But in every marketing decision and action, ask yourself. Vitalsource bookshelf is the worlds leading platform for distributing, accessing, consuming, and engaging with digital textbooks and course materials. Once your costs, distribution fees and expected profits are determined, its time to apply intuition to your pricing recipe. Getting your selfpublished book into bookstores and. This builds your authority and creates more revenue for.
Follow the wise and considered words of advice from irish indie author orna ross, founderdirector of the alliance of independent authors alli, in her post self publishers. Most published authors, especially of the first time variety, wont have access to a fullsuite of marketing. Ten steps to marketing your selfpublished book whitefox. Sometimes it helps to look at book marketing as what it really is a business. Curious for more details on my book marketing strategies. Theres a big difference between making your own book and marketing it.
Contact the leading book publicity agency for a free marketing consultation. Promote that your paperbacks are on other websites barnes and noble, etc. Over the many months, i have researched and compiled many notes. When im writing and editing a book, its a purely artistic process. Grab my anatomy of a self published book pdf here by signing up for my list. Sep 15, 2014 marketing tools for your self published book. I havent put it up for sale yet, but it will be released once it makes it through this final pass. Many, if not most authors who selfpublish for the first time make mistakes. Weve compiled a list of 89 book marketing ideas that will change your life, build your brand, and sell your book. Tips for using social media marketing to promote your book. Search keywords may be updated at the title level in your kdp account, and we recommend choosing up to five keywords that relate to content of your book. Here are 9 uncommon tips that ive used to turn my books into bestsellers, including my self published. Jul 12, 2018 if you would like to sell your self published book on amazon, youll need to know how to get it listed for sale on the website. Five simple ways to promote your selfpublished book.
With amazons self publishing services you can reach millions of readers worldwide and keep control of your work. There are two main methods for getting your book listed for sale on amazon, as well as a couple of ways to make your book more attractive to readers. Dec 09, 20 my first book on how i cured my anxiety is basically finished. Its fast and easy to independently publish your print book with createspace, your digital book. Branding yourself as a business of one beals, jeff on.
Launches are designed around getting your book into a bookshop and keeping it there. Mar 20, 2020 here are 10 reasons why their selfpublished books dont sell, and what you can do to make sure yours does. In a competitive, global economy, you need to stand out. Passive marketing is the most crucial part of your marketing plan. Marketing books how to promote your selfpublished book. I will begin my advice on how to promote a self published book with the three key elements a book needs to stand any chance or success. Even if your book is the next great american novel, it wont be a success if it doesnt get into the collective conscious. How to market your selfpublished book by alex palmer jun 03, 20 for a selfpublished author, marketing the book can be more important than writing it. It doesnt mean that niche is overpopulated, it means that niche is. Everyone wants to excel in their professional and personal lives. At tck publishing, we provide free book publishing services for fiction and nonfiction authors in all major genres and markets. How to market yourself as an author before you have a book to. As with other products, ive run a variety of marketing experiments for my books. It takes so much time networking and marketing my books.
Marketing my book keywords you can increase the visibility of your book s in the kindle store by adding additional search keywords to your titles. I kept saving articles, ideas, and examples to my evernote account, tagged book marketing. Marketing books in the christian marketplace by sarah bolme. As a self published author, you should know as much about marketing your book as you do about writing it. Marketing selfpublished books requires a great deal of effort, if youre one of the few who wont be put off by the work, then you already have an edge. In the second of three posts in this series, allis childrens author advisor karen inglis shares valuable advice gained from the booksellers childrens conference on how to sell books within. I will begin my advice on how to promote a selfpublished book with the three.
It means connecting your work with the values and interests of your targeted customer. You are responsible for ensuring that no tactics used to promote your book. You can use the following checklist for marketing your ebook and successfully killing the book launch. Even if your book is the next great american novel, it wont be a success if it doesnt get into the collective conscious of the public. If you want your book to be bought and read by the widest audience possible, you have to let readers know that its available and that means marketing your book. Our 5step book marketing guide can increase your books success, helping you to generate buzz, make connections in the industry, and break into foreign markets.
Marketing your book or ebook is probably the hardest part of successfully self publishing a book. This guide will walk you through the 5 most successful steps to marketing your book. Services like and amazons createspace mean its never been easier to become an author and publish a book. How to get self published books into stores and libraries indie authors are getting creativeand finding successin their efforts to get books into libraries and bookstores.
