I don’t have enough time.

Do you feel the same way?

Do you struggle to keep up with all your work, family, and home responsibilities and find time to write and market your books?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Could I create a personal system that might help me better manage the short periods of time — 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there — while I wait in line or before joining a Zoom meeting or calling a source for an interview?

Quick and easy book marketing tasks

I’m starting by listing quick and easy tasks I can tackle in those brief in-between periods. It might be reading an article I’ve saved or tracking down someone’s contact information.

This approach will help you accomplish more book marketing tasks, too. All it takes is a little advance planning.

What book marketing tasks do you think you can start and finish in five minutes or less?

I’ve started a list here with five I know I can do in that window. What should go on yours?

Book marketing task 1

Find something to share on the social network you use the most for book promotion.

To make this easy for me on Twitter, one of several platforms I use, I created a Twitter list of people I consider to be influencers. When I’ve got a couple of minutes, I scroll through the list looking for something to share.

Here’s what part of it looks like:

I can re-tweet someone else’s information easily or share it on other social networks.

Most social networks offer an easy way to share other people’s content either within that platform or to another social network.

Book marketing task 2

Subscribe to a newsletter that will help you up your game.

This could be an advice newsletter or one published by a top author in your genre or category.

Here are a few book-related newsletters I recommend in addition to mine, Build Book Buzz:

• BookLife by Publishers Weekly: BookLife is PW’s website for indie authors. The newsletter includes a mix of book news and how-to information.
• Cynthia Swanson: Cynthia’s newsletter is a good example of what you can send when you’re a novelist. I like her information mix that includes book recommendations.
• Derek Doepker: In addition to providing book marketing advice and resources, Derek is a great email-writing role model.
• Kindlepreneur: You might have heard about Dave Chesson and his exceptional content for authors. If you’re not already on his list, sign up and start learning.
• Reedsy: This publishing resource platform offers helpful information for fiction and nonfiction authors.

Are you thinking, “I get enough email already“? Professional development is important to your growth as an author, and these newsletters will contribute to that.

Book marketing task 3

Follow three successful authors in your genre on social media.

Start with the platform where you’ll find your readers. Hen lit? Facebook. YA? TikTok. Business? LinkedIn.

You probably know who to follow. If you’ve done this already, find and connect with three more.

via GIPHY

Why do it?

You will learn from them and their followers. And, if handled properly, you can build relationships with these authors.

Book marketing task 4

Create an image quote to share on social media.

Using the WordSwag app on my iPhone, I can do this while stretched out in my La-Z-Boy recliner in front of the TV watching a favorite show. (There’s that “two-fer” idea again.)

Here’s one I created with WordSwag using one of my own photos. The app also provides all kinds of background options that include photos from Pixabay and Unsplash.

There are other smartphone apps and online platforms you can use from a smartphone or your computer. I’ve listed a few of them in “How to create book promotion quote graphics that help you sell.”

With a little practice, you’ll be able to create an image quote in less than five minutes.

When you’re done, share it on your social networks the next time you have about five minutes.

Book marketing task 5

Comment on a blog you’d like to visit on your virtual book tour.

Virtual book tours are easier to set up when you’re not contacting strangers to host you, so take early steps to become known to them.

Months before your book comes out, start researching blogs that would be good homes for your virtual book tour (author blog tour). When you have a few minutes to spare, visit one and leave an appropriate comment on a recent post.

Do this enough times and the blogger will know your name when you’re ready to schedule your tour.

Start your book marketing task list

To make sure you do these and all the other activities you can pull off in five minutes or less, write them down.

With a list at hand, you won’t waste any time thinking about what you should do next.

And, when you need to add another step that you don’t have time for at the moment — like sharing the image quote you’ve just created — add it to the list. You can share it when you have another five minutes.

Get ideas in your inbox every day for a year

Need more ideas? Subscribe to my “365 Daily Book Marketing Tips” for just $1 or purchase the downloadable full collection with all 365 plus 10 bonus tips.

Each day for a year, I’ll send pithy book marketing advice to your inbox.

Take action as soon as you receive a tip that will work for you and your book, or use them to build a task list you’ll act on later.

It doesn’t take a math whiz to see how much farther ahead you’ll be at the end of the week if you turn brief moments of down time into productive book marketing time.

What five-minute book marketing tasks do you recommend? Please share them in a comment! 

(Editor’s note: This article was first published in October 2017. It has been updated and expanded.)

I don’t have enough time.

Do you feel the same way?

Do you struggle to keep up with all your work, family, and home responsibilities and find time to write and market your books?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Could I create a personal system that might help me better manage the short periods of time — 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there — while I wait in line or before joining a Zoom meeting or calling a source for an interview?

Quick and easy book marketing tasks

I’m starting by listing quick and easy tasks I can tackle in those brief in-between periods. It might be reading an article I’ve saved or tracking down someone’s contact information.

This approach will help you accomplish more book marketing tasks, too. All it takes is a little advance planning.

