Book Promotion Ideas for Authors & Publishers

admin January 28, 2020 0 Comments

Presented here, in no particular order, are book promotion ideas for Authors & Publishers. This list is updated as and when we find a good new book promotion idea. Feel free to leave a comment with any ideas you found helpful. If they make sense to us, we will add them to the list

Top 10 Book Promotion Ideas for Authors & Publishers

  1. Find Your ‘Perfect Fit’ Readers
    1. Figure out what your ‘perfect fit’ readers are
    2. Focus, above all else, on promotion and marketing to them
  2. Facebook Ads
  3. Book Promotion Sites
  4. Amazon Marketing Services Ads
  5. Build Your Own Email Lists
    1. Ask for readers’ emails
    2. Ask inside the book
    3. Ask on the last page of the book, where the story ends
    4. Ask on your website
    5. Ask on your social media
    6. Ask on your blog
    7. If the store allows it, ask on the book page. Please Note: Some stores allow asking for email, and some don’t
  6. Ask for Reviews
  7. Create a ‘Street Team’
  8. Write More Books
  9. Have a Commitment
  10. Discounts
  11. Free Book offers

Rest of The Top 100 Book Promotion Ideas for Authors & Publishers

  1. Do Proper Market Research and Confirm you are Writing for The Right Market
    1. Are people buying books in this market
    2. Do you want to write in this market
    3. How competitive is the market?
    4. Refine and rethink and confirm you are writing for the right readers
    5. Think about what kind of books they are looking for
  2. Retargeting and Remarketing
  3. Create a Business Plan for Your Career as an Author
    1. Congratulations, if you are an author, then you are an entrepreneur and you’re running a business
    2. Have Goals for your Business
    3. Have a Business Plan to reach those Goals
  4. Build Your Website & Blog
  5. Build Stronger Relationships with Your Readers
    1. Send them recommendations on best new books
    2. Tell them more about yourself
    3. Offer them special insights on your characters
    4. Share a ‘Making of’ post, about how your book was written
  6. Ask Readers for Reviews
  7. Ask Readers for Referrals
  8. Use Calls To Action
    1. CTA – Call To Action
    2. Ask people for what you want them to do
    3. Buy My Book
    4. Sign Up for My Email List
    5. Share with Friends
    6. Ask and they will do it. If you don’t ask, they can’t read your mind
  9. Build Your Social Media Sites
    1. Caveat: Very few authors are able to make this work
    2. Twitter – build your own hashtag
    3. Facebook – build your own page
    4. Pinterest – Build Pins
  10. Radio Interviews and Radio Ads
  11. Measure the Key Metrics
  12. Content Marketing
  13. Video Content Marketing
  14. Do a Giveaway
  15. Instagram Ads and Instagram
  16. Free Book for a Review
  17. Contests, Prizes, Sweepstakes
  18. Make Bookmarks
  19. Create an Infographic
  20. Attend Book Conferences and Trade Shows
  21. Go Local
    1. Local Newspaper
    2. Local Radio Station
    3. Local Libraries
    4. Local Book Clubs
  22. Cheap Print Advertising
  23. Influencer Marketing
  24. LinkedIn
  25. Direct Mail
    1. If done right, it works
  26. Discounts for Targeted Groups
  27. Group Deals or Group Discounts
  28. Business Cards
  29. Press Releases, if done right
  30. Contact the Media
  31. Contact TV Stations
  32. 10% to 100% of Book Proceeds to Charity
  33. Email Signature
  34. Virtual Assistant
  35. Submit to Facebook Groups
  36. Submit to Free Book Promotion Sites
  37. Create a Facebook Page
  38. Interact with your Readers
    1. Whether your readers reach you via email, comments on your blog, or via social media
    2. It is a good idea to acknowledge them
  39. Learn some basic copy writing
    1. Make all your communication more powerful
    2. Make your book pages and book descriptions ‘sellers’
  40. Hire a professional copywriter
  41. Hire a Book Publicist or a Book PR Firm
  42. Hire a Marketing Consultant
  43. Work with a Book Coach or a Book Doctor
  44. Create a free course or a free book
  45. Exclusive Content for loyal readers
    1. Short Stories
    2. Follow on Stories for specific characters in your book
    3. Free Novella
    4. Free Book
    5. Create content that only your most loyal readers can get
  46. Offer Special Discounts on your earlier books
    1. Offer Discounts on Holidays and Book Anniversaries
    2. Offer Free Copies of your older books, or offer deals on them
    3. Offer Box Sets and Bundle Deals
  47. Reveal more about yourself
    1. Have an author introduction
    2. Talk about why you write
    3. Talk about your favorite authors
  48. Cooperate with other authors
    1. Share ideas
    2. Share offers on each other’s email lists
    3. Do Box Sets
    4. Do Joint Projects
  49. Create an Author Mastermind
  50. Write Guides and Helpful Posts about your industry or your book category
    1. Romance Author? Write a post on Top 100 Romance Novels of 2020
    2. Business Author? Write a guide for your industry or a whitepaper
    3. Scientific Author? Publish a paper on the same topic as your book
  51. Write about your own experience as an author
    1. What you learnt
    2. What you struggled with
    3. Your Highs and Lows
  52. Create a separate page for every book you have
    1. If you have a website, create a separate page and include the cover, reviews, and details. Also include links to the bookstores where readers can buy the book
    2. If you have a blog, do a separate blog post or page for each book. Include links to where readers can buy the book. Include reviews
  53. Do real world promotion
    1. Hand out hardcovers or paperbacks of your books at libraries
    2. Give your books to libraries – both paper version and ebook version
    3. Ask book sellers to stock your paperback
    4. Put up flyers at places that allow flyers
  54. Befriend other Authors
  55. Explore Paperback promotion options
    1. Most self published authors, out of necessity, focus on ebook promotion
    2. Paperbacks and Hardcovers are still 70% of the market
  56. Focus on existing readers
    1. How can you reach readers who have already bought your books?
    2. Do you have an email list they are on?
    3. DO you have a website they visit?
    4. Can you retarget them using Facebook email list targeting?
  57. Find websites and blogs relevant to the area you are writing in, and advertise on them
  58. Do Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your blog and website
  59. [If there is an opportunity] Do a podcast for your Book Genre
  60. Brand yourself and your book

Book Promotion Ideas that sound good, but don’t really work

  1. Google Ads
  2. Book Trailers
  3. Building your own Social Media Sites
    1. This is interesting because it also goes into the Top 100 Book Promotion Ideas
    2. If you understand Social Media and are a social person, then this can be a good book promotion idea which works for you
    3. For most authors, this is a terrible waste of time
  4. Crowdfunding
  5. Printing out 10,000 copies of your hardcover
  6. Promoting on GoodReads and Reader Forums
  7. Press Releases, if done wrong
  8. YouTube videos

Book Promotion Ideas that are too costly, given the amount of benefit they provide

  1. Television Advertising
  2. Print Advertising if it is expensive
  3. Large Promotion Packages for $3,000 to $30,000
  4. Writing Workshops & Seminars
  5. Webinars
  6. Billboards

Credits

These ideas were gathered from our 11 years experience in this business, and also from many different websites including

  1. The Balance’s post on Small Business Marketing Ideas
  2. Event Manager Blog’s List of Ideas for Event Promotion
  3. Print Wand’s Promotional Ideas for Small Businesses
  4. CoSchedule’s Business Promotion Ideas

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