5 Book Marketing Ideas to Boost Your Book Sales
5 Book Marketing Ideas to Sell Your Book Like Hot Cakes
“The difference between a writer and an author is measured by the number of books sold.”-
In today's world, where writing has become a profession and almost everyone is either writing a book, or aspiring to write one, the only way to stand apart is not just to be a good writer, but also a better marketer and story-seller. A writer's talent of being a story-teller is not visible, if the writer is not a good story-seller as well. As harsh as it may sound, but that is the reality.
So once the reality check knocks on your door, you realise that being a writer is just half the journey of becoming an author. There are few skill-sets which help you bridge the gap between a writer's sign to an author's signature and book marketing tops them the most; the underlying objective being - to augment the book's reach and exposure.
So let's dive into 5 such ideas to either broaden your platform which would lead to greater sales in future or to lure readers into turning your last written book into a bestseller. So here goes:
1. Building a website - Everyone and everything needs a home. So do the books written by you. A neat stack of all your books in one place on your website increases their presence as well as their reach to readers. Sharing just one single link of your website can showcase your complete body of work.
Even if it is your first ever authored book, when it comes to book marketing with your own website, you can do a lot of things some of which are:
– Publish your book’s landing page on your site.
– Post blogs about your upcoming book
– Create a countdown timer for the book’s release date
– Link to video clips about the book on your website
– Communicate directly with your email subscribers about new releases or your current blog post
2. Building and/or growing email list - In the present day and age of digital marketing, having a mailing list of prospective customers is pure gold. Since you are the owner of this list, you can decide what you would want to communicate with them and how you want to do it.
Although building an email list takes time, it is a sure shot way of getting a captive audience and increasing your fan base. These fans in the long run become your brand ambassadors and help in getting more readers added to your list.
As per statistics, consumers who purchase products through email spend 138% more than those that don't receive email offers.
To get started on collecting this very important data, sign up for an email management system like MailChimp and start building on the prospective readers database.
3. Reaching out to influencers - All of us are aware of the strong impact that influencers have on their followers which are substantial in number. Targeting and reaching out to a few of these influencers in your niche and asking them to help promote your book through their social media accounts can go a long way in increasing your list of readers. Also try and get interviewed by them via a podcast or live video that can expose you as an author to their followers, which in turn could amplify your book sale numbers.
4.Using social media platforms - The indomitable power of social media platforms is no longer lost on us. A few clicks here and there, and you reach a huge number of audience. But it can get mighty confusing as to which one of the social media platforms should one use. Restrict to using only 2 or 3 so that time can be managed better. The ones that you are most comfortable with and ones where you have an extensive reach amongst your followers should be focussed upon. Smart usage of hashtags is one of the keys to unlock the vast potential of book marketing in the world of Social Media.
5. Effective pricing - No marketing campaign is complete without effective pricing of the goods or services to be sold. Running a promotional offer in a pre-order campaign where you offer the book at a discounted price than the printed cover price, increases your chances of book sales. Publicise this offer through various social media platforms and send an attractive mailer/newsletter via email.
While all this may seem daunting and time consuming, it is a surefire path to success. The path that will lead a writer to become an author, that too a bestselling one.