One of the biggest challenges in publishing is often the promotion of a book – doing anything to sell it. Unlike the past where only a few authors would churn out new manuscripts, these days there are thousands of them fighting to be noticed and so they have to come up with some clever means of marketing themselves. Here are 10 book selling strategies that you may not have heard of which, when implemented, will improve your book sales and build a positive relationship with your clients.
Use Social Networks to Your Advantage
Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are all useful platforms for marketing your book because they allow you to reach out to your readers across different countries. Rather than just uploading and posting the cover of your book, be more adventurous. Post pictures of the creative process or invite a live audience to discuss the book and share inspiration and writing experiences. Use appropriate hashtags or reply to people’s comments to create more interaction with your audience.
Develop a Book Trailer
Visual Media is very effective in attracting attention, and the book trailer serves this purpose effectively by projecting the storyline within a short video. A large budget is not necessary for any production – resources like Canva and Animoto can be useful in delivering terrific trailers. The trailer should be appetizing highlighting the main themes, characters, or conflicts that any potential reader would find fascinating.
Provide Free Sample Chapters
To attain and capture the attention of the readers, providing a couple of free samples is a good strategy. Thus, people are always interested in having a taste of the book before spending any money and therefore providing the first few chapters can arouse purchasing interest about the book.
Host Author Events Virtually
These days it is quite common to hold virtual events, which means that having an online book launch or hosting a Q&A session is quite easy unlike a couple of years ago. Different platforms like Zoom, Facebook Live, and Instagram Live give you the power to reach people around the world in real time.
Create an Author Website and Blog
An individual author’s website can be a useful tool in helping the readers in getting more information about the author and the book. It is advisable to have a blog section in which one can blog about the themes that their books target, and the characters, or give tips on writing. The advantages of chronicling your writing progress in a blog are many.
Engage in Co-writing with Other Authors
Co-authoring or mutual/cross-assigning to authors having similar genres may reach out further audience. You could partner for joint giveaways, blog tours, or cross-promotions on social media. The concept is to reach out to the fans of one another and let them know about your book.
Conduct a Giveaway or Competition
Giveaways and competitions can create a good level of enthusiasm. You may give away a signed copy of your book, any related promotional item, or an item bundled with other items. When conducting a giveaway, the most important factor is that it should be reasonably simple for potential clients to participate.
Take Advantage of the Book Advertising Sites
There are plenty of websites that are devoted to book promotion, for example, BookBub, Goodreads, or Reedsy. For example, BookBub lets authors offer discounts for specific audiences and add their interests to Genre making it easy to find their ideal readers. Another great site for reaching out to readers is Goodreads.
Solicit both Reviews and Positive Spreading of Words
Coming out to promote books is nevertheless more productive with empathy and actual practice. Ask your readers to add feedback on Amazon or Goodreads or blog about your work on their social media. For example, this can be achieved by asking readers at the end of the book to help you out and share their feedback.
Offer Exclusive Content to Your Avid Readers
Providing exclusive content can help form a passionate reader community. This can be in the form of exclusive access to certain documents, pictures of bulk sales and distribution, deleted scenes, or even access to an additional chapter. This content can be circulated using your email list, which is among the most critical and effective tools that help to motivate your readers. You have to make a good Book Launch Strategy.
Conclusion
No one ever said that promoting a book is easy and exhilarating, however, the use of proper creative techniques can enhance your performance and increase sales. Many people haven’t read your book and that’s the reason you need to promote it effectively by promoting its visibility using social media, useful content selling, joint writing with the authors of other books, and reaching more audiences through online book promotion sites. It is important to understand that the only secret to promotion is constancy and meaningful ways to reach out to your target audience. Enjoy promoting!
