In a creative career like authoring, you can find yourself encountering some of the most challenging hurdles. Aside from finding the time to write, dealing with writer’s block, and actually finishing the first draft, most writers struggle with actually getting people to read their work. 

Marketing a book isn’t too different from creating a new invention, or starting a new business in the sense that they are all acts of introducing something new to the world; trying to explain its novelty and what it may bring. However, writing books is a competitive discipline with 500,000 to 1 million new books published annually. Writing a book may be a creative endeavor, but if you want to release your work out there, you are inevitably turning it into a product. It is often daunting to think about fighting this war for attention, especially if you’re planning to get into self-publishing. Luckily for many aspiring writers, there are ways to give your newest magnum opus the recognition it deserves. 

Be sure to take some notes. In this article, we will highlight these very steps of how to market your book!

How to Market Your Book in 9 Steps

Marketing a book can be a challenging and extensive process, but it is a skill that is essential for writers to develop. Not only does it make you more independent and knowledgeable about self-publishing, but it also helps you understand the industry better and gain connections necessary for building careers. With these steps, we have simplified the process to give you a glimpse of the whole journey!

1. Understand Your Market

Artists are undeniably talented when it comes to generating products and manifesting untapped ideas, but they would find it hard to deal with the financial side; hence the term “starving artist”. A good remedy to this is knowledge and research! To ensure that your product eventually reaches readers, it is best to put in the effort to learn what drives this industry and what makes it function so well. 

Target Audience

Researching your target audience is an essential step to knowing how to market your book, and is a good way to start connecting with future consumers. Start by learning about your readers’ interests, and what kind of books are most enjoyable to them. By learning about what sparks excitement within your audience, it will be easier to catch their attention with your work.

Genres

Looking up the most popular books in your chosen genre is a great idea for marketing a book. Not only can you find good inspiration and a standard to meet, but you can also identify the aspects that just work. What is it about the latest best seller that just wins all the attention? Is it the world, characters, plot, or simply the visual appeal of the cover? Whatever it may be, when it comes to the genre you’re aiming for, it is always worth studying how other writers built their successes.

2. Build a Brand for Yourself

Establishing your image as a writer is important for marketing a book and growing a following. By creating a brand, you are essentially presenting what your market offers as well as its choice of aesthetics, personality, and target audience. In the context of self-publishing, it gives the writers an opportunity to make a good first impression whether it would be online or on bookstore shelves.

3. Create a Good Book Cover

Your book’s cover is the aspect that everyone sees. People may say “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but with other competing novels around, a good-looking cover still makes a big difference. In a normal bookstore scenario, covers can be a good way to grab attention, serving as the main visual hook to attract buyers. All in all, a great cover design gets remembered by everyone; becoming an iconic image that readers could easily recognize.

4. Create a Website

Every brand needs a fully functional webpage. Giving your product its own home on the internet is a great way to increase reach with your audience. A website is handy for containing information about all your work, including book prices and contact details. An about me page can let the audience know more about the author, along with their experiences and inspirations. You could also go for the aesthetic route and tailor it to reflect the world of your book series. 

5. Specify the Target Audience

When learning how to market your book, it can be highly beneficial to stick to a specific niche; the type of audience you want to share your message to. Knowing your genre is useful in this regard because you can easily orient your marketing strategies toward these people. Is your book for kids, teenagers, or young adults? 

6. Build a Following on Social Media

When it comes to building massive followings, you can never go wrong with social media. In this day and age, almost every internet user has their hands on a Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter account, and authors have their own writing community as well! Learning how to market your book with social media makes recognition much easier; being able to share more information at a given instant.

7. Reach Out to the Reviewers

One great way to get noticed in the book industry is by getting a lot of reviews. There’s nothing wrong with the extra help from reviewers, especially if you’re opting for self-publishing. It’s a good idea to come into contact with these critics for more exposure. 

8. Engage With Your Audience

With your brand, website, and social media in place, now is the time to engage with your own audience! Engaging with your fans is a great way to receive feedback on your work. Events such as book signings can be good for marketing a book and can give you a chance to meet loyal fans in real life. At the same time, reading positive feedback is a huge boost for the motivation of a writer.

9. Write Another Book

After learning how to market your book, why stop with just one? An author with many different works has more potential of reaching more people. Whether it would be through self-publishing or traditional publishing, having an increase in your library can strengthen your identity as an author and build your legacy works. 

Conclusion

For most aspiring writers, it is easy to get stuck in the creative process without acknowledging what it takes to get their works noticed. With that being said, self-publishing and marketing a book are essential skills for them to learn. Not only does it make their careers more fruitful, but also makes them more independent.