What book marketing tasks do you think you can start and finish in five minutes or less?

I’ve started a list here with five I know I can do in that window. What should go on yours?

Book marketing task 1

Find something to share on the social network you use the most for book promotion.

To make this easy for me on Twitter, one of several platforms I use, I created a Twitter list of people I consider to be influencers. When I’ve got a couple of minutes, I scroll through the list looking for something to share.

Here’s what part of it looks like:

I can re-tweet someone else’s information easily or share it on other social networks.

Most social networks offer an easy way to share other people’s content either within that platform or to another social network.

Book marketing task 2

Subscribe to a newsletter that will help you up your game.

This could be an advice newsletter or one published by a top author in your genre or category.

Here are a few book-related newsletters I recommend in addition to mine, Build Book Buzz:

• BookLife by Publishers Weekly: BookLife is PW’s website for indie authors. The newsletter includes a mix of book news and how-to information.
• Cynthia Swanson: Cynthia’s newsletter is a good example of what you can send when you’re a novelist. I like her information mix that includes book recommendations.
• Derek Doepker: In addition to providing book marketing advice and resources, Derek is a great email-writing role model.
• Kindlepreneur: You might have heard about Dave Chesson and his exceptional content for authors. If you’re not already on his list, sign up and start learning.
• Reedsy: This publishing resource platform offers helpful information for fiction and nonfiction authors.

Are you thinking, “I get enough email already“? Professional development is important to your growth as an author, and these newsletters will contribute to that.

Book marketing task 3

Follow three successful authors in your genre on social media.

Start with the platform where you’ll find your readers. Hen lit? Facebook. YA? TikTok. Business? LinkedIn.

You probably know who to follow. If you’ve done this already, find and connect with three more.

via GIPHY

Why do it?

You will learn from them and their followers. And, if handled properly, you can build relationships with these authors.

Book marketing task 4

Create an image quote to share on social media.

Using the WordSwag app on my iPhone, I can do this while stretched out in my La-Z-Boy recliner in front of the TV watching a favorite show. (There’s that “two-fer” idea again.)

Here’s one I created with WordSwag using one of my own photos. The app also provides all kinds of background options that include photos from Pixabay and Unsplash.

There are other smartphone apps and online platforms you can use from a smartphone or your computer. I’ve listed a few of them in “How to create book promotion quote graphics that help you sell.”

With a little practice, you’ll be able to create an image quote in less than five minutes.

When you’re done, share it on your social networks the next time you have about five minutes.

Book marketing task 5

Comment on a blog you’d like to visit on your virtual book tour.

Virtual book tours are easier to set up when you’re not contacting strangers to host you, so take early steps to become known to them.

Months before your book comes out, start researching blogs that would be good homes for your virtual book tour (author blog tour). When you have a few minutes to spare, visit one and leave an appropriate comment on a recent post.

Do this enough times and the blogger will know your name when you’re ready to schedule your tour.

Start your book marketing task list

To make sure you do these and all the other activities you can pull off in five minutes or less, write them down.

With a list at hand, you won’t waste any time thinking about what you should do next.

And, when you need to add another step that you don’t have time for at the moment — like sharing the image quote you’ve just created — add it to the list. You can share it when you have another five minutes.

Get ideas in your inbox every day for a year

Need more ideas? Subscribe to my “365 Daily Book Marketing Tips” for just $1 or purchase the downloadable full collection with all 365 plus 10 bonus tips.

Each day for a year, I’ll send pithy book marketing advice to your inbox.

Take action as soon as you receive a tip that will work for you and your book, or use them to build a task list you’ll act on later.

It doesn’t take a math whiz to see how much farther ahead you’ll be at the end of the week if you turn brief moments of down time into productive book marketing time.

What five-minute book marketing tasks do you recommend? Please share them in a comment! 

(Editor’s note: This article was first published in October 2017. It has been updated and expanded.)

With that in mind, I used my book marketing Facebook group and “Help a Reporter Out” – HARO – to ask authors, book marketers, book publicists, and publishers for their best book marketing tips.

They did not disappoint. There’s a lot of wisdom in their responses, whether their advice is to zero in on a narrow target audience or to use email marketing.

Book marketing tips

Here’s what they had to say, in no special order. Big thanks to all of them for sharing their experiences with us.

A regularly updated author website is essential.

Too many authors don’t have a website or it is one that has not been updated in months or even years. Your author website should be a workhorse and not a show pony. If there isn’t valuable content, it won’t matter if it looks good. People won’t have a reason to stay, much less revisit it.

Make sure your website is easy to navigate, and is useful to your audience. Without new content, there is no reason to come to your website. Keeping your audience engaged with new content is key to audience retention. If the only content on your website is what people can find on Amazon, what’s the reason to come to your website? Make sure that your content is unique and valuable to your readers. Once you have a website with fresh and unique content, you’ll be able to direct people from social media to visit your site and learn about your books.

Tiffany Obeng, author, Scout’s Honor: A Kid’s Book about Lying and Telling the Truth

Write and publish a book that people actually want.

