If you’re a brand new author who isn’t familiar with the whole online marketing thing, this post is for you. If you’ve been marketing for years, this one’s going to be a bit basic for your taste.
Still with me?
Okay, so you’ve gone through the whole book-writing process, right? You’ve figured out a concept or topic for the book, you’ve done your research and pre-writing, and you outlined the whole book, chapter by chapter. Then you wrote the book, had it edited, formatted and designed.
Finally, you published the book on the Amazon Kindle platform, and now, you’re stuck. What do you do next? You start marketing (though, to be fair, it could’ve been helpful to have been working on this since the idea phase of the book – no worries, though. You’re on the right track now!).
So where does a new author begin to market her Kindle ebooks? Let’s start here.
First, remember to be brave. You might feel like you’re showing up to the first day of school without your pants when you first put yourself out there and publish an ebook. But nothing hurts the soul (and pocketbook) of a writer more than having your book go live and seeing zero sales day after day. I like to call that the great ebook abyss (where good books go to die!). It’s sad, but it can be avoided, my friend.
So how do you avoid the ebook abyss?
Many people spend so much time learning the ins and outs of Kindle publishing, that they completely forget about the need to learn how to promote their book once it’s live. You won’t have a traditional publishing house with a team of promo experts at your disposal – it will all rest on your shoulders. Here are five tips to help you spread the word about your Kindle books:
Must-Use Kindle Marketing Hack #1 – Blog It Out, Blog About It. Blog. Blog. Blog.
Did I mention you need a blog? A blog for your author name (either your real name or a pen name) or the book name is a good idea. If your goal is to put out a series of books, then you can link the readers to your blog where an opt in form resides and capture their name and email address so they can be notified of the upcoming releases.
Heads up: I’ve put together a ton of free tools for new bloggers right here – everything from how to start a blog to beginning marketing and posting tips.
Must-Use Kindle Marketing Hack #2 – Tweet About It. Also Tweet About Other Stuff. Related Stuff.
Even if you’re not an avid Twitter user, you should make it a point to get an account for your author name and Tweet about your Kindle release, as well as free promo days if you have them. Twitter still makes the news and the community makes things go viral, so you want to have a piece of that marketing opportunity.
Must-Use Kindle Marketing Hack #3 – Create a Facebook Fan Page.
I know, this probably feels like a no-brainer. But it’s often overlooked by new authors. So be sure to create a Facebook fan page for your book, or for your author name. (I say author name, but that’s just me.) A FB page offers your readers a way to communicate with you. Plus, since many people love to share things on Facebook, it gives them a quick and easy way to share your book’s link (with a thumbnail and commentary) with their own friends and family. (Read: more potential readers/buyers!)
Plus, between you and me, Facebook provides a good majority of the traffic to my sites, which feature traffic numbers that correspond with book sales numbers for me – the more traffic I get on my site, the more sales I see in my KDP dashboard. Coincidence? I think not.
Bonus Kindle Marketing Hack: Join a Blog Book Tour
This one’s not a “must use” hack, but it’s one that has proven to be very effective for a lot of writers: a blog book tour.
What is a blog book tour?
In traditional publishing, authors go from bookstore to bookstore around the country to promote their book and interact with fans. On a blog book tour, the author makes a stop at someone’s blog to get interviewed (sometimes it’s a live webinar type interview).
What can you expect in a blog book tour interview?
Sometimes they are given a set of questions to answer in advance from the blogger’s audience. And they may give away a few copies to lucky readers. All of this helps keep the buzz going about the author and his or her books.
