10 Tips for Marketing Your Book

by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen @ Quips and Tips

Whether you’re a self-published author, traditionally published author, or a writer who wants to be published – you’ll find something useful in these tips for marketing, promoting, and selling your book! These ten tips will smooth your journey to the bestseller list.

Here’s a tip for writers trying to get published:

“We’re looking for authors who will work hand-in-hand with us and find promotional opportunities for their books,” says Pamela Krauss, editor at Clarkson Potter.

Fellow scribes, you need a writer’s platform to get published. For thousands of tips for promoting your book – whether you’re published yet or not – click on 1001 Ways to Market Your Books by John Kremer – it’s a powerhouse of tried-and-true ideas. And read on for ten tips for marketing your book.

10 Tips for Marketing Your Book

“If you really want your book to fly, you need to know that the reality of the publishing business is that publishers print and distribute,” says David Chilton, author of The Wealthy Barber. “The author has to be willing to promote the book, because no one else will.”

Create a brand name

Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen is The Adventurous Writer (that’s me!). Jack Canfield is Chicken Soup for the Soul. What’s your handle, your shtick, your brand name? Pick something that appeals to you and projects the image you want for your writing career or company.

Repeat yourself

“Repetition is key to creating a brand names,” writes Kremer in 1001 Ways to Market Your Books. “If you decide to try to establish your company name as a brand name, repeat it in all your ads and feature it on the covers of all your books.”

Find creative ways to use your business cards

I love this tip for marketing your book: on the back of your business card you could print a brief book excerpt, your book cover, the table of contents, the characters, a rave review, or your elevator pitch.

Leave your business card in unexpected places

Leave your card with the tip for the waitress, in the envelope if you pay your bills via snail mail, in library books, in the change room at your gym, or in the bathroom at parties. Be generous!

Give talks at all types of places

Libraries, writer’s clubs, garden parties, churches, book fairs, colleges, schools, civic groups, senior citizen’s groups, PTA’s, chambers of commerce, businessmen luncheons, workshops, conferences, cruise ships – anywhere that welcomes speakers.

I interrupt these book marketing tips to share a quip:

“That’s how you get a bestseller – one interview, one bestseller at a time,” – Og Mandino, author of The Greatest Salesman in the World. Successful writers have to take it one step at a time!

Blog about your book sales- and share your marketing tips

An even better tip for marketing your books is to blog about your book as you write it – like Gretchen Rubin is doing with The Happiness Project. This tip is perfect for writers not yet published.

Specialize in your topic

The more specialized you are in your genre or field, the easier it’ll be to keep writing and selling books. Specialization allows you to market your books together and build a strong network.

Set a marketing budget before you get published

This is a “you have to spend money to make money” book marketing tip! “Have a clear plan of how you intend to spend your advertising dollars, reserving the major portion for your prime markets and media,” writes Kremer in 1001 Ways to Market Your Books. “Word of mouth is still the most cost-effective way to advertise your books, but set aside at least one-third of your marketing budget for promotion and publicity.”

Create relationships

Whether you’re marketing your first or fifty-first book (though if you’ve published 51 books, you probably don’t need to spend much time marketing!) – remember that successful writers create relationships with readers, freelance writers, reporters, magazine publishers, book sellers, book clubs, bloggers, teachers, etc. George over at Tumblemoose is a master of creating relationships and community (in fact, I’m going to ask him to write a guest post for me right now).

Get comfortable with media interviews

My first two radio interviews were horrible because I was nervous and not having fun — and I expect my first couple of television interviews to be almost as bad. But if I want to be a successful writer, I need to get comfortable doing live interviews. For media interview tips, read 7 Tips for Television Interviews for Writers and 10 Tips for Doing Radio Interviews for Writers.

Do you have any questions, thoughts, or tips for marketing your book?