This tip made marketing 100% easier for me. By publishing something people were searching for, my job was nearly done. I then just needed to create and deliver a quality product that met the customers’ needs. I did this by conducting market research. I searched the topic on Google to determine if the topic was relevant and I researched potential competitor books.

For example, last September, I noticed there was an active customer base for children’s books about honesty. I then researched other children’s books about that topic to see what they provided and what they were missing. Next, I carefully created a book about honesty that kept the things people loved about other books on that subject, and added the things people wanted but didn’t find.

My book was an Amazon Hot Release for weeks, is still purchased daily, and has been featured as a recommended book in magazines. All of this happened without paid promotion on my end. The book marketed itself.

Anita Petty​, author, Money Switch: Flip Yourself Onto Happiness, Health & Wealth

Throw a book launch party. 

A book launch party can do many things for a new book:

• Boost sales
• Increase social media presence
• Opportunity to promote other products or services
• Great forum for others to talk about your book and share reviews
• Media opportunity: Invite the local press.
• Create videos of event and interviews to share on social media.

The best part of all: A launch party is a great way to invite sponsors to contribute and help pay for the event. Swag bag giveaways can help defray the event costs while enabling your sponsors to market to your audience.

Ross Kernez, author, The Digital Marketing Bullet Train: Get Onboard or Get Left Behind

Understand exactly who your book is for and speak to them in your messaging.

Every product will appeal to multiple types of people (personalities). Your job is to identify the most profitable personality or the one you believe will benefit most from your book, and speak to that person and only that person. Now you might be thinking you will alienate other potential audiences. True, you will. But you will potentially alienate everyone by speaking to no one specific. Your words will resonate and strike a chord when you focus on the right personality. Spend time researching your ideal audience and create a value proposition that will leave them curious and intrigued by your book.

Kim Stewart, podcast publicist and host, Book Marketing Mania podcast

Be a guest on podcasts to market your book to new readers.

By guesting on podcasts, you can share your book’s message of organically with new readers by serving on other people’s platforms. Podcasts hosts work very hard to grow an engaged audience that trusts them to bring value to their busy lives. Being an invited guest on a podcast is such an honor, and when the listeners trust their host, they will trust you as a guest. Podcast interviews usually last 30 to 40 minutes and as listeners hear your authentic voice engaging with the host, encouraging listeners, solving problems they have, there will be an instant connection to you as an author, especially if they’ve never heard of you before.

If you show up to serve well by bringing lots of value to your conversation, you can naturally lead listeners to your book, or to your email list, where they’ll discover additional content to help them take action on what you shared in your interview, including buying your book.

Scott Graham, author, 15 books

Pay attention to your search engine results page.

The most important factor is your author brand SERP. SERP stands for search engine results page. It takes work but you can significantly impact what shows up when someone Googles your name. This includes the Google Knowledge Panel, the box that contains information Google itself thinks is important to your search result. This is not to be confused with a Google Business Listing/Panel. Google creates this panel itself and you can only influence the information that appears in it. I’ve connected the Google search engine to my photo, author website, and social profiles. The panel also includes my birthdate and a description of me. Here’s my brand SERP.

Jeremy Morang, author, The Surrender Game: The Guardian War Chronicles Vol 1

Create an effective email marketing campaign.

My best marketing tip for authors is to create an effective email marketing campaign that engages your readers with high quality content, teasers and promotions to highlight new and re-releases. If you are an aspiring author and you don’t already have an email list your audience can subscribe to, this needs to be your next big to-do. Email lists are nothing new in the world of book marketing, yet there are still so many authors who haven’t tapped into this resource yet, and it’s pure gold.

When someone subscribes to an email list, they are signaling that they are already sold. They came to your site, sampled your content, and they’ve made a decision to “consume” more of you. Now, it’s your job as the author to follow through and deliver the quality content your reader signed up for when they subscribed. Understanding the latter is where the challenge lies for many authors.

Maria McDowell, author, Processing A Heartbreak and Moving On

Use email marketing.

Email marketing remains my first book promotion and marketing strategy. When I published my first book, which was nonfiction self-help, I gave away the e-book version free in exchange for the reader’s email address. I distributed about 10,000 e-books, and got as many email addresses as a result. When I published a follow-up to that book, I sent an e-mail to everyone on my list to notify them that I had just launched the second version of the first book. This strategy helped me sell more than 4,000 copies in the first week of its launch. Email marketing should be the best tool for authors to market their books.

Kris Bordessa, author, Attainable Sustainable: The Lost Art of Self-Reliant Living

Create a network of people in your niche to help spread the word when the book launches.

My book dropped at about the same time as the pandemic arrived in full force, so in-person events were non-existent. Thankfully, I had assembled a big list of bloggers, podcasters, and other authors who were interested in my topic and able to talk about the book on their channels, either as a review or excerpt on their own blog, or on social media. This also allowed me to share more on my channels; instead of me talking about my book (which everyone gets tired of!), it was great to be able to share what other people were saying.

