Limitless—that’s how many methods are there to market your book. However, not every brilliant story garners a massive audience—and that’s where book marketing can make all the difference. Social consciousness and the capitalist approach are the 21st century’s truths of the marketing industry. Book marketing is more about capitalizing on that social consciousness to gain the profits and advantages—tough, right?
Some might argue that book marketing is more like communication: convincing the audiences’ minds of your field of vision. While, quite literally, it is the subsumption of the literary industry by the capitalist hegemony. Making the best of both these theories is how one can succeed in securing a bestseller.
The Modern Age of Book Marketing
Title selection, exposure, audience attention, and media publicity, the overall process could be an exhaustive one. As a matter of fact, not every genre gets enough readers, and not every title and cover intrigue the viewer. The key is to navigate a great many textbooks and modern tricks to formulate the ultimate marketing plan. For authors, marketing is all about audience engagement. On the contrary, book marketing is an everyday process, which goes like this: plan it, build it, brand it, and the audience might just stay for more.
Keep your marketing goals in mind, exercise the discipline of your process, and meditate on what new trends can work. With pandemic surging, digitalization expanding, and competition escalating, new trends and tactics seem to surface almost every day. Here are a few:
Sequel-Ise The Plot
Shoot for the long-haul reader engagement with the creation of a book series. The “binge culture” of this century has contributed a lot to making book series a success. Writing and drafting sequels and prequels of the book allow the author to write more and faster as compared to the non-series novel. The benefit of this culture comes with rapid content consumption. Once the reader discovers you, it is more likely to buy and read more of your content. Book-in-series guarantee the author with a steadier income, sales, and an ever-expanding readers’ base.
Another advantage of series creation is ‘less work’ of the next book release. Most of the hard work is already done in the first release of the series. The author doesn’t have to re-invent, re-create, and re-plot the world, characters, or plots. However, the real challenge comes with making the first installment a chart-topper. Once that’s done, the readers will surely buy the next installments as well—the surefire way to make your book a genre standout.
Verbalize and Diversify
It says it all! Audiobooks—the emergence of books that you listen to. The idea might have seemed absurd when the first-ever audiobook was created. However, as these audible books soar high in popularity and usage, they have become an art form of their own nature. Amid the boom, the technological advancements in this literary field are transforming the conventional dynamics. The incorporation of surround-sound and multidimensional audios brings about real-life-like experiences.
The authors could come up with exclusive audiobook content to rise to this developing and not-so-fleeting industry trend. In recent years of the viral-stricken world, the rise in audiobook sales indicates the success of this format. Nevertheless, print-book sales and audiobook success aren’t proportional. In fact, the creation of audiobooks pulls in new audiences and readers who don’t usually buy printed books.
The goal is to broaden the book experience for the readers in exciting yet creative ways. Also, it allows the people who are conscious of screen-time an opportunity to remain disciplined in their practice. Lastly, it allows the existing reader a chance to listen to remaining the plot while commuting or working.
The increased audiobook sales and lead generations provide the author widened and diversified income stream. Even after the mainstreaming of this format, the artistry element is yet to be fully explored.
The Careful Branding
Grammar, voice, and writing style are often regarded as crucial for a writer. But the question remains: is that all that’s necessary? In the business of writing, your brand is what establishes you as an author. As overlooked and disregarded as it might be, your personal brand is more important than your story.
Publishers sign deals with brands, endorsers work with brands, and agents hunt for brands—that’s how necessary it is to have an author brand. The branding depends largely on the type of audience, the genre, and the author’s reputation. The key is to test out a couple of branding strategies to figure out which entices the readers. Readers of different genres have different preferences and expectations. Changing the book cover, fixing the typography, and updating your website every now and then all come under branding. The cohesive approach of using content, visuals, and actions determines your brand’s success.
On the other hand, author branding is not about setting up a fake façade but creating a public expression. The literary industry is cramming with amateur writers and influencers; selling yourself short as a hobbyist would be undue. The writer’s job as a promoter is to keep the reader wondering, “why haven’t I heard of this author before?”—this is how every top-tier author started out.
Books-tagram Your Literature
If anything took a nosedive during the pandemic, it is the hardcover and paperback books. With social distancing on the rise, there was an upswing in the social presence of authors. When it comes to social media platforms, aestheticism sets the gripping factor. Capturing alluring shots and captioning them with trending hashtags and excerpts of the book is the new marketing fundament.
The pandemic brought a significant decrease in the production of pre-order and advanced readers’ copies with a clear inclination toward eBooks. Now the authors prefer promoting their work with eBook covers and links. The key is to ensure consistency in the posts. Set up the right background, keep the captions short, and update your profile regularly.
Most authors utilize these platforms to increase engagement through book discounts, giveaways, and launch events. You can provide a limited-time offer of uploading a free chapter to increase the hype. Start a campaign with Livestream, different collaborations, and user chats. Leveraging social media features allow the author to develop a sense of community and readership.
Promotional Optimization
Cliffhanger—the guarantor of book purchase. When it comes to reeling in the audience, make sure your book sample ends at a cliffhanger. It helps score a sale if the readers wish to read more of the story. In case you are composing a series, a cliffhanging ending ensures the purchase of the next installments. Make sure to link the sequels and prequels by name. It adds to the memorability of the work.
Also, including a blurb in the back cover factors in increased book sales and lead generation. Adding the reviews from renowned authors and critics boosts the author’s credibility and chances of possible purchase. Make sure to target the keywords in the online material and website to align with relevant audience searches. In order to globalize the book sale, design different versions of the book, including the international version and eBook and retailers’ editions. You can reach out to the relevant bloggers to promote the various regional versions of the book.
Distribution Maximization
Without a doubt, Amazon is the biggest book retailer for both online and printed books. The platform offers a bundle of features for both self and traditionally publishing authors. With Kindle and CreateSpace for self-publishing authors, the website is a must-have in every book marketing plan. Including other online and eBook retailers such as Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and iBooks helps increase visibility.
However, for publishing on these platforms, you need to have a proper understanding of guidelines and publishing formats. Each platform follows a different format and approach, and formatting the manuscript every single time you publish can be hectic. For that very reason, book marketing and publishing experts like Book Writing Cube can help you ease up the publishing process. Publishing experts like these also help in reviewing the manuscript with editing services. It gives your work a professional touch for better readability and content flow.
Make sure to utilize the incredible range of Amazon’s promotional programs. Set up your Amazon Author Central profile to build credibility as an author. Capitalize on the expanded distribution network and make your book available to a vast array of libraries and bookstores.
Concluding Thoughts
All in all, if you wish to become a successful author, there’s only one way: keep writing. With every published work, you increase your chances of securing that spot on the bestselling shelf. Don’t let the changing landscapes of book marketing overwhelm you, stay aware and steer through.
