Over the last several decades, self-publishing has grown at an exponential rate. Although self-publishing was formerly seen as a less desirable alternative to traditional publishing, it is now a common and frequently empowering means for authors to connect with readers around the globe. Your ability to effectively promote your book is a key factor in your success as an independent author. Most authors who self-publish do so with the assistance of book marketing services. However, they overlook that an author must also understand crucial book marketing strategies to promote their books. In this article, we will go into detail about how to market a self-published book to make it a success, along with incredible book marketing strategies that you must follow.

Book Marketing Strategies For Self-Published Authors

Here are some great book marketing strategies to help you maximize your experience and achieve your goal of being a well-known author.

Design A Professional Author Website

It should be obvious, but you need a professional author website if you want your target audience to buy your book. You are not required to sell books on your website directly. We strongly advise against it; a simple Amazon button will be enough. Nevertheless, it’s a crucial tool for giving your book credibility, allowing potential readers to learn more about you and the inspiration behind it, viewing your other works and anything else you might want them to know. Additionally, directing your marketing efforts to your own website rather than Amazon or another book retailer is far more professional.

Moreover, if you consider developing a website, it will also let you start a blog. This can be a beneficial approach to continue writing, to give information that wasn’t included in the book, to keep your readers up to date on other aspects of your writing life or the skills of writing, etc. If you are incredibly clever, you can learn about search engine optimization and use it to start ranking your blog posts in Google searches, attracting additional free readers.

Additionally, a website enables you to gather email addresses in exchange for giving out something valuable, like a coupon code or an ebook. By doing this, you can build your own email subscriber list and maintain a friendly readership for your upcoming books.

Gather Reviews For Your Book

No matter where or how you choose to publish your book, you should unquestionably make sure that it is offered for sale on Amazon. Amazon is the biggest supplier of books, and customers visit Amazon with the intention of making a purchase. Reviews will assist potential readers in deciding whether they want to purchase your book among all the other possibilities available unless they expressly search for it. More favorable reviews are preferable since people tend to link the quality and quantity of reviews with a book’s quality.

But how do you acquire reviews on Amazon? Most authors hire book marketing services for this. Why? Because they have a wide network of book lovers and beta readers who can review any book in return for feedback. But you can do the same too, but a bit differently. When your book is published, you can start by requesting reviews from friends and family. Second, you can read reviews of books in your category written by people whom Amazon considers to be the best reviewers. On their Amazon profiles, these reviewers typically list their contact information, so you can get in touch with them and ask whether they would be interested in reviewing your book. Many of them will agree if you are willing to send them a free copy of your book.

Launch An Awareness Building Marketing Campaign

Awareness-building programs are fundamentally outdated, but that doesn’t mean they don’t still work. People who believed email and books were both extinct presumably also believed the same about books, but common awareness-building initiatives have proven them wrong on both counts. This is particularly helpful for nonfiction writers who can compile a list of connections in their genre, but fiction writers can also use it. Most authors enjoy making contact with platforms, people, and organizations.

Podcasts are the most significant media outlets, and they are listed under platforms. You should look into different podcasts interested in having an interview with you to discuss your area of expertise and your most recent book. Print media and well-known websites or blogs are also included in this list.

Influencers with a sizable network who would be prepared to discuss or promote your book, well-known writers of books comparable to yours who might be willing to write an endorsement, and people in the field you have written about are all included in the people’s section. You can request these people to write recommendations for your book, or perhaps they would agree to participate in a live or recorded interview to promote it.

Finally, given the subject of your book, organizations will be those that have goals similar to your own. For instance, if you published a book encouraging young readers to pursue science-related interests, you can approach kid-friendly institutions with initiatives like online classes and summer camps.

Find their contact details once you have established a list of people and organizations. Make a plan for individually contacting each person once you have that. Yes, it takes time, but your chances of success increase the more personal your approach is. You have the opportunity to use your imagination and show them how your book might benefit them. Always think about what you can do for them rather than the other way around.

Consider Joining Relevant Facebook Groups

Many authors dislike social media even if they already have a few followers on their accounts. Without social media, you might be able to promote a book successfully, but it would be much more complicated. Popular social media platforms have unmatched reach and power if used effectively.

Along with the aforementioned awareness-building strategy, it’s a good idea to join communities of individuals with similar interests who are already interested in discussing the subjects covered in your book. The best course of action is to join those communities and participate by leaving comments on other members’ posts or posting your own without blatantly promoting your book. The objective is to demonstrate your expertise on the subject matter and have a complete book. Create your groups if there aren’t any, or they are not very active in your niche.

However, hiring book marketing services for social media campaigns can be a good choice. Most people are not aware of the ins and outs of social media platforms, so it’s better to leave it to the professionals. Book marketing services have a team of experienced book marketers well-versed in proven book marketing strategies. So, it can be the best bet that you can make.

Leverage The Power Of Amazon PPC

Even though this is technically not marketing but advertising, Amazon advertisements can be a terrific strategy to increase book sales. Yes, there will be some upfront costs, but if it means getting your book in front of readers who might not have otherwise discovered it, it might be worthwhile. Amazon advertisements let you conduct a campaign based on search queries that Amazon customers enter in the search box and advertisements targeted at books that are comparable to yours. So, your book will appear even when someone searches for your competitor’s book.

However, the only drawback of PPC is that it can take some time to figure out what works for your particular book, which could result in financial loss. But it typically pays off if you persevere, gains knowledge, and constantly improve your campaigns.

Conclusion

These are some of the most simple and inexpensive book marketing strategies. There are other more strategies as well, but they tend to be somewhat technical, so you might need to use book marketing services to put them into action. But the most important thing to keep in mind is that it’s getting harder and harder to sell books these days, so if you want to be successful, you’ll need to put in the time and effort necessary for marketing.