K.M. del Mara, author, Twist a Rope of Sand

Focus, focus, focus.

Three words helped me with my latest book: focus, focus, and focus. I followed a new plan, which was to get all my ducks in order – every last beak and feather, it seemed – before starting to write (per the book The Anatomy of Story, by John Truby). It was having a clear idea of what I wanted to say, what difficulties I anticipated in trying to say it, what concepts I would try to put forth, and so much more, that gave the whole project focus, not only with writing but with marketing, too. It helped me decide keywords, form a clearer description than I usually manage, create Facebook posts, etc., and I’ll continue to go back to the outline as I go forward.

Linda Hansen, author, Otto the Otter, A Big Surprise 

You must knock on a lot of doors to get one or more to open.

Marketing a book takes a lot of time, effort, and the willingness to ask a lot of people if they will sell your book in their store, allow you to have a meet the author and book signing event, visit a school, sell at a market, and the many other opportunities that are possible. Marketing is not only about selling your book, but it is also about doing publicity. This means reaching out to radio and TV stations for interviews, getting on podcasts, and getting magazine and newspaper articles and reviews. In the end, if you don’t make the effort to knock on doors, you can’t be told “yes” or “no.” And, “no” doesn’t mean they don’t like you; it just means not now.

Laura Akers, author, the Davia Glenn series

Learn from experts.

The success of your book is dependent on reaching your target audience. I studied and applied tips from Sandra Beckwith’s Build Book Buzz website, read David Gaughran’s books on building an author platform and using Amazon Ads, and learned about keywords and marketing via Kindleprenuer’s articles. Other useful resources are classes on Udemy, marketing experts on Fiverr, blogs, and podcasts to help you find what’s suitable for you and your budget.

Tylar Paige, author, F*ck You, Watch This: Tired of choosing the wrong men, she finally chose herself

Post unique and creative content on social media every single day. 

Facebook groups are essential for book marketing. I have sold hundreds of copies of my book in a single day just by sharing my book (along with a creative story) to groups. I also make sure to engage with my readers and any comments that are relevant. TikTok videos are also helpful, when you can jump on a trend and add context in the form of “the story” of your book. This is the best way to intrigue and entice your potential readers. Be consistent with your hashtag across all social media. Be a podcast guest, then share your show links on social media, as well.

Kelly Van Zandt, author, Powerful Postpartum

Sell your book by building a community on Instagram. 

My book, Powerful Postpartum, discusses early motherhood, and I make an effort to establish meaningful connections not only with mothers, but also with like-minded individuals and industry professionals such as doulas, midwives, and therapists. If I wholeheartedly support their ideas, I share their posts with credit, comment, or write a personal note to connect.

These connections have turned into both book sales and a beautiful community. This Instagram community has become an added network of referrals, for which I am eternally grateful. Oftentimes, readers even are compelled to share quotes and images from the book on their own account pages, which is great because we all know the power of personal reviews and recommendations.

Most often, Instagram users will include hashtags to increase their own post engagement, but you can also take some time to search and follow your industry hashtags to discover new connections. Following hashtags is a great way to become exposed to new accounts that may connect with your message.

Sophia Demas, author, The Divine Language of Coincidence: How Miracles Transformed My Life After I Began Paying Attention

Go old school. 

My husband made fliers with tear-off strips printed with my book title and website URL; I put them up on kiosks on UPenn’s campus. People are actually tearing off the tabs. He also created a t-shirt imprinted with my book cover that turns him into a human billboard.

H.R. Bellicosa, author, The Punishings

Link your book to relevant events and groups.

Each book, fiction or nonfiction, falls into a particular niche, and you need to target that same niche when marketing your book. If you are marketing a novel about refugees during World War II, you must target historical societies and refugee charity organizations. People in those groups will be most interested in your work. Offer to speak at local historical society meetings, ask your local museum if they’ll sell your book, and give a talk at your local library. Link the book to events such as World Refugee Day on your social media channels, and post news articles about the subject with a link to your book.

My book is a novel about reproductive rights, so I market it to feminist activists and organized groups that are fighting for reproductive justice since they are the demographic mos tinterested in that topic. You can also choose to donate a portion of proceeds to a charity that is linked to your book’s niche. I’ve chosen to donate to the ACLU, a group committed to suing states that enact restrictive reproductive laws. Once you find your target niche, you’ll be happily surprised at how eager people are to read and support your work. That’s why you always want to have business cards and bookmarks with your book’s title, cover, and website ready to hand out.

Amy Lyle, author, The Book of Failures

Professional photography can land you free press.

When launching The Book of Failures, I was my own PR person. I hired a photographer friend to capture something for the book covers. Not only did we get the perfect covers, but we were also able to get about a dozen really funny shots that led to multiple features in publications. Local and even larger publications may be more compelled to run your story if you have quality photography, as it makes the story more interesting and it saves them time and money.