Marketing is simply the effective communication of values. Youre welcome to promote your book through thirdparty websites and other services, but we encourage you to monitor the tactics they use to promote your books. Fresh out of ideas on how to help your writing take off. As for the marketing and promotion side of the game, i needed to learn a lot more in order to be successful at selling my own books. Marketing tips for selfpublished authors launch my book. Before you can sell your book, you need to market it. And here at self publishing school, you first have to learn the truth before taking action. In midapril, i started a north carolina library campaign, because of their upcoming fye, which has resulted in six book sales thus far. What are some marketing strategies that can help make my self. How to get your selfpublished books into bookstores and. This book is a great introduction to self publishing, and touches on all the topics, with many links to other sources with more details. While writing will get your book published, promotion and marketing is what will get you sales and more readers. Jan 28, 2014 pricing your book is an art, not a science. Marketing selfpublished books explained in 9 basic steps.
And then the marketing begins in this post, im going to reveal my entire plan for launching my selfpublished book. Never view marketing decisions as aspects of your artistic self expression. Marketing your self published book involves a lot of focused work, typically as much work as it took to write the book in the first place. If you do an amazon search and find hundreds of books in your niche, thats a good sign. I will spend the rest of my life marketing my book, and ive really only just begun. Book marketing consultant tim grahl defines your platform as whatever plan and methods you use to connect with readers and sell books. All because of a connection through his facebook fan page.
With 28 years of experience, were the best partner you could have national media exposure has given me more media opportunities, greater credibility with my clients, and given me the confidence to know that others respect my. How successful authors use social media to sell more books. But once a book is published and out in the world, i look at it through a commercial lens just like any other product. Weve written extensively about the importance of book marketing, how to promote a book and marketing a self published book. Marketing books how to promote your selfpublished book updated february 19, 2020 derek haines 4563 views 0 comments if you are a selfpublished author, there is often some confusion about the difference between marketing and promoting a book.
Now that the sequel to my first travel memoir is in the works, i intend to implement what ive learned as i market my second book. Whether youre working with a traditional publisher or youre going the selfpublishing route, one things the same. Even after youre finished writing the book, you still have to figure out how to get it out there on the market. It led me to buy her book on marketing your book, which ill be reading next. How i sold over half a million books my self publishing story and my top tips for success i am so excited to be talking about this today, because i know a lot of you have. Book marketing campaigns certainly benefit from the effective use of online social networks. Until you know how to market your books, dont pay for a book marketing service. When it comes to selfpublishing, marketing is half the battle. How to write a book marketing plan for publishing success. How my book became a selfpublished best seller forbes. The first thing authors should do before doing any type of marketing is to put together a marketing plan for their book. How i sold 10,000 copies of my self published book when failure isnt an option how to find your readers an interview with fauzia burke, author of online marketing for busy authors.
Consider advertising on facebook for its dynamic target marketing. What bestselling authors can teach you about marketing self. Ebooks themselves make up close to 40% of all books sold, and in 2018 they are set to outsell print books. It can be the beginning of a larger process, such as a product launch or a marketing funnel. If you have a book, or are thinking of writing one or coauthoring one, establishing an online presence is critical. Marketing outreach can be grueling, and marketing as a self published author can be especially challenging. If theres one question that is eternal and ongoing in our author community, then its how to sell more books sales are always on our mind and wherever we are in the bestseller chart, we look a little enviously at those above us in this article, we have ideas and solutions for you 50 of them in fact which should be more than enough ways to promote your book. While you can technically push a mediocre product and make some sales, you wont achieve longterm success with this approach.
There are a ton of ways in which you can marketpromote your book. Some other ways to market suggested here may appear unnecessary. How to sell more books on amazon self publishing school. Both firsttime and veteran authors will benefit from reading the book marketing bible. Jun, 2012 one from bloomberg press which published my last book was more than three times as much, but still pathetically low. Many selfpublishers especially those who are writing nonfiction give themselves the best chance of success by. He reasoned that no other book with this information existed, and since i had done all the research and learned about what it takes to market a book in this unique landscape, i should let others know how to do it. In this free stepbystep guide, book buyer and book distribution expert amy collins shares the 8step process every self published author must go through to get your books selling on the shelves of. Self published books now account for 30% to 40% of ebook sales. Selfpublishing, marketing whether youre working with a traditional publisher or youre going the selfpublishing route, one things the same. It is no surprise that almost all the book sales have been to explorers and miners, especially those with whom i have worked over the years. Youll get the first chapter of my book right away and free. There are hundreds of ways to market selfpublished books.
She spoke to us about a daily routine of centring oneself before moving to the creative. This centring process could be remembrance of ancestors and the past, dancing, praying, or all of these things combined. It was the latter which proves i think that sales increase when people can see the book in front of them. Marketing your book for selfpublishers and indie authors. Integrity, authenticity, generosity, social karma 5 book marketing strategy, launching and relaunching. In the introduction, i talk about speaking on the shetland islands, my article on the rollercoaster of being a writer, and that one day in new york is now available for preorder on amazon, kobo and ibooks. Secret method to choosing the best amazon categories. How to sell your self published book write on track. May 29, 2014 my local easons bookshop stocked my book before easons nationwide took it and i enquired if the first lot had mostly sold due to people asking for it or if they were picking it up off the shelf. Check out these tips and discover how to promote your book successfully. How to market your selfpublished book without a budget or. The book promotion professionals at iuniverse have established a few key marketing tactics and tips to help you develop a great strategy for promoting your book.
