Whether you’re in the midst of writing your masterpiece or whether you’re already a published author, I’m sure you’ve been wondering how to promote your book. Here are four techniques you can use to establish your own public brand.
Skip the Publicist
If you’re on a tight budget, I’ll let you in on a little secret about publicists. They charge thousands of dollars for something you can do yourself if you have the time and persistence.
What they do is reach out to bloggers and book reviewers and provide them with a copy of your book. These people blog about related topics to what you’ve written about and can easily be found online through a simple Google search. Be creative with your pitch so you can stand out against other people trying to do the same thing. It’s also important to research the blogger first so you can personalize your pitch.
You could even offer to write a guest blog post on their site for free as long as they allow you to put a link to purchasing your book or your website within the article. The article should be relevant to your book and somehow tie back to it through enticing the reader to want more information on your topic.
Author’s Website
Assuming that you’re going to continue authoring more books, it’s a good idea to create a website under your own name or perhaps the topic of your book(s), assuming they would all be related. Creating a website enables you to blog regularly (preferably weekly) about the topic you’re passionate about and draws in an audience of people that are seeking help in that area on the Internet. For example, if you’re a holistic nutritionist like Jenn Pike who wrote a book called ‘The Simplicity Project’, it would be a fabulous opportunity for Jenn to create a site where she can feature gluten-free recipes to help keep her readers up-to-date on new ideas.
Email Database
As a part of your website, it’s important to allow visitors the opportunity to sign-up for your newsletter so you can send them excerpts from your blog and let them know if you’ve published any new books. You can use inexpensive software like Mail Chimp or Constant Contact to send out these emails and provide a sign-up form on your website. After all, what good is an audience if you don’t know how to reach out to them when you have relevant information or new products to promote?
Be Social
Pick a couple of social media platforms and concentrate on them. This way you can avoid spreading yourself too thin across multiple networks. If your target audience is over 35, I would recommend Facebook. Twitter attracts a younger audience, and if they’re really young, in fact, they don’t even use email anymore. If your book is business related, Linked In is a great fit because this is where the majority of successful and affluent business people reside. Since you’re a writer, sharing great content will be a snap for you.
When you’re on a social network, focus on helping others, not selling. Conveying your expertise through thought provoking articles linked from your blog, wise quotes and excerpts from your book are all great ways to showcase your expertise and naturally whet their appetite to learn more about what you have to offer.
If you need help tooting your horn, we’d be happy to do so. Contact us when you need a break from editing.
