Publishing your book doesnt have to be expensive or take years. How i sold 10,000 copies of my selfpublished book when failure isnt an option how to find your readers an interview with fauzia burke, author of online marketing for busy authors. Marketing a book is supposed to be the hardest part of selfpublishing. Check out these tips and discover how to promote your book successfully. Contact the leading book publicity agency for a free marketing consultation. Even after youre finished writing the book, you still have to figure out how to get it out there on the market. Launches are designed around getting your book into a bookshop and keeping it there. And then the marketing begins in this post, im going to reveal my entire plan for launching my selfpublished book. Integrity, authenticity, generosity, social karma 5 book marketing strategy, launching and relaunching.
How to market your selfpublished book by brian deleonard the reality of marketing a selfpublished book and finding your audience presents a challenge somewhere inbetween the faint dream of online success, and the sense of screaming unheard into the webs dark and angry void. Marketing your book stories of success by selfpublished. How im marketing my selfpublished book charlie hoehn. If your product book sucks, no amount of active marketing will help you become a bestselling author. But in every marketing decision and action, ask yourself. Self published author ten tips for pricing your book profitably. With amazons self publishing services you can reach millions of readers worldwide and keep control of your work. Marketing selfpublished books explained in 9 basic steps. Marketing selfpublished books requires a great deal of effort, if youre one of the few who wont be put off by the work, then you already have an edge. Marketing books how to promote your selfpublished book updated february 19, 2020 derek haines 4563 views 0 comments if you are a selfpublished author, there is often some confusion about the difference between marketing and promoting a book. Search keywords may be updated at the title level in your kdp account, and we recommend choosing up to five keywords that relate to content of your book. Find out who your book appeals to, get to know those people well, and be where they are, both online and off. In this free stepbystep guide, book buyer and book distribution expert amy collins shares the 8step process every self published author must go through to get your books selling on the shelves of.
The next and most important step is how to promote it. Aug 20, 2016 home book marketing how to write a book marketing plan the road map to your publishing success is guided by your book marketing plan. Marketing outreach can be grueling, and marketing as a self published author can be especially challenging. Below, book publicity and marketing coach and consultant, sandra beckwith, she shares her thoughts on how authors can do a better job of leveraging their online social networks to promote their books. How i failed at promoting my novel with amazon advertising. Fresh out of ideas on how to help your writing take off. In todays interview, i talk to debbie young about how this can be done. He reasoned that no other book with this information existed, and since i had done all the research and learned about what it takes to market a book in this unique landscape, i should let others know how to do it. Selfpublishing, marketing whether youre working with a traditional publisher or youre going the selfpublishing route, one things the same.
Self publishing is on the rise and many people are bypassing the traditional route of seeking the affirmation of publication worthiness via commercial. The two categories that i thought made sense in self help for my book. It was the latter which proves i think that sales increase when people can see the book in front of them. Now his book is being made into a major motion picture.
How i sold over half a million books selfpublishing youtube. Matador offers inhouse trade marketing and media and pr services for books and ebooks, based on many years of active marketing knowledge and experience. Book marketing campaigns certainly benefit from the effective use of online social networks. Book marketing questions to help you sell more books. I will begin my advice on how to promote a selfpublished book with the three. Marketing your book for selfpublishers and indie authors. All because of a connection through his facebook fan page. Marketing your book or ebook is probably the hardest part of successfully self publishing a book. Branding yourself as a business of one beals, jeff on. I will spend the rest of my life marketing my book, and ive really only just begun. One can apply this same idea to marketing creative arts. There are a ton of ways in which you can marketpromote your book. When it comes to selfpublishing, marketing is half the battle.
I know it has helped me when marketing my two books, direct selling power and incredible business. Why we provide free book publishing services were a nofee, independent book. Book marketing consultant tim grahl defines your platform as whatever plan and methods you use to connect with readers and sell books. There are hundreds of ways to market selfpublished books. Nothing much ever comes for free, especially a profit. Services like and amazons createspace mean its never been easier to become an author and publish a book. And here at self publishing school, you first have to learn the truth before taking action. Marketing is simply the effective communication of values. Oct 10, 2016 if this all seems like too much bother to take on yourself, dont rush to hire someone to do it for you. Marketing tips for selfpublished authors launch my book. How i sold 10,000 copies of my self published book when failure isnt an option how to find your readers an interview with fauzia burke, author of online marketing for busy authors.
As a result, i feel comfortable moving forward with my book. The book promotion professionals at iuniverse have established a few key marketing tactics and tips to help you develop a great strategy for promoting your book. Tips for using social media marketing to promote your book. Passive marketing is the most crucial part of your marketing plan. Marketing books in the christian marketplace by sarah bolme. Youre welcome to promote your book through thirdparty websites and other services, but we encourage you to monitor the tactics they use to promote your books.
