Guest Blog By Barb Stuhlemmer

In Part One of this series on marketing your book, Barb discussed the value of your brand. Today’s blog covers two other important aspects of this key aspect of being an author.

In my first blog in this series, I looked at the importance of brand and how it needs to be represented in your book. Following on from our previous blog, here are some additional marketing considerations for you as you work into your role as a published author:

2. A List

If you have ever hosted a home party, like Pampered Chef or Steeped Tea, you know the first thing the consultant will make you do is build a list of people you can invite. The same is true for your book launch. If you do not currently have a list on social media, then you will need to write this list out of the people you know, to reach out to them in person. There are three types of people you want on this list.

a) Close Friends – These people will support you by showing up to your launch. These people love you and are excited about this incredible accomplishment. Most of them will have never considered doing the work of getting their stories onto paper so this will be a big deal for them.

b) Book Buyers – These are people you know (both friends and acquaintances) who will purchase your book and invite other people to your launch. These people know they love your stories, teachings, etc, and are looking forward to being able to read your book. They may include clients, audience members from past talks, or people that follow you on social media.

c) Influencers – These are people who are able to spread the word of what you have done to their list of people and increase the number of attendees at your launch, as well as help drive purchases on launch day. These people may include people from your inner circle and people you know but would not normally spend time with. If you are able to say ‘Hi’ to an influencer and they respond with your name, then you know them well enough to ask them if they will help share your launch event.

3. A reason to purchase

The challenge with getting people to make an online purchase on launch day is that there is more incentive for you to want them to purchase that day than there is for them to want to purchase specifically on that day. For you, the more books you sell within a 24-hour period gives you the possibility of becoming an Amazon Number One best seller. For a New York Times bestseller, the requirements are much more difficult and the actual details of this are a trade secret, probably meaning there is some professional judgment that goes into the evaluation.

So, you have a great reason for wanting your book to sell well in a short period of time. What can you do to entice the reader to pick it up today and not tomorrow? Many book authors have used affiliate marketing to gift other peoples’ services or products with the purchase of your book on launch day. You can also get your influencers to entice their followers to purchase specifically on that day as a marketing tool for their own products or services. You can add additional value by gifting the eBook or an extra, unpublished chapter, to those that purchase on launch day.

Other Events

Other events I have tried and seen used successfully by other authors are listed below.

• Sell your book at a convention or conference
• Become a speaker and sell your book at the back of the room
• Create a book tour to align with celebration or cultural event. (My mini-book tour, took place in October 2018, and it was aligned with Small Business month.)
• Use the book as additional value, e.g. a marketing gift, for other products or services you offer.
• Sell boxes of books as part of your negotiated speaking fee

Other Marketing

There are so many different ways to market a book these days with online forums and apps. Here are a few to think about.

• Offer your book to some trusted friends ahead of publishing your book so they can read it and post reviews on Amazon
• Put your book on Goodreads
• Pay for legitimate reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and other online book websites.
• Post your book events in groups on Facebook
• Write articles that support the content of your book and link to your book
• Participate in an online book forum or group
• Create a website for your book
• Partner with other people to put your book on their marketing material (e.g. website)
• Create business cards and bookmarks for each book you write.

Creating a book is really only the first half of your work. Actually, it is likely less, because once published, you can spend the rest of your life marketing that book.

About the Writer:

Barb Stuhlemmer is the author of Entrepreneur Awakening: Making the Move from Employee to Business Owner. She specializes as a confidant and advisor to the CEOs of small incorporated businesses, to manage the planning and implementation of strategic growth. Her clients have experienced as much as 800% increase in as short as 11 months of working with her.