Book promotion is quite a tricky and demanding process, but is very much necessary in order for authors to sell their books. For self-publishing authors, this is a critical step they need to undertake to create awareness of their book and make a sale. Even if you have a publisher, as an author you still need to market your own book. In order to help you, enumerated in the following paragraphs are mistakes you should avoid when promoting your book, along with book promotional advice that includes tips you can use.

1) Your book is your ultimate marketing tool; do not publish a book filled with grammatical errors and an incomprehensible story line with conflicting and muddled story progression. That is why before publishing your book you have to make sure it has been edited, revised and proofread several times over. And if necessary, invest in a good editor to do these things for you. Granted, you will be spending money, but if that means your book will significantly improve, consider that money well spent. In addition, do not use a generic or common book title and do not even think of using shoddy art work for your book cover. These are the first things people will notice about your book so you have to make sure that they are outstanding. You need to ensure that the title of your book is intriguing and unique and the cover art of your book is eye-catching. Again, if you need to hire a professional designer to create your book’s cover art for you, do so, and if you have an editor working for you, make sure he edits your book title too.

2) Do not forget to create a marketing plan. Charging ahead and promoting your book on just about any advertising platform you can find without thinking things through will eventually ruin any chances you have of successfully marketing your book. Along with book promotional advice number two, while creating your marketing plan you need to take into consideration your target audience; do not disregard them. These are the people who will most likely buy your book, so most of the advertisements and promotional activities in your marketing plan should be aimed at them.

3) Do not expect too much; set realistic and practical goals. Promoting your book does not guarantee a sale and if you are not getting the results you are expecting, don’t panic and jump to the immediate conclusion that you are not doing enough. Promoting your book more aggressively can lead to even fewer sales, especially if you irritate potential buyers because you keep asking them to buy your book. Review all your promotional activities instead, see if you made a mistake somewhere along the way and correct it. But if that is not the case, then just be patient, the results of your book promotion will take time to show so while waiting for your sales to pick up, move on and start writing your next book.