My book’s publicity generated paid (and unpaid) speaking engagements, including a Boston TEDx, television appearances, and invitations to more than 30 podcasts. The free publicity helped drive my books to #1 bestsellers in the very competitive humor and entertainment niche and land on Goodreads’ Top 10 Best Humor list.

Kami Hoss, author, If Your Mouth Could Talk

Invest in digital marketing.

We invested heavily in Facebook and social media advertisements to promote my book and saw great success with these ads. Be sure that your ads stand out and provide a shocking statistic or information that entices them to click on the advertisement and purchase your book. Partnering with a digital marketing agency is a great way to ensure that your goals are accomplished and you convert as many customers as possible.

What’s your best book marketing tip? Please tell us in a comment!

13 fiction book marketing tips from an experienced novelist

By Victoria Jayne

Just six weeks after my debut novel was released, my publisher ended our contract.

Why?

I believe it’s because I didn’t have the faintest idea how to market my book. I did nothing the first three weeks. I relied on my publisher to do it all. Major fail on my part.

When I finally got on board, I flailed. Completely out of my depth, it was too little too late. I believe my royalty check for six weeks was something like $80.

I had spent significantly more than that in poorly targeted ads for those three weeks trying to figure out marketing.

I had to learn about book marketing

Since then, I’ve read blogs, listened to podcasts, and watched YouTube videos on marketing. I’ve joined Facebook groups, polled Twitter, and sought help in forums and writers groups. I even commissioned someone from Reedsy to teach me book marketing.

In that time, I released two more books and have spent thousands on marketing as I fumble my way through the business aspect of being an author (I don’t know about you, but 16-year-old me who dreamed of being an author didn’t dream about spreadsheets and cost-benefit analysis).

I’m not a best-seller. I’m not a marketing guru. I’ve learned more about what not to do than specific strategies that work over the past three years. However, I am an author in the trenches.

Here’s what I’ve discovered

One of the best things I’ve learned about the author community is that we are here to help each other. We’re not in competition with one another. My reader can be your reader, too, and vice versa. The best resources authors have in navigating the business are each other.

In that spirit, here are my top fiction book marketing tips for debut authors

1. Create a website

I use Wix. It has a free option, but I recommend upgrading to get rid of the Wix branding. Most of the podcasts I listen to recommended WordPress, but I found it too complicated to use. It should include a mailing list sign up and a contact option.

2. Set up social media accounts specifically for your author persona.

The thing about social media is that it will not grow your audience. Social media is how you engage the readers you already have. However, if you’re looking to find readers, it’s limited in its uses. However, I do firmly believe you need to be there. Readers, when they find you, will look for you there.

I am a big believer in separation between your private and public selves. If you’re using a pen name, set up social media in this name so your readers can find you.

Here’s my take on the social networks:

• Twitter – This is for networking with other authors and, in my opinion, will not be helpful in sales. #WritingCommunity is my favorite.
• Instagram – Book bloggers/bookstagrammers are great to follow and you can build a relationship with them by interacting with them early.
• Facebook – Join writing/author communities to start networking early. Learn from those who are already there. Join reading communities and start networking with readers early. Once readers see you as a person, they are more likely to support you later when you’re an author.
• Goodreads – This is more of a reader-based resource, not a marketing tool. You want to be there, but you most likely won’t get direct sales from it. Readers will find you there, but there’s nothing proactive you can do for them to find you, in my opinion.

3. Create a BookBub partner account for authors.

This will let subscribers to the BookBub daily email newsletter find and follow you. As with other social networks, the more followers you have, the better of a marketing tool it is for you.

When you have a new release, BookBub email blasts your followers about your release. In addition, the BookBub deal newsletter for readers is amazing. It’s extremely competitive and expensive, but I’ve heard it’s worth its weight in gold.

4. Use Booksprout (there is a free account option) to get reviews.

You can quote these reviews in teasers later.

5. Sign up for AllAuthor and BookBrush.

They have this option where you can get mockups of your book covers. So they will put your cover into a template of an e-book, paperback, or hardcover. They will do mockups for audiobooks and series clusters.

They also offer a bunch of creative art you can use for teasers and advertising when you get to that point later. BookBrush offers a free option that allows for a certain number of mockups per month.

6. Create a Canva design account.

There are free and paid versions. I prefer Canva to BookBrush when it comes to creating teasers and other designs meant to engage my audience. I find it easier to work with and it stores the designs I’ve made automatically and in a better fashion.

7. Use BookSweeps.

One of the most essential marketing tools you will ever have is your mailing list. This is the only way you will be able to directly communicate with your audience without the possibility of another platform’s algorithm filtering you out.

BookSweeps offers genre-specific sweepstakes geared toward either building your mailing list or your BookBub following. I do have to admit, you will get an impressive number of sign-ups (more than 800 both times I’ve done it). The list dwindles down due to unsubscribes and lack of engagement quickly, though. That said, I still recommend it as a starting point.

