Cool Infographics has created another fun and helpful infographic. If you use social media to promote your book then you need to know the best time to post your social media updates to get the response. Thanks to Bit.ly this infographic will help you get the most out of your social media updates.
Your book readers are critical to your success as an author. So you better know them inside out or you are not going to be successful. I know this is a bold statement but it’s true!
As a publisher I always ask my potential authors if they know who will buy and read their book. Almost all of them say “I believe that everyone could enjoy reading my book.” Wrong! It would be lovely if everyone would buy and love your book but that doesn’t happen even for a bestselling author. People have very definitive tastes in book topics and writing styles. You can’t possibly appeal to all of them and it would be a waste of your time to try target the entire world.
Defining your target reader is the most important thing you can do before creating your marketing plan. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about social media , PR or advertising – if you don’t know who your target reader is none of this stuff will be effective.
Do some research by looking at books similar to your own and check out the reviews. Start by identifying who your readers are by using standard demographics like:
Once you come up with a profile of a target reader you will be able to use that information to find out where these people hang out and then take the steps to communicate with them. Without this information you’re really shooting in the dark!
A feature on LinkedIn that can help authors build their network and establish credibility is LinkedIn Answers. Answers is where you share your expertise and establish yourself as an expert. It’s a great way to make your book stand out – by answers that are the topic of your book. This is not a lead generation tool and using it like one will hurt your credibility. Provide useful, relevant answers and you will do just fine.
You can ASK and ANSWER questions here. When asking questions, keep them short and specific. You are more likely to get response if your questions are clear and on point. This is a great way to do research for your marketing campaigns. When answering questions, remember that these folks are honestly looking for information – they don’t want to hear your sales pitch. So if you have something to share hop on over to LinkedIn and get started!
Most of us have a love/hate relationship with social media because we really don’t understand the how and why of using it. Social media isn’t for everyone. It can take some time to get started, but if your readers use social media, then you should too.
Social media marketing includes the top three social media sites LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and blogs, podcasts, webcasts, teleseminars and video sharing sites like YouTube. Any place where people gather to talk and socialize is considered a social media site.
We can’t get into all the aspects of using social media to market your book here but you can check out the FREE webcasts I’ve created on the topic and there are quite a few. Click the link to visit 42Rules to check them out.
Most people assume that when you talk about PR you are talking about press releases. What PR usually means is Public Relations or Press Relations. This old saying “Advertising is what you pay for. Publicity is what you pray for” is so true. Using the power of the press is generally free – you just need to know where to go and what to do!
Here are three ways to work with the press:
1. Get quoted in the media: The media – journalists – are constantly looking sources who can comment on their stories. This is where you, as an expert, step in to help. Two resources for finding journalists who need what you have to offer is HARO (Help A Reporter Out) and PRLeads. HARO is free to use but PRLeads is not free. Take a look at both and see if one and/or the other will work with you.
2. Pitch a story about the topic of your book to a journalist: Come up with a unique story idea that can be tied in to your book. Research the top media outlets that write on your topic and look for journalists to contact. Send all of them a story pitch. You may have to do this several times before you get a response but don’t give up because it’s worth it!
3. Write and issue a press release. The traditional press release has evolved thanks to the internet. Combined with search engine optimization your press release can find a home on hundreds of media sites and get pushed out to readers through the use of RSS feeds. Press releases will not normally bring you many new readers but they will help with the search engine ranking of your book website while building your brand.
The most difficult thing for any marketer to do, whether on-line or off, is to create a “buzz” around their book. You have to build a level of excitement surrounding your book for it to see any success at all. You may feel like you are beating your head against a wall as you try to get anyone to notice your book and to get them to even care. I am sure that you think that you have something that is very important to offer people. Unless you can educate and convince them that it is important, they just won’t get it and you won’t get the sale.
There is a way that you can get by without having to do the hard work of generating excitement around your book. Let the larger media outlets do all the work for you. Sometimes you will luck out and find that there is a big buzz related to your book and it will only take a little bit to get the social groups interested in what you have.
I used this strategy when I launched 42Rules for Working Moms. This was during the days leading up to the Presidential elections. Michelle Obama and Sarah Palin were both “working moms” and all over the media. We connected the book to that story and landed a full feature placement on The Peter Walsh Show on the Oprah & Friends radio. See how it works? Connect to something that is already buzzing is a much more effective strategy than creating the buzz all by yourself.
If you don’t get lucky with a connection between your book and the media you will have to use your imagination to connect the dots. Look for what are popular topics on the regular news media, what trends are hot and what gossip is going on in social circles. More than likely you are going to find something that your book can fit into.
Article marketing also known as “Article Syndication” is the marketing technique of submitting an article about the topic of your book or a chapter of your book to topic related sites on the internet. The types of sites you want to submit to are blogs, article newsgroups, article directories, forums and topic specific sites. You do not need to spin your article or chapter as search engines do not penalize articles that are syndicated to more than one site.
In return for using the article publishers allow you to add a biography and at least one link to your site to the end of your article. The best use of the link would be to create an opt-in form on that page to capture reader information. In return, you can provide them with another chapter of your book, a tipsheet or another article.
Once your article has been published tell people about it. Tell potential clients about it, link to it from your site and post the article link to your social networking sites. Published articles add to your credibility as a book author.
If you want to sell more books then you need to create a brand that people identify with your books. Branding is the action of creating an image, word, phrase or sound that immediately makes people identify your book. The end result is an emotional reaction that encourages people to buy your book.
Whenever you work on a branding project get started by asking yourself these seven questions:
Gather this information in a document and use it to create your unique brand message and personality.
Who doesn’t love quotes about books? There are so many but Ebook Friendly has compiled the top fifty for us. The only thing you need to do is visit Ebook Friendly to read them!
The New York Times book section is a great online resource for readers and authors. They cover book news, have book reviews, best seller lists, podcasts and more. If you love books as much as we do bookmark The New York Times Books.
