As with all publishing companies all books are primarily promoted through the author. In fact, 90% of the marketing you will be doing yourself. We expect you to have a strong platform. Expand your online presence in ways that help you reach people and make them aware of who you are and what you have to offer.
These are the essential pieces of your marketing platform, and our guidelines for optimizing each. Use this as a checklist of things you need to build a successful marketing platform.
Website Platform
- Make sure your email sign-up is clearly visible on each page of your website.
- Offer a gift with the email sign-up to incentivize customers to subscribe; this should be a valuable piece of free content that is easy for you to create and distribute via a download (e.g., a meditation, e-book, or sample chapter).
- Add your book image, title, and pre-order links on your homepage for pre-sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Chapters Indigo (if in Canada) at least 30 days prior to your book release.
- Once your book releases, change the pre-order links to “Now Available Everywhere Books are Sold” and also include links to the e-book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Google, etc.
- Include a professional photo or image of yourself to start building your brand. Add videos and interactive content.
- Add links to all of your social media and integrate feeds onto your site with widgets.
- Start a blog that is connected to your site and promote it via all of your marketing channels. Add it to your homepage to make your site more interactive and increase your SEO rankings.
- Include links to articles you’ve written.
Email Platform
- Grow your email database!
- Create giveaways periodically on your marketing channels to increase sign-ups.
- Develop and offer free content frequently to keep your audience subscribed and engaged (e.g., tips, message of the day, weekly podcasts, and special offers).
- Bring an email sign-up form to all lectures/events that you do.
- To determine the rate at which you will want to send emails to your audience, pay attention to your analytics (i.e., open rates, click through rates, and opt-outs) to evaluate what is or isn’t working.
Social Media Platform
- Set up social media accounts.
- Facebook Fan Page and groups.
- X
- Tik Tok
- Pinterest (photo, video content)
- YouTube Channel (video content)
- Instagram
- Use your network.
- Create a list of your business and personal contacts.
- Identify contacts that will help promote your book via their email, social media, website, or any other channels.
- Reach out to potential business contacts and like-minded individuals, providing them with an excerpt, info about the book, and your release date to see if they will help promote.
- Keep track of who you reach out to, who agrees to help you, when they would be helping to spread the word, and what their reach is (approximate number of email subscribers to their list, social media followers, etc.).
- Keep in communication with contacts who will be helping you, and provide them with suggested time frames for promotion.
- Work on your Marketing Plan and keep it up-to-date with new developments, ideas, etc.
Great marketing plans will increase your sales.
Tips from: Kelly Notaras, Founder and Editor at https://knliterary.com (Endorsed by House of Glamourgan LLC and Hay House Inc.)