8. Sign up with Bookfunnel and StoryOrigin.

These are excellent tools for networking with other authors. You can join book fairs and participate in newsletter swaps. This means you will be tapping into other author’s audiences – getting your book in front of readers. Invaluable! Both of these options also offer newsletter building options as well.

9. Research book bloggers/booktubers/book podcasters in your genre.

Ask them to review your book. Make sure you comment and follow the comments when the content with your review comes out. Post it on your social media and in your newsletter when it comes out. Also, repost it a few months later.

Never, ever, ever pay for a review.

10. Research book blogs in your genre and pitch guest posts.

Share them with your social networks and in your newsletter. Also, share again a few months later. This should be free. I have never paid to do a guest post.

11. Sign up for a blog tour.

Silver Dagger Book Tours has a pay what you can option. I’ve used them twice and very much loved the results. Make sure you follow along your tour and post comments on each and engage with those who are there.

12. Don’t waste money on advertising, especially as a first-timer.

You’ll notice something lacking in my recommendations: ads. I don’t recommend them for a debut author who has one book to sell. They are a quick and easy way to spend money with little to no return.

They require a very specific set of skills. If you’re not targeting your audience correctly, you won’t sell anything. If you have the wrong graphic you won’t sell anything. If you have the wrong ad copy, you won’t sell anything. They’re hard.

13. Keep writing. Above all else, keep writing.

That means debut novels don’t earn what it cost to produce them. Self-published and traditional authors who make a living publishing do so after they’ve developed a substantial backlist.

So please, keep writing. Being an author is a marathon, not a sprint.

Market your books!

The reality of being an author is this: The majority of authors do not sell more than 100 copies of their debut novel in the first year.

If you want to do more than that, use my fiction book marketing tips and start promoting your novel. Then, please, report back here on your successes!

What’s your best book marketing tip? Please tell us in a comment! 

Book marketing tips from a first-time author

By Andreas Wagner

Authors often see themselves as artists. When they write their first book, things like marketing and advertising are often not on their mind.

Once the book is out there and nobody buys it, however, writers have to start thinking about how to generate attention for their book. In the weeks after I published my nonfiction book Get Rid Of Your Small Addictions through Amazon’s KDP, I faced these challenges.

I don’t have an email list; my Instagram profile only attracts a few of my writer friends, and my author page on Facebook has one like so far – from my father.

I had to come up with other marketing tools to make my book launch a success. As my advertising budget is slightly smaller than Coca-Cola’s, I needed to be creative. Here are book marketing tips based on what I’ve learned.

Emailing friends and family

My first measure didn’t cost any money, but was very time-consuming. I went through every single contact in my address book and wrote almost everyone a personal message and sent those out on the day of the launch. I even messaged some of my ex-girlfriends after I hadn’t been in touch with them for years.

You might wonder if this is really of any benefit, but my aim was not necessarily to sell the book to my contacts, but to spread the word.

A lot of my friends and acquaintances seemed happy for me that I had published a book and some of them recommended it to friends. The important thing, however, is to genuinely personalize the messages because otherwise they come across as mass mails that won’t get you anywhere.

As I offered the book for free in the first couple of days after the launch, I got around 50 downloads through these messages alone. For someone starting out afresh, it is certainly a success.

You shouldn’t underestimate the time investment for this, especially because some of your friends will reply and then you need to answer their questions or thank them for congratulating you.

Facebook for the long term . . .

Another option for free advertising that I used was to join Facebook groups about the book’s topic. If you keep engaging with other members and give them tips, you will establish yourself as a helpful member of the community, which in turn could lead to a few book sales.

This is especially true for nonfiction authors, but this can be a great idea even for fiction writers. This is something that should bear fruits on the longer term, though.

. . . podcasts for the win

For short term sales success, I recommend trying to get booked on popular podcasts. This measure is also time-consuming, but for me it was lucrative.

I had to send numerous messages to podcast hosts (personalized messages are also essential here), but every time I made it onto a podcast, my sales figures went up in the following days.

Non-fiction writers have an advantage here as well, but there are podcasts for mysteries, thrillers, romances, etc. It’s not easy to identify those, but it can pay off. And on top of boosting sales, a podcast interview can establish an author as an authority and helps to build the author brand.

Guest posts like this one are equally good. Writing an article for an established blog can create some buzz around your book and lead to new readers. However, be under no illusion: this method also requires a lot of effort.

Advertising in deal newsletters

New authors who are willing to spend real cash have different possibilities to do so. The most commonly used advertising measure is to book a slot in an email newsletter sent out by professional companies. I paid to be in the newsletters of Freebooksy, Bargainbooksy and OHFB, but there are a lot of others.

These can be useful, but neither I nor any of my author friends have actually made their money back from these bookings – at least not directly. But they can be good to push up Amazon rankings or to drive people to your own newsletter.

Paid advertising to push up Amazon rankings

Booking advertising directly on Amazon through its pay-per-click service is also an option. But this is usually only profitable if cover and blurb are very appealing, you research the right keywords, and you have enough good ratings. I had to experiment quite a bit with this and lost some money.

