.

You are a creative, after all, so use inspiration from others to carve out something special for yourself.

Blog

You are a writer and your readers will love hearing from you about all sorts of things. You can blog about where you get your inspiration from, how you feel about certain issues, what triggers you, your writing journey, about your characters and themes; and anything that makes you YOU. Share your blog posts on social media and email the links out to your email list.

Always have a ‘call to action’ on your blog posts. This is a link to your book/s, social media channels, an email sign-up form or a product or service linked to your book. You want your content to work for you!

Support other Writers

If you read something you enjoy, review their books on Amazon, or GoodReads, or write a blog about it. Share the posts of other writers on social media and engage with writers in Facebook groups.

Get Started with your Author Marketing

A book is a business. It has an income and expenses. Start by creating a ‘business’ plan to reach more people and ensure the right eyes get onto YOU and your book/s.