Five Areas Of Focus to Relieve the Drudgery of Book Marketing
Writers, You can do it!!!
Hello writers! I had the pleasure of meeting with the Brandy Valley Writers Group recently thanks to my good friend, Author Geraldine Donaher (“Still”). What a great group, thanks for having me! I leapt at the opportunity to talk about book marketing for writers in the beautiful town of West Chester!
Some revelations on book marketing for writers
Book writers absolutely hate book marketing! Not exactly a revelation for this audience but it always interests me to be proven right again. Writers find bookmarketing to be drudgery, stressful, expensive and absolutely hate to “sell themselves.”
My goal is simple (but difficult).
Provide a roadmap and hope for writers who wish their books to sell but who don’t want to sell their books. (get it? Am I clever or what?)
Below are Five Areas of Focus To Relieve the Drudgery of Book Marketing!
You can DO it Wirters!
First, It’s never too early or too late to start to market your book. I encourage writers to have a separate notebook for book marketing where they jot down marketing ideas as they write, as the ideas come to them. I’m hoping that writers are thinking about the themes that run through their book, the messages they hope to impart with their book, and the potential audience for this book - people who they know in their hearts will purchase and adore this book. Write them all down.
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Second, ponder your goals for your book. Is the book going to be just for your family, just for your business, or do want it to be a “trade book” - a book that is available everywhere you buy or get (ie. library) books. Once you have decided the goals for your book, decide whether to traditionally publish or self publish. Your tasks under the book marketing umbrella become pretty specific as a published author, for example. You will need to find an agent and prepare a query and or book proposal, so focus your energies there. If you’ve decided to self publish, you want to focus on learning the self- publishing business and deciding if you want publish an eBook alone or an eBook and a paperback. Consider and learn your distribution options. Do you want to distribute that book online only or also in brick and mortar bookstores and libraries.
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Third, book distribution is a major part of the book industry but I submit that it is a major part of book marketing as well. If you don’t have proper distribution (how your readers will be able to buy your book) for your book whether traditionally published or self -published, you will not sell any books. Add distribution to your list of five things to consider. As a self-publisher you will have to decide and establish your distribution channels.
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Fourth, book reviews. INDUSTRY BOOK REVIEWS There’s an opportunity for every author, well before their publication date, to submit their manuscript to industry reviewers. For the traditionally published authors, your publisher will handle this for you but you MUST ask to make sure they will include it as part of your book’s marketing plan - not all publishers include it. For the self-published author, the process is not difficult but it does take a little time - time that I promise you is well worth it, simply for what you will learn about your book by filling out the submission documents. There are about eight or so book industry reviewers (I list them in my book, Get Your Book Seen and Sold), but your book must be submitted before its publication date and in some cases up to five months before its publication date. You don’t HAVE to submit to industry reviewers, but it’s important as an author to know that that opportunity is available to you and there is a time limit on it.
PRE-PUBLICATION BOOK REVIEWS You also want to reach out to people who may be interested in reviewing your book in advance of your publication to get a pre-publication review quote that you may want to put on your book cover or on the inside pages. Again, these are two tasks that must be done before publication.
(For ideas of how to find these elusive people, these elusive book reviewers, shoot me an email at wjcwolk@gmail.com with subject line “REVIEWERS”, I’ll point you in the right direction)
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Fifth, take the time to know your book inside and out. In order to market your book, you have to know your book. I suggest researching and identifying your book’s message, audience and hook and then developing an elevator pitch ( a five word description of your book ) so that you are prepared to mention/sell your book to whomever you come in contact with before and after your book publishes. Audience, Message, Hook, Elevator pitch and are especially important to know when pitching your book for a story or review in any media outlet (magazines, newspapers, radio, tv). Knowing your book is also going to help with the content ideas that you will need to prepare your book’s back cover and online book sale pages.
Finally, and most importantly, I remind authors that they are not selling themselves, they are selling the fantastic story (fiction) or valuable information (nonfiction) that their audience already desires! Writers, tap into the creative juices that helped you to write your book to market and sell your book.
Here’s More Help
Thanks to the Brandywine Valley Writers Group for having me. If YOU want me to chat with your writers group, I am happy to do it - LIVE if in the SE Philly or NJ area or via ZOOM. Email me at wjcwolk@gmail.com with “SPEAKER REQUEST” in the subject line.
To develop your own plan to market your book, my latest book with Julie Murkette offers the perfect exercises and workbook to help you to do it right. Get Your Book Seen and Sold (awarding winning, people!) is available for sale.
If you want one-on-one guidance, shoot me an email with “HELP” in the subject line and we can set something up.