Book Marketing: Don’t Go At It Alone
Guest Expert: Tony Eldridge
Most authors achieve a lifelong goal when they write and publish a book. But it’s not long before the stark light of reality hits when they realize that they now have to put on the hat of marketer. For many, they have no desire to engage in book marketing, or sales activities, and yet the success of finding new readers for their book will depend on it.
One principle I learned early on is that you can achieve a lot more success with people behind you than you can achieve if you try to go at this alone. And not just in getting people to read your book and asking them to tell others about it. I’m talking about ways to get your name in front of many people. By default, then, your book will ride on the coattails of your exposure.
So, how can you accomplish this? Consider these ideas:
1. If you have a blog, invite people to submit guest posts: You can almost mark it down as an automatic that people who guest on your blog will tell everyone they know to visit their post and comment on it. This can drive a ton of new traffic to your blog and put your name and book into the crosshairs of those new visitors.
2. Look for opportunities to do a guest post on someone’s blog: This works the same way as the last suggestion, only now you are being introduced to the blog owner’s established readers. You know, people buy advertisements to get their message in front of many eyes. How much more powerful will it be to get in front of eyes who are really interested in learning from you because you will provide value to them? And you can count on having your book, website/blog mentioned and linked to. Just look at the end of the post for proof and you will see many ways to find out more about me.
3. Help promote another author’s book: This follows the old adage that if you cast your bread upon the water, it will return to you in many days. If you truly do good to help others, they will be more eager to find ways to help you by mentioning your book to their readers as well.
4. Be a contributor on social media sites: There are many reasons people participate in social sites like Facebook and Twitter. One big reason is to find great information and answers to their questions. If you look for ways to chime in with answers that others can use, you will position yourself as someone who people should keep their eye on. That, in turn, brings more exposure to your book.
5. Keep current on your industry: If you really want to make a splash, keep up with changes in your industry, whether it’s technology issues or mergers and acquisitions, and share the new news with people. If you do, people will learn to keep an eye on you and get your take on the changes. They will also be likely to share your “hot news” with people they know.
6. Share good tips liberally: If you come across a post or article that you find valuable, share it with people who follow you. By doing this, you get a “Two-fer” benefit. First, just by letting people know that you found a great article on XYZ they should read, you also catch the attention of the post’s author who will probably be grateful that you recommended their work. Getting on the radar twice with one action (your readers’ and the article’s author) is a great way to compound your marketing efforts.
7. Don’t be a stranger: There is no hard-fast rule on how much you need to visit social media sites or put out a blog post, but you want to make sure that you do it often enough that you don’t permanently drop off of someone’s radar altogether.
8. Be open to joint ventures: If you are looking for ways to promote your book, then you can count on the fact that there are many others looking for the same thing. But your joint venture opportunities don’t always have to be with other authors. Think outside the box and see if there is a way where you have a complementary value to offer another entrepreneur. For example, your local financial advisor may be open to having you speak to a group of his clients on how setting goals helped you publish a book. The same wisdom you share is relevant to his message that setting goals will help achieve the financial dreams of his clients.
These are just a few ways that you can start to consider how to get others involved in helping you spread the word about your book. As you can see, many do not even put your book front and center, but they all help build exposure about you, and that will automatically mean more exposure about your book. So, as reality sinks and you come to realize that marketing is largely up to you, don’t sweat it. Just find ways where you can get other people involved in helping to promote you, and your book will be a big winner as well.
Tony Eldridge is the author of the award winning action/adventure novel, The Samson Effect, which Clive Cussler calls a “first rate thriller brimming with intrigue and adventure.” He is also the creator of Marketing Tips for Authors, a site that publishes free tips and videos to help authors learn marketing techniques for their books. You can read Chapter 1 of his latest book, Conducting Effective Twitter Contests on BookBuzzr. You can also sign up for his free video tips newsletter and get access to over 45 minutes of free video tips instantly just for signing up now.
