To Build a Book | Part Five - Marketing your book
Ideas to get your book in front of more people
So, we’ve drafted, formatted, covered, and published our book. How the heck do we market it? In this final installment of the To Build a Book series, I aim to share accessible and cost-effective options to market your published book.
Intro to marketing your book
Aside from acquiring a decent cover and professional formatting, one of the biggest challenges for authors is making it known that their book exists. Traditional publishing has its perks—a team of people working to alleviate much behind-the-scenes tediousness. However, similar tools are available to indies. The irony is that even traditional publishers request the author to market their book to a built-in audience.
The following ideas are simply methods of marketing that could get your book in front of more eyes. Your success rate is variable and determined by aspects of the indie publishing process likely outside the scope of this article.
I’m learning to market fiction myself, and I’d love to hear from other writers and publishers on this subject. Drop a comment below with insights into your biggest marketing dos and don’ts.
An Increasingly Online World
Having an author website where readers are directed to your work can be an excellent way for people to check out your book. At the very least, it’s a central hub to find your work later. It can also introduce readers to other books you’ve written or maybe a separate creative endeavor, such as artwork or author services.
Then, there’s social media.
The engagement necessary to harness the power of each social media platform can get overwhelming. I’ve noticed that most sites aren’t particularly fond of you linking off of their platform. It can be hit or miss, but trying a shotgun approach to understand what works couldn’t hurt. I do not recommend buying ads to start. I haven’t seen a decent return on investment when boosting posts. I get a few likes, and less than 10% convert to link clicks.
Let’s go over how each platform might help with marketing:
Facebook:
Author Page: If you create a dedicated author page, you can share updates about your books, writing process, and personal insights with readers who might share them with family and friends.
Facebook Groups: Joining or creating a Facebook group is a great way to connect with other writers in your genre or local area. However, promoting yourself in these groups is frowned upon unless stated otherwise in the group’s rules.
X (formerly known as Twitter):
Tweet: Share regular updates, quotes, and snippets from your book. Use relevant hashtags to increase visibility. The trending topics are constantly changing, so see what is trending and loop in your thoughts on the subject to get more attention to your profile.
Chats: Participate in or host book-related X chats to connect with fellow authors and readers. I’ve never done this, but this might be fun if I were more social.
Instagram:
Visual Promotion: Use Instagram’s visual appeal to showcase your book cover, behind-the-scenes content, and author life.
Reels: Produce short clips featuring books you’re reading, your writing process, or exciting news to attract similar readers to your work.
Instagram Stories: Post daily or weekly Stories to keep your audience engaged with sneak peeks, polls, and Q&A sessions.
Goodreads:
Author Profile: Set up an author profile on Goodreads and engage with readers by answering questions and participating in discussions.
Book Giveaways: Host giveaways to generate interest and reviews for your book.
Join Groups: Become an active member of Goodreads groups related to your book’s genre and participate in discussions.
Pinterest:
Visual Storytelling: Create boards representing your book’s themes, settings, and characters—pin images related to your book’s world.
Infographics: Share infographics or visuals that provide interesting insights or facts about your book’s topic.
LinkedIn:
Professional Network: Use LinkedIn to connect with other authors, publishers, and industry professionals.
Author Articles: Share articles about your writing journey, insights into your book, or topics related to your genre.
YouTube:
Book Trailers: Create and share book trailers or author interviews on YouTube.
Author Vlogs: Consider vlogging your writing process, book reviews, or discussions about your book’s themes.
TikTok:
Short Video Promotions: Create short, engaging videos showcasing your book, reading recommendations, or storytelling tips.
Use Trends: Participate in trending challenges and use relevant hashtags to increase visibility.
Reddit:
Subreddits: Participate in book-related subreddits to discuss your book and engage with the Reddit community.
AMA (Ask Me Anything): Host an AMA session in relevant subreddits to answer questions and promote your book.
Try focusing on one or two to start with. The problem I have is that I’m not tailoring my posts to specific platforms. I’m just linking back to Substack, which isn’t necessarily what people resonate with. The nature of the post should probably connect with folks who enjoy using that platform.
Book Launch
Depending on where you’re at in the publishing process, you could plan for a book launch. A book launch can be virtual or in-person. I’ve been to a couple of in-person launches, and it’s a great way to generate initial buzz and excitement around the release of your book.
Another consideration is sending advance review copies (ARCs) to reviewers and book bloggers to lock in early impressions. Encourage readers to leave reviews and ratings on Amazon and Goodreads to boost the likelihood of someone else picking up the book.
