Writer's Digest, May/Jun 2022
Christopher Stollar, award-winning author and senior marketing consultant for a Fortune 100 company.
Your self published book won't sell because your're competingagainst millions of others. You need a strategic marketing plan for your story.
1. EARNED MARKETING STRATEGIES
Gain publicity for your product by convincing an objective third party to promote it for free
Research local reporters, feature editors or book bloggers before pitching them. Check works they have covered and authors interviewed. Then craft individual email pitches to each one of them. Pitch should be like a personalised query letter explaining why they should care about your book v thousands of others.Most media hunt for stories that include research, sound unique and address timely themes. Strollar pitched to a local TV reporter who had recently covered stories about trafficking. His 3-minute video about his novel - over 500 visits to his author website and over 50 sales. His earned media coverage - a dozen other news hits in local, regional and national media.
2. OWNED MARKETING STRATEGIES. Two most important mediums
Your Author Website - Wordpress with a blog and e-newsletter. Look professional and features content about both you and your book. At least a monthly blog article that highlights any earned media coverage received, positive reviews on Amazon and personal reflections about writing.
Send via e-newsletter. Consistency is key. Regular cadence of updates, whether daily, weekly or monthly.
Your Social Media. Focus on just a few. Not for gaining likes, comments and followers. Use social platforms to draw traffic back to your website or Amazon page for readers to order copies.
Strollar publishes a monthly blog - promote through FB, Twitter and LinkedIn. Call to action - visit author website to learn more and Amazon page to order a copy.
3. PAID MARKETING STRATEGIES
Paid digital media ads remain some of the cheapest, simplest and most targeted means of increasing your exposure to potential new readers.
3.1 Boosted Post. Once you publish your blog article and promote it on social media, you can pay FB (or other platforms) to "boost" it to readers you target. The minimum is $1 per day. Month-long is $30. Be as specific as possible e.g. your hometown who are interested in both fiction and human trafficking (The Black Lens - Stollar). Sometimes to other cities or states, but more efficient to target a segmented list.
3.2 Paid Ads. Cost more but can create custom sponsoed ads for your book that feature cover art, a simple logine and a "buy now" or "learn more" button that drives people to your author website or Amazon page. Test niche audience for a month - make edits to your ads later.
No guarantee of success. Your book is just a product and to find consumers who need it. Your job is to produce the best product that you can and to find customers who want to buy it, end of story.
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