Bottom line: There are numerous options for your marketing mix. None of them are inherently superior; it just depends how much time or money one is willing to spend. I found what works for me — for now. What works for you?

What book marketing tactic has given you the best results? Please tell us in a comment! 

Tip of the Month

I like to share a “Tip of the Month,” a free resource or tool for authors, on the last Wednesday of the month.

This month it’s Hunter, a tool you can use to find email addresses for influencers, journalists, and others you want to connect with for book marketing purposes.

Hunter crawls the web and indexes publicly available professional email addresses. The data is easily accessible via a simple user interface to either find the right person in a company or to find how to contact someone whose name and employer you know already.

The Domain Search lists all the people working in a company with their name and email address found on the web. With more than 100 million email addresses indexed, effective search filters, and scoring, you’re bound to get the contact information you need for someone using a business domain name email address.

A free account will get you 50 searches a month. Sign up at Hunter.io and start connecting.

That’s smart. After all, it takes time to figure out who you can trust.

Every once in awhile, though, it’s nice to look past your inner circle to test your thinking or to learn from the experiences of others.

That’s why I decided to reach out to strangers for this roundup of book marketing, promotion, and publicity tips.

I used my Build Book Buzz Facebook group and “Help a Reporter Out” — HARO — to ask authors, publicists, and marketers to send me their best book marketing tip. (HARO links journalists with expert and other sources. If you subscribe to HARO, be sure to download my free “How to Respond to HARO Requests” cheat sheet to make sure you get interviewed or quoted.)

Book marketing tips

Here are their responses in their own words (I’ve edited only for style and length). They’re listed in alphabetical order.

Is there an “aha!” or two in here for you?

Maggie Aland, Fit Small Business

Create a blog and write informative, interesting, or entertaining articles related to the subject of your book.

Even in today’s digital age, people love reading books. However, the format of how people digest informative and entertaining content has shifted. In a given day, we are way more likely to read a shorter form article that our friend posted on social media than a physical book.

So reach people where they are! By writing a blog post and sharing it on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, you are able to reach a ton of people who may be interested in reading your post. Your blog should have a similar tone, writing style, and subject as your book. Therefore, people who like your article may (a) realize you’re an author and be interested in purchasing your book, or (b) share your article and spread the word about your writing. Plus, if you have a re-targeting pixel on your blog, you can re-target users who read your post on third party platforms (such as Facebook).

Rachel Anderson, RMA Publicity

Don’t focus all of your promotional attention on social media. Pursue traditional media opportunities as well.

When you or your book are featured in your hometown newspaper, or interviewed by a local radio or TV station, it can pay huge dividends when it comes to book sales. A media appearance will set you apart from all the other authors out there vying for attention. Plus, depending on what community you live in, being featured by the news media could expose you to thousands or hundreds of thousands of potential customers at the same time. And when your story is featured in the news media, it gives you instant credibility.

Lisa Barone, Overit

Build your promotion platform before you need it.

If you thought writing the book was hard, get ready to promote and market it! Getting the word out about your newly-released book is hard. Authors can greatly increase sales by building their audience and promotional platform before they need it.

Build your platform on something you own – your website, blog, an email list, etc. Use it to connect with the type of people your book wants to attract. Start sharing content related to your niche or expertise. Be someone they can trust and the person they look to. Earn their eyes before you ever have something to market to them. Give them glimpses into what you’re working on and build excitement around it. By building trust around you who you, and buzz around what’s coming, you’ll be in a better position to market your book once it’s available.

Susan Daffron, Author

Write the next book.

Whether fiction or nonfiction, it’s much easier to market a series of books, rather than just a single title. If you write novels, write a series that is tied together in some way. If you write nonfiction, write multiple books on related topics that promote your expertise. By targeting a single audience, your marketing can be more focused than if you’re scattering your efforts across a wide range of readers. If you continue to produce the type of books your audience wants, you also will find it easier to market your books over time because you can market to existing customers instead of having to find new ones.

Nandita Godbole, Author

Don’t sell, but tell.

In terms of marketing an upcoming title, authors (myself included) feel compelled to tell potential readers what the book is about in the first five minutes. As storytellers, we feel the need to tell-it-all for fear of losing their interest – and we actually do end up losing their readership. But a reader must discover the complexity of our characters all on their own time and pace in order to fully appreciate and enjoy the narrative, to feel uplifted or hurt along with our hero or heroine, to cry and rejoice with them at every turn of the story. The story has its own life.

The best way to recondition our storyteller instinct is to think about a book backward. If we are to classify it, what is the best place to find that book? In addition, where would we place our book so that a new/unique reader may find it? Is it in the romance, self-help, sci-fi, or in the parenting section? If it is there, is it likely that someone else will recommend the book?

A finished book represents your subject and the deep-seated motivation to write that particular story. Tell your readers that story. Readers who connect to that story will be sold on your book, and all you had to do was “tell” them.

