Promoting books online is never an easy task. An author has to literally compete with thousands of others for the same target market. This is why designing a campaign for promoting your book online. ReadersMagnet has prepared a guide on how to begin promoting your book online.
Publishing your book is only half the task. The other half is promoting your book. Marketing books online takes time, effort, and the correct strategy. For self-published authors, the work is pretty much cut out for them. However, ReadersMagnet believes that this is also an opportunity to independently design your own book marketing strategy. All you need is a guide to help you get started on this whole new adventure.
Laying Down the Groundwork
First things first. It is an illusion that by writing just a great book, an author will just land into a marketing bliss. You still need to promote your book and come up with a marketing strategy to attract readers into actually reading your book. The first thing you must turn your attention to are the pre-requisites for marketing online; an email newsletter service provider, a dynamic website, social media accounts, and a number of accounts registered to book and author community sites.
- Email Newsletter Service Provider. MailChimp and MailerLite are two of the popular free email newsletter service providers. They allow from 1,000 to 2,000 subscribers.
- Dynamic Author Website. Self-publishing companies and service providers offer website development services. Click here to see ReadersMagnet’s Dynamic Website service package.
- Social Media Advertising. Just make sure that you have a social media account for every social media platform.
- Amazon Author Central Account. Every author must have this account because this allows you to claim all your books under your profile. The profile provides a link to your author website.
Online Book Marketing Guide
Marketing your book online involves a lot of processes, most of which are tedious and requires constant monitoring. In order to simplify things, we narrow these processes into four. Assuming that you have all the tools and materials to start your book marketing campaign, you will now work on these 4 processes.
Online Visibility. In digital marketing, we always use the word ‘traffic’ to refer to the number of visitors to your site, social media accounts, paid ads, blogs, and other pages related to your brand. Traffic equals visibility. Increased online visibility helps your business rank better in online searches. Simply put, the more people searching your brand in Google and other search engines, the better for your business. This is part of the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which we have discussed in our previous blog articles.
Online Reputation. ReadersMagnet believes in putting a premium in our reputation. Online reputation is everything. Authors should build on their reputation by providing fresh and relevant content for the site. Another way to establish yourself as a serious writer is to engage your readers and keep them posted on your site. Appearing in radio interviews, participating in book fairs, and having your book reviewed by readers or third-party review sites certainly boosts your online reputation and cements your legitimacy.
Customer Conversion. Convincing your visitors to buy your book is the main purpose of why you are marketing your book online. If you have buyers, don’t stop there. Convert them into followers by directing them to your other works and literary materials online. Furthermore, show your gratitude by offering them something and have them sign-up for your mailing list.
Monitoring Campaign
Of course, you need to track your figures- traffic, analytics, and of course, profit. This is so you can determine if your marketing efforts have been effective. If you are earning, design efforts to increase your business. If not, then better go back to the drawing board and troubleshoot whatever is wrong.
Finding the Right Book Partner
For self-published authors and those relatively new to book marketing, you can always seek the help of publishing and book marketing service providers. The trick is to find a perfect publishing partner that offer quality and affordable service packages. More importantly, look for a self-publishing company that has your best interest at heart.