This is my book. I’ll be using it as an example throughout this post to show you how to promote your own book.
Congratulations on writing a book! Only a select few aspiring authors get started writing a book, much less finish it! You’ve undoubtedly invested enormous amounts of time, focus and love into your book. Now that it’s done, the work of promoting it begins. Here are some ideas and resources to help you do that.
Before going any further, be sure to read my post, Here’s Why Your Book Is Unpublished. If you’d like to know a little about me, click here.
NOTE: You’ll find sharing icons to share this post on social media sites at the very end of this post, right above the comments. Thank you!
HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR BOOK AND BUILD YOUR BRAND
The first thing you need to do is build a platform, which essentially means expanding your online presence in ways that help you reach people and make them aware of who you are and what you have to offer.
A platform is now a make-or-break factor for publishers considering a book proposal. Authors today are expected to perform the majority of the marketing and promotion for their books. As Jim Levine of Levine Greenberg Literary Agency noted in a Wall Street Journal article called The Death of the Slush Pile, “These days, you need to deliver not just the manuscript but the audience. More and more, the mantra in publishing is ‘Ask not what your publisher can do for you, ask what you can do for your publisher.'” This is a challenge I heartily embrace. Promoting my books is a joy—it’s all about synergy, building awareness and building relationships.
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Before we go any further, there’s a vitally important question you must keep in mind no matter how you’re planning to promote your book: Why should anyone care? You might be the most adorable person who’s ever walked the earth, but that doesn’t mean that people are going to buy your book. Click here to read “What Makes You So Special? The Magic to Selling Books” by Kristen Lamb.
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For more information on platform building, check out the book Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, by Michael Hyatt, Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers.
If you’re an eBook type of guy or gal, then you may opt for Go Global: Building An International Author Platform that Sells by Barb Drozdowich.
Here’s a great article by Kimberley Grabas of YourWriterPlatform.com titled “101 Quick Actions You Can Take Today to Build the Writer Platform of Your Dreams.”
As Kimberley writes: “The most important aspect to building an author platform is understanding that it’s about engagement; about connecting and interacting with people who are aligned with your message and affected by your story. . . . Establishing and maintaining a link to your potential ‘tribe’ is both the challenge and the reward of building your writer platform.”
Kimberley explains here how a Gravatar (globally recognized avatar) can help you build your writer platform.
The foundation of an effective platform is a blog. A blog is the linchpin around which every other component of your platform revolves. The more valuable the content on your blog, the more apt a reader will be to visit repeatedly and eventually become aware of and buy your books.
When you post something of great value on your blog, send out an e-mail alert to your list and watch the hits on your site jump. Some visitors will in turn feature your post on their sites and link back to you, which brings in their readers, who then see your other content and become your regular readers. Visitors may also notify their e-mail lists about a post that they particularly like. Every positive comment from a third party adds that much more value to your brand. (Lacking clarity about what your brand is? Read “4 Branding Tips for Nonfiction Writers and Authors” by Inspiration to Creation Coach Nina Amir.)
Liberally sprinkle your blog posts with (more…)
Triumph of the Spirit 