Once you have written your book, the next hurdle is to promote it and generate sales once it has been published, but this can begin long before the book is live.
I’ve known about the importance of promoting and marketing when it comes to book sales even before my debut novel, Layla’s Song, went out. When the manuscript was good to go, I focused all of my efforts on educating myself about marketing so that the book would succeed.
I took free online courses, read various blogs and even studied what my peers were doing in the field. I saw no sense in “winging it” as I wanted a focused and educated approach that would give my first published work the best chance on the shoestring budget I was on.
I looked into SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), Amazon’s algorithm and how integral reviews were in how Amazon ranks and recommends books and other marketing techniques.
I knew a website would be a massive tool as a kind of “go-to” for those actively searching for myself or my work, as well as being a place where I could focus my blogging efforts, e-commerce and somewhere where I could group all of my promotional tools and articles.
I became aware of blog tours and their importance in not only promoting and spreading the word about a book, but they are also a great way of getting the initial reviews of a book on the likes of Amazon and Goodreads. Having a blog tour coincide with a book release is great to get those reviews posted as soon as the book is live in order to climb the rankings on Amazon and gain visibility.
The biggest marketing campaign I launched was with my second book “Where Crows Land”.
I used the knowledge and experience gained from the efforts with my first book and put them to good use. I knew what worked and didn’t work on my first attempt and also where I found my best success. I had gained a small fan following and further encouraged this by setting up a mailing list as well as social media profiles dedicated to my efforts as an author.
I began looking at paid campaigns as I wanted to take a gamble this time around. I really believed in the book and wanted it to surpass the sales I had seen before. I began creating ad campaigns on various sites.
I used Facebook Ads, Amazon Advertising, Google Adwords, BookBub and a few others. My main focus was with Facebook Ads as I could see the engagement right away as well as the reach that the ads gained. The ads on Facebook resulted in sales so I knew that they were having the desired effect. I would even isolate different ads in terms of scheduling to see how each ad/service was performing. For example, I would run with Amazon Advertising for a couple of days then try Facebook Ads to see where I was getting the best results. I also used analytic tools such as Google Analytics (as well as insights from previous ads) to determine what kind of demographic was responding the best to the subject matter, the kind of ads and SEO I was incorporating.
Aside from the digital side of marketing, I also sent out query emails to various local media outlets. I succeeded in getting an article in The Belfast Telegraph and I also appeared live on air on U105 with Frank Mitchell to discuss my books.
In hindsight, I would say that my campaign was successful, but I now know that it takes quite a lot of capital to even make a dent in sales as well as gain a good amount of exposure. That’s why I feel it’s important to gain a good fan following.
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