Promoting your book
If there is one thing that the pandemic and lockdown has created it’s lots of new authors. Many people used the time to finish that book that was either on their mind or half written on their computer.
But what happens when you have that book finished and published – how do you get it in front of others and how do you persuade them to buy it?
Depending on the subject of your book you will be able to get reviews and potentially also some interviews. But if this isn’t a process you have gone through before it can be difficult to know where to start…
First take a look at your audience and ask yourself:
- Who is your book for?
- Who will want to read it?
From these sorts of questions you can create your ideal reader and start to research what they are likely to be reading and listening to. These magazines, radio shows, newspapers, etc. are your targets, they’ll put your book in front of the right people.
Once you’ve got press coverage you need to know how to make the most of it. Reviews and articles can be amplified online by sharing them on the appropriate platforms. For example, a women’s interest piece targeting women age 35-60 will likely do well on Facebook. Whilst for business titles, LinkedIn and Twitter are probably a better place to share your story.
Using social media as well as press coverage ensures you cover all bases and get the best exposure when launching your book.
Case Study – Sam Pearce From Broken to Brave
From Broken to Brave is an interesting book that has both womens lifestyle and business interest. The main target audience is female entrepreneurs, specifically those who have started their own businesses.
The way I work is to set a target of how many published reviews or interviews we are aiming for (the amount of coverage depends on the amount we can achieve in the time we have based on what the client is spending). Once this was agreed I set out to find the most relevant publications to Sam’s ideal reader.
Each time a review (example https://thelifestylebloggeruk.com/from-broken-to-brave-book-review/ )
is published, I make sure Sam has the link so she can share on her social media. For her book, Facebook and LinkedIn are ideal.
At the end of the campaign a report will be produced that shows the number of potential “customers” reached based on the readership of the publications that have featured the book.
