With many authors at home these days, we’ve suddenly got more time for the things we “should” do—including book marketing.
In a recent online meeting of our writer’s group, our theme was marketing in general, and book marketing for those of us who have books we need to promote.
But how do you create a book marketing plan which will work for you? There’s no one-size-fits-all plan.
Book marketing plan: decide how much time you’ll spend
The first step in developing your own plan is deciding how much time you’ll spend each day, or each week.
If you hate self-promotion, as many authors do, start off slowly. New to marketing? Spend a little time getting up to speed on how successful authors market their books.
In addition to deciding how much time you’ll spend, choose your marketing options—you have endless choices.
Your choices might include:
Advertising, both free and paid;
Social media marketing;
Content creation for promotion: you might decide to create some short stories or short nonfiction ebooks to enroll in KDP Select, for example.
Several authors have reported that their sales have slumped in the past month, whereas other authors have welcomed an increase in sales.
If your sales are lower than normal, don’t panic. Do a little marketing every day, then you’ll be ready when things pick up and people return to work and their normal lives.
If you’re an indie author who still considers free ebooks and 99 cent pricing for ebooks your entire marketing strategy, stop it. Free no longer works, unless it’s the first book in a long series, and 99 cents isn’t viable.
A couple of the authors in our group have chosen to write books specifically for KDP Select so that they’ll be free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
One author reported: “At the start of the year, I committed to writing three novels to enroll in Select this year. The first is doing well.”
She ascribes an uptick in sales this past month to Kindle Unlimited readers too. As she says, “Kindle Unlimited offers you a way to win new readers.”
Do more with what you have: consider your keywords
Have you written several books? Chances are that you’ve learned more about publishing, so why not revisit your keywords and book descriptions? (I know this is something I should do.)
Discoverability is the biggest challenge for all authors on Amazon, as well as on the other book retailers. If your readers can’t find your nonfiction books, they can’t buy them.
Check each book’s product page, and redo your keywords and description. Start by putting yourself in your readers’ shoes. If you were a reader, looking for the information in your book, what words would you use?
The minutes add up. At ten minutes daily, you’re spending 50 minutes a week (five days) on ensuring that you give your book the opportunity it deserves to be seen by its audience.
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