You thought that writing your book was going to be hard work, right? Well, the work begins when you publish. Whether you are a traditionally published author, hybrid author or independently self-publishing, you will need to market your book and online is the place to do it. Social media marketing is the hip version of the old book tours where authors trekked from city to city selling their books. Today, publishers don't have the budget and only the biggest authors get this treatment. Have no fear, you can recreate this with less money and some elbow grease.
In the months leading up to your book launch, you will need to be planning for what I call the modern-day book tour. Hopefully, you've spent time building your author platform and boosting your online presence so people are going to be interested when you launch your book.
Some of the tools you can use to build your book tour:
- YouTube videos
- Articles for your blog and guest posts
- Google+ posts and Hangouts
- Slideshare presentations
- Tumblr
- Podcasts
- Mailing list
You want people to hear about your book in as many ways as possible. Create a media blitz with as many of these as you can so people can share them with their networks.
These are a few examples of what you can do to make a big splash on your launch day.
Be ready to work hard
How you can do this:
• Find people who host Twitter chats and contact them to let them know you'd like to be a guest.
• Check to see if there are any regular Google+ Hangout shows that are related to your topic and connect with the host.
• Let people know that you are available for interviews, Hangouts, chats and any other online media.
• Use an easy to remember, relevant hashtag for your book. This will tie your content together across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+.
• Be prepared to put in the time to get the word out about your book.
Build your own buzz
How you can do this:
• Brainstorm and come up with something unique for your book. Then do it!
• Use online tools such as Togather to organize your event. Togather connects authors and readers online and in person.
Create a media blitz
Jay used the following marketing pieces (and probably more) a book trailer, a SlideShare presentation, and at least twenty-five articles excerpted from his book that were published on high-profile blogs. Jay has spent time building a network of friends who are at the same level in their career as he is: published authors, high-profile speaker and fully vested in their social media platforms. He also built trust and readership with his popular blog: Convince and Convert.
How you can do this:
• Put in the time needed to build a strong online persona that people trust and look to for information. No short cut here.
• Blog regularly on your niche topic to build your base audience.
Share your adventure
How you can do this:
• Create media by taking photos and share them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
• Build a Pinterest presence to catalog your writer's life. More about how writers can use Pinterest here.
(Disclosure: I work with Hugh's on his Pinterest account)
• Post questions, share reviews and let people learn about your journey as an author
Make a media kit
- A short and long bio
- High resolution photo
- Links to your social media profiles
- High resolution book covers
• Make it easy for people to spread the word about your book.
• Create a media kit at least a month prior to your launch.
