One of the biggest challenges for indie authors is getting their book in front of readers. There are millions of books published every year, and unless you’re very famous independently of your book, odds are that you’re nervous about how to get people interested. That’s where digital marketing comes in. You’ve probably heard this term before, especially as you travel down the road of independent publishing. You’re probably asking questions like: What does digital marketing entail? How does it get books in front of readers? And how could it work for me?
- Digital marketing is simply getting your book information in front of Internet consumers, typically in the form of online advertising.
- Digital marketing is less expensive.
- You can boost book sales and your online platform simultaneously by using digital marketing.
How Digital Marketing Strategies For Authors are Beneficial?
1. People Are Online
- Consumers spend 5 hours per day on mobile devices.
- This is the majority of people’s leisure time, so the best place to find that perfect reader is during their daily Facebook scroll or YouTube binge.
2. Digital Marketing Is Less Expensive
- Most digital advertising on any social media platform can be adapted to all budgets.
- You can adapt the advertising to fit your budget, and though you may find more success with more money.
- You can still get your book in front of more readers with small advertisements than with no advertisements at all.
Marketing Tips For Authors
1. Know Your Audience
- Understanding your readers will help you devise the best digital marketing strategy for you. Online marketing is customized and personalized.
- It is essential for you to know your audience so you can find them and serve them best.
- You should know your readers’ age group, gender, interests, which social media outlets they use and where they hang out online.
- The more you know your audience, the better your marketing will be.
2. Create an Author Website to Promote Your Book(s)
- Author website will be the hub of your online marketing strategy.
- Your initial author website shouldn’t need more than four or five pages to start.
- You’ll want a Contact Page, an About Page, and a page about your book.
- You can fill out your site and add more great content to build your audience and attract more readers.
- You should definitely plan on updating your site and writing blog posts at least once a month after your site is live.
- Try to write your blog posts in a way that solicits comments and responses from your readers.
3. Email Marketing
- Build a Massive Mailing List, Write Copy that Converts, and Generate More Sales
- In reality, if you don’t have an email list, you don’t truly have a business.
- Since email marketing is the process of reaching targeted email leads at the right time, with the most relevant content and offers, you can’t afford to joke with it.
- A research by ExactTarget showed that 77% of customers prefer getting information on brand’s products/services they use through emails.
Fact Check
A research by ExactTarget showed that 77% of customers prefer getting information on brand’s products/services they use through emails.
4. Blog Posting
- Creating blog posts shouldn’t be a problem for an author.
- You can take advantage of your writing skills to engage potential readers and to entice them into buying your book.
- There are a plethora of topics waiting for you. But what you create must always be based on your goal.
5. Videos
- The great thing about making videos these days is that it’s inexpensive and easy to do.
- Using just your smartphone, tablet, or laptop, you can film from your home or anywhere else you happen to be.
- Using free video editing software that may have come with your device, you can edit the clips yourself and publish to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, or any number of other platforms online.
6. Podcasts
- Podcasts make the experience more personal for potential readers as they can hear your voice while you’re sharing relevant content.
- Creating an episode isn’t quite as challenging as editing a single video.
- A free program called Audacity has also been a favorite for podcasters.
- Podcasts are also an excellent way of building a network of writer friends.
7. Social Media Marketing for Authors
- Social Media provides a way to further build your community and connect with new readers.
- Social media is an excellent tool to help increase discussion amongst your fans.
- Facebook is the largest social media site and works for nearly all self-published authors.
- It is easy to use and most readers are familiar with it.
- You should post helpful, interesting and valuable information on Facebook, targeted to your type of reader.
8. Amazon Book Ads (with Amazon Marketing Services)
- You can now promote your books directly on Amazon using Amazon Marketing Services (AMS).
9. Promote Your Book On Youtube
- YouTube is one of the most powerful search engines on the Internet.
- Create a YouTube account.
- Post your Google Hangouts to YouTube.
- Link to your YouTube videos on your Facebook and Twitter accounts.
- Compile a series of short videos of you discussing topics related to your book. Make them informational, not promotional and employ them in all marketing services and activities.
10. Run a Google AdWords campaign
- Target keywords that your audience would likely search for to find books similar to yours.
- Create several versions of ad copy within each ad group and let Google automatically run each variation and determine a winner.
11. Ask questions and encourage participation
- The more your fans and followers engage with your updates, the more exposure you’ll get.
- Their friends will see their comments in their news feeds. So make sure to involve fans in a two-way conversation.
12. Answer relevant questions on Quora
- If you’ve published a nonfiction book or have become a subject-matter expert via research you’ve done for a fiction book, follow relevant topics on Quora and answer questions as you see fit.
- Include the link to the book in your Quora bio.
13. Install an exit pop-up to increase subscribers
- You might find it annoying as a user, but we can attest that pop-ups are very effective at getting people to sign up.
- Creating one may require the help of a professional, but it’s something you should consider if you’re pulling out all the stops for your mailing list.
14. Attract new subscribers with giveaways
- If you don’t have any short stories, or worksheets to use as a lead magnet, you could also run a giveaway.
- First: find a prize that will attract your kind of reader.
15. Use your backlist to promote your current book
- This only applies if you have a backlist.
- If you’re releasing the second book in a series, you can discount book one and include a link at the back page that encourages the reader to purchase the latest title.
- By promoting an earlier book, you can boost the sales of your newer one without dropping the price at all!
16. Seek out social media influencers
- Influencers basically anyone with a big enough social media following.
- Some influencers will ask for an endorsement fee to market a product, but if you can find ones whose interests are closely aligned with your own, it might be the start of a fruitful partnership.
Marketing is trial and error process. Nothing is wrong with trying new ways of marketing. Online marketing helps you to reach more people in very short time with insights. Follow these tips and dig in deeper as per your results. Plan, execute, examine and repeat.
Vijay Sood is a seasoned digital marketer with a passion for driving online growth and innovation. With a robust background in developing and executing comprehensive digital strategies, Vijay excels in leveraging SEO, content marketing, and social media to boost brand visibility and engagement. His expertise lies in transforming data-driven insights into actionable marketing campaigns, helping businesses achieve their digital objectives.