Only a handful of authors are sure that they will get book deals after finishing their books. The majority of authors have to do a great deal of promotion before people start to recognize them and their works. Even authors with book deals sometimes have to promote their books to complement the efforts of their publishers. One of the hardest parts of writing books is promoting them. The following are ways of promoting books that can be used before or after getting a book deal.
Get media savvy
Authors should develop close relationships with their local media. They should make connections with people in local newspapers, TV, and radio. The key is to get an angle to show reporters that your story is worth telling.
Read roundup posts for social media, blogs, and marketing
Time is of the essence when you are an author. Sometimes it is difficult to catch up on your favorite blogs, social media sites, and other things that interest you. However, you don’t have to spend your time scouring the web for relevant developments – there are many people who do this for you. You should find writers and bloggers who search for the best things happening on the web and dish them out to you on a silver platter, often on one large blog post. Save this time for your writing and promotion.
Guest post strategically and frequently
One of the best ways for anybody to increase visibility is to guest blog on relevant websites. Authors should offer to post as guests on blogs of well-known people in the industry. This builds their credibility, increases their visibility, and helps them to attract targeted readers to their author sites and online bookstores.
Get pre-release reviews
About three months before you publish your book, you should get bloggers and reviewers of books in your genre. Find out how to submit your manuscripts and start sending them for review. By the time you publish your book, you should already have several reviews of it to help convince the undecided reader that your book is worth buying.
Create bookmarks
This method seems dated but it still works like a charm. You should make bookmarks with your book cover, your tagline, your website, and contact information. You can also make a QR code for your more tech savvy readers.
Be friendly
You should approach the staff and owners of independent bookstores and introduce yourself. Get to know as many book review bloggers and genre experts as you can. Take stock of who you already know and figure out who you need to know. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone to make friends with people who might help you to promote your books.
Make readers long for the next book
This is a technique that was perfected by musicians long ago but it can work very well for authors too. At the end of a book, you should include sample chapters of your upcoming book. This works well if you plan to publish another book soon to add to a series.
