It’s never too early to start promoting your book. By building your reading community before you release your book, you’ll dramatically increase your chances of success.
As writers, we tend to toil away on our next project for weeks (sometimes months). We become obsessed with it to the point where nothing else seems to matter. Then when it comes time to release our book to the public, nothing happens. Then we watch another author publish a book that takes off right away! What the heck?
Did they just get lucky? Most of the time it’s not luck; it’s because they built anticipation. They started promoting their book while they were writing it. Let’s look at some tips that you can use to get readers before you ever publish your book.
Set Up a Marketing Calendar Right Now!
Start scheduling your marketing right now so that you don’t start getting overwhelmed or overcommit to things you don’t have the time for. Make sure that you record every appointment and keep track of all activities including live events, blog posting dates, ad campaign run times, and interviews.
Establish your Target Market
Establishing your target market is the most important step to an effective marketing campaign. Even the best marketing strategy would be wasted if targeting the wrong demographic. Answer these three questions:
- How old are they?
- What types of books do they normally purchase? Age usually determines this. For example, older readers will prefer print books over eBooks while younger readers are more open to eBooks.
- What genre is your book? Research other books within that niche to see how they are marketing their books. Take notes.
Get On Social Media!
Twitter and Facebook are the bare minimum. You need to start becoming an authority right away. Share valuable information to your followers. As an author, social media is going to work out great. People use sites like Twitter and Facebook for entertainment. Your book falls right into that category! Social media is an author’s most powerful promotional tool.
Start Blogging
Your blog should be the highest priority but don’t hesitate to schedule a few guest posts other blogs within your niche. You won’t want to submit guest posts until you actually publish your book but you can go ahead and write them now. It saves you time later.
Share the Status of your Book
Set up some milestones publically for your book. Some examples include writing the draft, sending it to the editor, book trailers, and posting excerpts. These types of milestones make your readers feel as if they are part of the process. It builds anticipation while ensuring that your audience doesn’t forget about you.