I havent put it up for sale yet, but it will be released once it makes it through this final pass. As a self published author, you should know as much about marketing your book as you do about writing it. Marketing books how to promote your selfpublished book. When im writing and editing a book, its a purely artistic process. I kept saving articles, ideas, and examples to my evernote account, tagged book marketing. Marketing your self published book involves a lot of focused work, typically as much work as it took to write the book in the first place. Dec 09, 20 my first book on how i cured my anxiety is basically finished. As for the marketing and promotion side of the game, i needed to learn a lot more in order to be successful at selling my own books. May 29, 2014 my local easons bookshop stocked my book before easons nationwide took it and i enquired if the first lot had mostly sold due to people asking for it or if they were picking it up off the shelf. Some other ways to market suggested here may appear unnecessary. Weve written extensively about the importance of book marketing, how to promote a book and marketing a self published book.
But the good news is that marketing is also about fostering connections and relationships, which can be rewarding to you and your fan base. Its fast and easy to independently publish your print book with createspace, your digital book. Everyone wants to excel in their professional and personal lives. If you do an amazon search and find hundreds of books in your niche, thats a good sign.
Follow the wise and considered words of advice from irish indie author orna ross, founderdirector of the alliance of independent authors alli, in her post self publishers. Ten steps to marketing your selfpublished book whitefox. How my book became a selfpublished best seller forbes. Even if your book is the next great american novel, it wont be a success if it doesnt get into the collective conscious of the public. Theres a big difference between making your own book and marketing it. Never view marketing decisions as aspects of your artistic self expression.
Until you know how to market your books, dont pay for a book marketing service. Over the many months, i have researched and compiled many notes. If you want your book to be bought and read by the widest audience possible, you have to let readers know that its available and that means marketing your book. How to get self published books into stores and libraries indie authors are getting creativeand finding successin their efforts to get books into libraries and bookstores. How successful authors use social media to sell more books. But once a book is published and out in the world, i look at it through a commercial lens just like any other product. Mar 20, 2020 here are 10 reasons why their selfpublished books dont sell, and what you can do to make sure yours does. It led me to buy her book on marketing your book, which ill be reading next. I created my books as a fun project, not as a job although we will see if that changes this year. This centring process could be remembrance of ancestors and the past, dancing, praying, or all of these things combined.
It takes so much time networking and marketing my books. Getting your selfpublished book into bookstores and. How to get your selfpublished books into bookstores and. Here are 9 uncommon tips that ive used to turn my books into bestsellers, including my self published. Whether youre working with a traditional publisher or youre going the selfpublishing route, one things the same. I will begin my advice on how to promote a self published book with the three key elements a book needs to stand any chance or success. There are two main methods for getting your book listed for sale on amazon, as well as a couple of ways to make your book more attractive to readers.
Marketing my book keywords you can increase the visibility of your book s in the kindle store by adding additional search keywords to your titles. Sometimes it helps to look at book marketing as what it really is a business. Weve compiled a list of 89 book marketing ideas that will change your life, build your brand, and sell your book. Both firsttime and veteran authors will benefit from reading the book marketing bible.
It means connecting your work with the values and interests of your targeted customer. Vitalsource bookshelf is the worlds leading platform for distributing, accessing, consuming, and engaging with digital textbooks and course materials. It doesnt mean that niche is overpopulated, it means that niche is. It can be the beginning of a larger process, such as a product launch or a marketing funnel. Ebooks themselves make up close to 40% of all books sold, and in 2018 they are set to outsell print books. What bestselling authors can teach you about marketing self. You are responsible for ensuring that no tactics used to promote your book. At tck publishing, we provide free book publishing services for fiction and nonfiction authors in all major genres and markets.
With 28 years of experience, were the best partner you could have national media exposure has given me more media opportunities, greater credibility with my clients, and given me the confidence to know that others respect my. How to market yourself as an author before you have a book to. If you have a book, or are thinking of writing one or coauthoring one, establishing an online presence is critical. If you are of the mind that everything should be free when marketing your book, well good luck, but making money doesnt work like that. In the second of three posts in this series, allis childrens author advisor karen inglis shares valuable advice gained from the booksellers childrens conference on how to sell books within. Before you can sell your book, you need to market it.
