WAYS TO MAKE YOUR BOOK STAND OUT IN A CROWDED MARKET
As much as your work is a significant milestone in your life, career, and aspirations, the feat is just a halfway checkpoint in the self-publishing marathon. In today’s day and age of bibliographic abundance—where about 300 million titles are launched each year—every great piece of work needs promotional leverage to grab the spotlight after it sees the light of day.
In fact, it is a best practice that writers brainstorm ideas and take steps to promote and market their book, even in the writing stage. Promoting self-published books is no walk in the park. Marketing and branding a book can take a significant amount of effort for a self-published author. They require a comprehensive understanding of the target audience, knowledge of the market, and the ability to implement effective marketing strategies.
Wondering how to make your book stand out in a crowded market? Here’s what the experts say.
Build and Grow Your Author Platform
As much as your book is what it professes, you are the face behind it.
Your author platform is your online presence as an author, and it includes your website, social media accounts, and other online profiles. Make the most of it in the following ways:
Network with other authors, publishers, and industry professionals to uncover ways to promote your book.
Your website should include information about yourself as an author, your book, and any upcoming events or promotions. It should be easy to navigate, visually appealing, and optimized for search engines.
Explore content creation opportunities such as blog posts, podcast participation, video shorts, and more. Figure out creative book launch ideas.
Don’t be idle on social media. Use social media to promote your book and share updates and insights about your writing process. Voice your opinions in social media and forums in matters that align with your book’s content and genre. This can help you garner more followers.
A strong online presence can’t be built overnight. Much like how you may have approached your writing, it ought to be a steady, consistent, and well-interlaced approach.
Strategize Pricing
Although your book may be a ‘single’ product that doesn't change in terms of its contents and value, it's incorrect to believe there aren’t ways to price to broaden its exposure. From offering your book for a discount to dynamically pricing it, the options are many. Here are a few examples:
Offering discounted prices during initial launch and promotion to attract new readers, generate buzz, or garner reviews
Offering your book as part of a fixed-priced bundle of similar books or resources can help you reach new readers and increase sales
Adjusting the price of your book based on demand, competitor pricing, marketing campaigns, or sales trends can help you maximize its impact
By experimenting with different pricing strategies and monitoring the results, you can find the best approach for your book and readers.
Leave No Stone Unturned to Market and Promote Your Book
Establishing your author platform is but one stepping stone to many ways to promote your book. Apart from the aforementioned pricing strategy of offering discounts, here are some other book marketing strategies and book promotion ideas you can explore:
Leverage Book Reviews
The importance of positive book reviews, especially for first-time self-published authors, cannot be overemphasized. Encourage readers to leave reviews on online retailers like Amazon and Goodreads, and consider reaching out to book bloggers and reviewers in your niche to request reviews.
Run Book Giveaways
Offering free copies of your book can generate interest and attract new readers. You can run giveaways on social media or use a platform like Goodreads to reach a wider audience.
Be a Guest Blogger
Writing guest blog posts on websites and blogs related to your book's genre or topic can help you reach a wider audience and establish yourself as an authority in your niche.
Participate in Book Events and Festivals
Do not underestimate the power of networking and connections in propelling the success of your book.
Use Paid Advertising
Paid advertising on platforms like Facebook and Amazon can help you reach a wider audience and generate more book sales. The price points of paid advertising campaigns can be pretty affordable. However, it's essential to set a budget and track your results carefully to ensure that you are getting a positive return on investment.
Mixing and matching these strategies translates to unique book marketing ideas.
Take Special Care of the ‘First-Impression’ Bits
Calling them ‘bits’ may be an understatement- because the quality and content of your book’s cover design, title, description, blurbs, author bio, and branding are decisive purchasing factors- and even translate to effective book marketing.
With your book title being the first thing that potential readers will notice, you must choose a catchy, memorable, and relevant title to your book's content.
A clean and simple cover design is often the most effective in creating the right first impression. Ensure the images and graphics you use are of high quality and relevant to your tone, topic, and genre. If you have an author brand or a series of books, ensure your cover design is consistent with your brand's style and color scheme. This will help readers identify your books easily and make them stand out on the shelf.
You can also gather book branding tips from other established authors.
Your book's description should give readers a clear idea of what it is about and why they should read it. Ensure it is well-written, engaging, and accurately reflects your book's content. The same applies to the author's bio. It should also include relevant information about your background and writing experience.
Book blurbs should be concise, giving readers a taste of what they can expect from your book. Avoid giving away too much information or spoiling the ending. Choose the appropriate categories and keywords to help your book appear in relevant search results. It's a no-brainer that getting the categorization right better places your book under the radar of readers looking for books in your genre or topic.
Need to talk through any of these ideas? Schedule a call with your award-winning publishing team today!
Credit: K. Dinkin