But the good news is that marketing is also about fostering connections and relationships, which can be rewarding to you and your fan base. Before publishing my books, i created a website where i offer free coloring pages and activity ideas to go along with the books information i made sure to include in my books. You put in long hours, and rejection is part and parcel to the process. How i failed at promoting my novel with amazon advertising. But if you are publishing by yourself and wish to be read by as many among your target audience as possible, you will have to learn an additional skillhow to market your books. In todays interview, i talk to debbie young about how this can be done. If you are of the mind that everything should be free when marketing your book, well good luck, but making money doesnt work like that. How im marketing my selfpublished book charlie hoehn. The natural target groups for marketing my book consist of my fellow explorers and miners, and perhaps some fellow east africans. Find out who your book appeals to, get to know those people well, and be where they are, both online and off. When marketing your first book, you need to check your pride at the door and be just a tad bit shameless. Aug 20, 2016 home book marketing how to write a book marketing plan the road map to your publishing success is guided by your book marketing plan. As a result, i feel comfortable moving forward with my book. Marketing a book is supposed to be the hardest part of selfpublishing.
Top 10 selfpublishing companies for firsttime authors. I know it has helped me when marketing my two books, direct selling power and incredible business. How to get selfpublished books into stores and libraries. Nothing much ever comes for free, especially a profit. Be wary of marketing consultants who offer to help you market your book for a fee. How to market your selfpublished book mythic scribes. Writing is the best way to get ongoing publicity for your book. My wall street journal colleague adam najberg wrote a thriller set in china and tried publishing it himself. The 12 best marketing books to grow your personal brand will expose you to the most effective tips on personal brand development, which. We spent three months trying to negotiate a compromise that would give them. Book marketing questions to help you sell more books. Matador offers inhouse trade marketing and media and pr services for books and ebooks, based on many years of active marketing knowledge and experience.
So, youve written a book and youre planning to selfpublish. The next and most important step is how to promote it. Why i chose to self publish my book despite almost signing a book deal first, let me tell you about how the story of self publishing on amazon all started. If you think your book fails on any of the first three points, you will probably be wasting your time trying to implement the remaining book marketing.
What does it take to promote your selfpublished book. Publishing your book doesnt have to be expensive or take years. But even though i published my first book forty years ago and have authored seven since with a variety of publishers university, trade, and independent presses, i learned a lot from schriever. Self published author ten tips for pricing your book profitably. Self publishing is on the rise and many people are bypassing the traditional route of seeking the affirmation of publication worthiness via commercial. As an author, you should work only with firms that specialize in book marketing. Below, book publicity and marketing coach and consultant, sandra beckwith, she shares her thoughts on how authors can do a better job of leveraging their online social networks to promote their books. However, if you dont getthe following nine marketing strategy basics right first, you could be wasting a lot of your time, energy and money. I created my books as a fun project, not as a job although we will see if that changes this year.
One can apply this same idea to marketing creative arts. How i sold over half a million books selfpublishing youtube. How to market your selfpublished book by brian deleonard the reality of marketing a selfpublished book and finding your audience presents a challenge somewhere inbetween the faint dream of online success, and the sense of screaming unheard into the webs dark and angry void. That is perhaps the most important take away from danny inys post 7 book marketing lessons for the selfpublished author on. The price is always too high for a book that is not needed. May 02, 2014 after a couple years of selling our books, my husband encouraged me to write a book about marketing in the christian marketplace. Marketing a self published book online my business presence. Oct 10, 2016 if this all seems like too much bother to take on yourself, dont rush to hire someone to do it for you.
Now his book is being made into a major motion picture. Oct 14, 2015 how to market yourself as an author before you have a book to sell. Obscure subjectbooks that do well are those in a popular niche. Book marketing for selfpublished authors marketing takes planning, organization, and consistent action. Start social media profiles either for the book or for you as an author. This is a vital step in the promotion and marketing of your book, andif done rightwill make the rest of the process infinitely easier. Marketing your book stories of success by selfpublished. Why we provide free book publishing services were a nofee, independent book. The two categories that i thought made sense in self help for my book. Marketing your book page 2 stories of success by self. How i sold 10,000 copies of my selfpublished book when failure isnt an option how to find your readers an interview with fauzia burke, author of online marketing for busy authors. If your product book sucks, no amount of active marketing will help you become a bestselling author.