by Lee Warren - Author, Editor, and EMoon Team Member
You’ve written a fantastic book, and now you need to get it into people’s hands. What sort of marketing tactics should you adopt?
First, consider how tech savvy your readers are and choose your tactics accordingly. You don’t need to put a lot of time and effort into creating TikTok videos if your prospective readers aren’t there.
Second, you’ll benefit most from implementing both long-term and short-term success tactics so you can see both slow and steady sales, as well as quick sales.
Third, your tactics can and will change. You need to be in the place (actual or virtual) where your readers hang out. If they move, then move with them.
Okay, now for the list (to get your creative juices flowing):
Long-Term Success Tactics
Podcasts. You can start one about the topic of your book or you can pitch your availability to existing hosts. Podcasts are great because they are niche oriented. As an added bonus, they are archived, so people can and will find episodes years after they were recorded (which means new listeners will hear about your book way into the future).
Email newsletters. Most people still use email. That’s what makes email marketing so effective. Many services archive each issue, so new readers can and will find them in the future. The trick is to send valuable, consistent content to your subscribers, rather than just telling your subscribers that you have a book available. Whatever your book is about, write about that topic in your newsletter.
Blogging. As you produce valuable posts for your readership, your material gets indexed in search engines, and it drives traffic to your blog/website for the long term. You do need to make sure you are producing content readers can’t wait to consume. Also, stay on topic/brand, and post consistently.
Short-Term Success Tactics
In-person events. Be creative. Don’t just do book signings in bookstores. If your book is about the benefits of homeschooling, rent a booth at a homeschooling convention and teach a class and/or sign books there. If you write fiction, go where your particular readers hang out – maybe it’s farmers’ markets, renaissance fairs or arts and crafts shows.
Video chat. The COVID-19 pandemic forced most people to learn how to use Zoom and other similar services. You can use that to your advantage by conducting free seminars on one of these platforms about your topic and mentioning your book at the end. Or make yourself available via video to book clubs.
Ads. You can move the short-term needle on sales by taking out ads via services such as Bargain Booksy, Free Booksy, Fussy Librarian, eReader News Today, BookBub ads and others. You can also target readers via Facebook ads or Amazon ads.
Social media. While selling books on social media is often a struggle, helping people is one of the best ways to do so there. Host text chats about your topic and offer your expertise. Twitter now has a feature called “Spaces” that allows you to host (or join) audio chats (no video) about any topic. YA and romance authors are having success on TikTok right now, so if you write in those genres, you might want to try that.
Don’t feel like you must do everything on both lists. Pick one short-term tactic and one long-term tactic, then have fun with them.