If you’re creative and have the time, create a book trailer or teaser video. I’ve seen some of these where they are collages of imagery that set the aesthetic tone of the book mixed with music.
Participate in author interviews and go on a podcast tour to introduce yourself and your work to new audiences. Easier said than done, I know. But podcasts and YouTube channels are probably the quickest way to reach an established audience willing to take a chance on your book.
Promotions, Discounts, and Awards
Running limited-time promotions or price discounts could be an excellent way to make your book accessible to a new audience. Many people wait for a sale before leaping on a purchase, so slashing your price may be the appeal needed to jump on it. Sites like BookBub and KDP offer unique ways to discount and promote your book.
Submit your book to literary awards and contests to gain recognition and credibility. Be wary of contests and awards seeking costly payment upfront. $50 would be too steep for me to enter a contest. However, $5-$25 is pretty reasonable, depending on how reputable the organizer is.
The Lunar Awards by
is an excellent option for fans and writers of speculative fiction here on Substack. There is a short story and first-chapter category (depending on the award season).Events, Merch, and Collabs
Attend book fairs, conventions, and local author events to meet readers and other authors.
Collaborate with other authors for joint promotions or anthology projects.
Organize book signings at local bookstores or libraries.
Consider creating merchandise related to your book (e.g., bookmarks, posters) to offer as giveaways or for sale.
BookFunnel
The power of BookFunnel. BookFunnel is a suite of tools for indie authors to scale their business or reading lists. I’m not affiliated with BookFunnel, so I do not benefit from promoting them. It’s simply that good.
Whether it’s delivering your reader magnet, sending out advanced copies of your book, handing out ebooks at a conference, or fulfilling your digital sales to readers, BookFunnel does it all.
Reader Magnets
With BookFunnel, you can create what is known as a landing page or reader magnet for your eBook. A reader magnet is a succinct pitch of your book and how to download it. It’s fully customizable and can be used in various ways. Here is an example of one I created for The Weight of the World for paid subscribers to access their copy:
Group Promos
If you’re seeking to grow your audience and sales, there are group promotions of all types that you can join. You set your filter settings for the promotions you want to participate in and apply to join. The promos’ summary includes the rules for each promotion, and you must follow them to be considered. Some are focused on building newsletter subscriptions, while others are more focused on sales on Amazon. To enter a promotion, you must have a finished book to include in the promotion, and you must promote the other books by authors cooperating in the promotion, so confirm the other books are similar to yours in both content and audience.
Author Swaps
These are more personal promotions where you collaborate with another author to promote each other’s work. This is an excellent option for collaborating with a writer on a niche subject matter or dialing in on a particular audience. The clicks and conversions on author swaps may be better or worse than a group promo, depending on the reputation of either author and how trusted their recommendations are.
Just be you
The meta behind consumer trust is increasingly becoming creator-centric, where people tend to rally behind the people they see and connect with rather than an overarching company or brand. Not to say that branding has no value; it’s essential, but corporations are too inaccessible and inhuman to connect with on a fundamental level.
That’s part of the power behind Substack or mailing lists; it bridges that connection with your readers that traditional publishing doesn’t achieve. When was the last time you went out of your way to read a Penguin Randomhouse book? It’s more likely that you buy specific authors or genres because you trust that they will deliver the experience you’re searching for. Publishers play a role in maintaining quality, but if the success of writers on Wattpad, RoyalRoad, Patreon, and Substack is anything to go off of, then people really want a lot more of what they like, regardless of strict quality standards.
Before this section spirals into its own article, I’ll end by saying that you can build an audience anywhere you wish by utilizing the tools available. Some things cost money, others don’t. Whatever you decide, know that you can positively affect others by your words and actions. By showing your true self, you can connect with people in a way that wasn’t possible before.
That’s truly special and unique to our time. Embrace it!
Thank you for reading this far! What do you think about these options for promoting your book? Have you used any of the methods mentioned in this article? If so, what were your results?
That concludes the limited five-part series To Build a Book. The eBook version is being revised and formatted and will be available to XPress members for download soon. Your patronage and support is greatly appreciated!
Great info as always, Winston! It's times like these that I wish I was more social media savvy. I never got into any of that stuff, but I can see how it might come in handy for marketing. I'd really prefer not to, though... I will finally support AI when it can do all the social media marketing stuff for me ;-)
Thanks for mentioning the Lunar Awards, Winston! And the great thing is there is no reading fee, and it's free to enter. This is some fantastic information you've shared in this series.