Create the Right Plan to Market Your Book

Excellent book PR campaigns don't happen by accident and if you're writing and self-publishing a book, make sure to plan your publicity campaign in advance. Many self-publishing platforms offer book marketing services, but augmenting them is wise. You'll want to target the media to earn coverage of your work and market to book stores to encourage them to carry your book. It surprises some first-time authors that more than 80-percent of books are purchased as physical copies rather than downloads. Therefore, becoming a successful writer requires more than an online-only effort.

There's a lot to juggle when publishing your book, and mapping out your marketing plans in advance is always helpful. It will help keep you on track and make sure essential opportunities aren't overlooked – for example, media outreach needs to be timely. Your book will be seen as most newsworthy as it is being published, not several months later. It's also crucial to set a budget for your marketing plan and consider your competitors. They're seeking attention (and book purchases) from the same readers, and prevailing requires you to offer something unique. Develop your key messages and stick with them.

It's impossible to overstate the importance of having a target audience for your book and making sure you market to them. Thousands of titles are published each week, and no book can be for everyone. Knowing who will be interested in your topic or story and understanding how to reach them to spark their discovery of your work is vital. Certainly, build a social media following long before publishing a book and augment it with traditional media coverage, plenty of online reviews, and launching an author's website. Your site needs to be well written with keywords for search engines.

Competition to sell books and win the media's attention is fierce, but there are encouraging metrics. Book readership among young people in many countries is rising, and their entry into the market impacts them. Trying to promote a book online only is seldom enough, but you can't overlook the digital space either. Today's marketing campaigns are a blend of traditional PR and online exposure. Blogs and podcasts every year become more significant factors in book marketing. Their specialized audiences have shown to be potent for book sales. They have earned the notice of authors and publishers.