Now that the sequel to my first travel memoir is in the works, i intend to implement what ive learned as i market my second book. Once your costs, distribution fees and expected profits are determined, its time to apply intuition to your pricing recipe. What are some marketing strategies that can help make my self. Youll get the first chapter of my book right away and free. Our 5step book marketing guide can increase your books success, helping you to generate buzz, make connections in the industry, and break into foreign markets. My wall street journal colleague adam najberg wrote a thriller set in china and tried publishing it himself. In a competitive, global economy, you need to stand out. As with other products, ive run a variety of marketing experiments for my books. How to market your selfpublished book by alex palmer jun 03, 20 for a selfpublished author, marketing the book can be more important than writing it. Top 10 selfpublishing companies for firsttime authors. This book is a great introduction to self publishing, and touches on all the topics, with many links to other sources with more details.
Consider advertising on facebook for its dynamic target marketing. While writing will get your book published, promotion and marketing is what will get you sales and more readers. Jun, 2012 one from bloomberg press which published my last book was more than three times as much, but still pathetically low. May 02, 2014 after a couple years of selling our books, my husband encouraged me to write a book about marketing in the christian marketplace. What does it take to promote your selfpublished book. If you think your book fails on any of the first three points, you will probably be wasting your time trying to implement the remaining book marketing. This guide will walk you through the 5 most successful steps to marketing your book. When marketing your first book, you need to check your pride at the door and be just a tad bit shameless.
Secret method to choosing the best amazon categories. Most published authors, especially of the first time variety, wont have access to a fullsuite of marketing. How to write a book marketing plan for publishing success. How to market your selfpublished book without a budget or.
We spent three months trying to negotiate a compromise that would give them. Promote that your paperbacks are on other websites barnes and noble, etc. Self published books now account for 30% to 40% of ebook sales. Writing is the best way to get ongoing publicity for your book. So, youve written a book and youre planning to selfpublish. In the introduction, i talk about speaking on the shetland islands, my article on the rollercoaster of being a writer, and that one day in new york is now available for preorder on amazon, kobo and ibooks. How to sell more books on amazon self publishing school. It is no surprise that almost all the book sales have been to explorers and miners, especially those with whom i have worked over the years. Many, if not most authors who selfpublish for the first time make mistakes. If theres one question that is eternal and ongoing in our author community, then its how to sell more books sales are always on our mind and wherever we are in the bestseller chart, we look a little enviously at those above us in this article, we have ideas and solutions for you 50 of them in fact which should be more than enough ways to promote your book. Jan 28, 2014 pricing your book is an art, not a science. Five simple ways to promote your selfpublished book. That is perhaps the most important take away from danny inys post 7 book marketing lessons for the selfpublished author on. The 12 best marketing books to grow your personal brand will expose you to the most effective tips on personal brand development, which.
The price is always too high for a book that is not needed. You can use the following checklist for marketing your ebook and successfully killing the book launch. Marketing a self published book online my business presence. Sep 15, 2014 marketing tools for your self published book. Even if your book is the next great american novel, it wont be a success if it doesnt get into the collective conscious. Marketing your book page 2 stories of success by self. Many selfpublishers especially those who are writing nonfiction give themselves the best chance of success by. However, if you dont getthe following nine marketing strategy basics right first, you could be wasting a lot of your time, energy and money. How to sell your self published book write on track.
Before publishing my books, i created a website where i offer free coloring pages and activity ideas to go along with the books information i made sure to include in my books. Jul 12, 2018 if you would like to sell your self published book on amazon, youll need to know how to get it listed for sale on the website. Book marketing for selfpublished authors marketing takes planning, organization, and consistent action. As an author, you should work only with firms that specialize in book marketing. Oct 14, 2015 how to market yourself as an author before you have a book to sell. She spoke to us about a daily routine of centring oneself before moving to the creative. How to market your selfpublished book mythic scribes. Curious for more details on my book marketing strategies. In midapril, i started a north carolina library campaign, because of their upcoming fye, which has resulted in six book sales thus far. Why i chose to self publish my book despite almost signing a book deal first, let me tell you about how the story of self publishing on amazon all started. This builds your authority and creates more revenue for. But even though i published my first book forty years ago and have authored seven since with a variety of publishers university, trade, and independent presses, i learned a lot from schriever. Grab my anatomy of a self published book pdf here by signing up for my list. While you can technically push a mediocre product and make some sales, you wont achieve longterm success with this approach.
How to get selfpublished books into stores and libraries. Start social media profiles either for the book or for you as an author. This is a vital step in the promotion and marketing of your book, andif done rightwill make the rest of the process infinitely easier. Obscure subjectbooks that do well are those in a popular niche. Be wary of marketing consultants who offer to help you market your book for a fee. The first thing authors should do before doing any type of marketing is to put together a marketing plan for their book. But if you are publishing by yourself and wish to be read by as many among your target audience as possible, you will have to learn an additional skillhow to market your books.