Author Marketing Basics

Lots of authors roll their eyes whenever the dreaded “M-word” is mentioned, but the truth is that without being willing to invest time and effort into marketing their work, they are unlikely to get ahead of the competition.

People are bombarded with content and choices every second of every day. There are millions of books to choose from on bookselling platforms such as Amazon. If you want to ensure that your work is noticed, a strategic marketing plan and getting to grips with the basics of marketing is really the bare minimum you should be doing. 

So what are the best things you can do as a writer to start promoting your work?

Create a mailing list

Yes, this is by far the number one most important marketing tactic for any writer. You need to find people who would be interested in buying your book and try to get them to sign up to your mailing list so that you could promote your book to them when it’s finally ready for publication.

Why do you need a list?

A robust mailing list provides you with a ready-made audience, a platform with who you can communicate directly. This means you can reach your readers and find out what’s of value to them and build relationships with them. You can understand your audience better and the better you do, the easier it will be to tailor your marketing efforts to be more effective. If you discover that your readership is mostly working mums in their 30’s-50s from the UK, you can use this information to curate a campaign that will appeal directly to this cohort of readers. 

A list helps you see that you are on the right path to success. As you see the number of people on your list growing, you know that you are on the right track. The more registrations you have, the more opportunities you have to turn people into loyal fans of your work. 

How to build a list

Building a mailing list is all about capturing readers that are interested enough in finding out more about you. You can do this through several methods

Writing an interesting blog that inspired readers to want to find out more.

Reaching out to family and friends and encouraging them to share with their contacts

Interacting with online and offline communities that are relevant to your work

Offer freebies in exchange for contact information

Employ the help of a service or a professional

Remember, the most effective marketing campaigns are all about having conversations with the customer. You want to engage your audience on a level that makes them feel connected to you, that you care about them and want to help them. You need to find people who might think your work is interesting and you have to speak up. This is daunting but being brave and taking the first step to connecting with them is imperative. Join communities such as Facebook groups, real writers groups, conferences, follow blogs, enter discussion forums. If you create a mindset that you are here to talk, listen, learn and help then you can’t go far wrong and will quickly learn things about your reader that can help you deliver something of value to them.

Author marketing is daunting, sometimes even terrifying. But if you want to give your work a helping hand, then you need to be willing to take those space and make that effort. Good luck!

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