Marketing is an absolute must for today’s serious author. Fact is, no matter which publishing model you use, as the author of your book you are expected to do a certain amount of marketing yourself. This is sometimes the most difficult aspect of the writing business, but it doesn’t have to be. Use the list below as your marketing checklist in an effort to build your platform and sell more books. We believe this list features the most critical marketing activities every author should manage.
- Author Pages (Amazon, Facebook, Goodreads, Author website)
- Social Media Presence (Facebook author page, Linked In, Twitter, etc.)
- Your Email List (to communicate updates)
- Book Signings (individual and joint author signings)
- Book Reviews (the more the better)
- Book Awards (the more the better)
- Press Releases (announcing the launch of the book)
- Business Cards (with a picture of you and your book)
- Book Giveaways (Goodreads, Rafflecopter, etc.)
- Book Trailers and Videos (as many as possible with keyword rich titles)
- Cover Reveal Events (online and offline before the book is available for sale)
- Bloggers for Exposure and Reviews (check out theindieview.com)
- QR Codes (for bookmarks, flyers, postcards, etc.)
- Paid Advertising (Google Adsense, Facebook Ads, Bookpub, etc.)
- Live Events and Speaking Gigs (selling your books at the back of the room)
- A Virtual Assistant to Help (or student who knows computers)
We also suggest the following rules of thumb:
- Use content from book reviews and press releases in your Social Media marketing efforts
- Use your fan base and advocates to help spread the word about new books and writing projects
- Market as much as you write! Or hire someone to market as much as you write
- Maintain a consistent online presence with 3 – 5 Facebook posts per day and one blog post per week