Cory Groshek, Manifestation Machine

Distribute copies of your paperback or hard cover book into little free libraries.

Little free libraries are little boxes, which, in most cases, resemble small schoolhouses on poles and can be found in neighborhoods seemingly everywhere, including, most likely, one near you. They are an excellent place for you to drop a physical copy of your book for others to read.

Going by the motto “take a book, return a book,” the idea is that readers from whatever neighborhood the little free library is in will pick up your book and either bring it back when they’re done reading it (so someone else can read it) or leave another book in its place. Either way, with this extremely underutilized “guerrilla” book marketing technique that most authors don’t even know about, you, as a relatively unknown author, win. So the next time you’re thinking up ways to promote your work, rather than thinking “outside the box”, perhaps you should try thinking inside of it, as in, inside of a little free library (or 10) near you.

Laura Hall, Shiply

Create a blog and expand on the story.

We all know how to use a book and we can all look at the front cover (which you’re not supposed to judge!) so the best way to market a book is to show what it feels like to read, and what happened as a result of reading it. I would suggest that the author has a blog, so they can expand on the issues or topics raised in the book, making it more than just the object. Is your book about something like love and relationships? Talk more about that. It’ll show that your book is more than just a product, but a place where people can learn and find answers. There is always more to a story than the book in your hand.

Janet Heller, Author

Do personal appearances and promote them.

Libraries, schools, conferences, and bookstores often sponsor readings, panels, workshops, and bookfairs for authors who live nearby. Also, local media will cover writers who have such events, so contact media with a press release as soon as you have all of your event details: the location, time, cost of admission if any, website of the sponsoring organization, contact person for questions, etc. At libraries, schools, and bookstores, you will meet people who can help you to plan other events, such as teachers, scout leaders, and other writers. Consider doing a group reading or panel with other writers and/or artists to draw a larger audience.

Phyllis Heller, Heller Media Solutions

Identify what makes you newsworthy.

Everyone has expertise in some area. Figure out what you can talk about that other people can’t. Offer a perspective that isn’t easily accessed. Research where authors with similar backgrounds have gotten exposure and figure out what you bring to the conversation. Even if you are a novelist, you picked your characters for some reason. Do you have in depth knowledge of some topic in your novel? Use it to start a dialogue.

Shel Horowitz, Author

Own your own channel.

Yes, you want a social media presence. But remember that any social media network you don’t own can yank the rug out from under you at any time, for any reason. They’ve done it before. If someone reports your content as spammy, or if they encourage you to go deep with a technology and then stop supporting it (as Facebook did years ago with FBML), or if they simply dry up and become irrelevant (as MySpace did), you lose your entire marketing machine if all your eggs are in that basket.

Buy your own well-named domain and put up a simple website there. Use your social media pages not just to interact with people, but to drive them to sign up for your newsletter (which you send at least monthly), visit your site, and become part of a community you can control. Giveaways, author interviews, and other perks are some of the ways you can do that.

Hilary Jastram, J. Hill Marketing and Creative Services

Start marketing well before the publish date.

You can build what’s known as an affinity network, meaning, the purpose of this group is solely to support your aims—in this case marketing your book. Your network will promote your book (likely in exchange for you helping them in some agreed-upon fashion) and use the power of many close collaborators to influence sales.

A network makes for easier communication, and it allows people to perform at once. People buying in sync, people blasting out your book message at once — it is truly amazing what a persistent team can accomplish, whether it be to push your pre-orders, rocket you to best-seller status or simply sell more books. Start your marketing at least three months in advance. Rally your troops up into a froth and come publishing day, you will create serious engagement.”

David Johnson, Strategic Vision PR Group

Remember to mention the title of the book during interviews.

That is the number one mistake many authors make and it hurts the purpose of the interview as many listeners and viewers may only catch a portion of the interview and miss the title of the book being discussed which means a loss of sales.

Eric Johnson, Feedback Wrench

Don’t underestimate the power of online reviews.

While most authors have heard over and over again that they need to rack up online reviews on sites like Amazon and Google, few actually know why the effort is necessary. What’s obvious is that positive reviews convey trust to other readers and make them more likely to buy your book. What’s not so obvious is that, much more importantly, the same kind of trust is conveyed to search engines, not just consumers.

When people search for books in your genre, does your name come up on Google, Amazon, or Bing? Search engines are always on the hunt for both trustworthiness and relevancy. By obtaining more and more reviews from satisfied readers, your book will be moving closer and closer to the top, and you’ll land more sales as a result of it.

Elliott Katz, Author

Sell foreign rights for your book.

It brings in additional revenue. It helps you change the world by getting your book’s messages to people who don’t read English. It gives your book more credibility in the English language market when you can say, “Translated into seven languages.”

Brad Lemack, Lemack & Company Talent Management/Public Relations

Don’t think big! Think smart.

Most books have a very specialized demographic. Focus on that. Don’t waste time, money, and expectation energy trying to sell your book, your topic, to the world. Find where your audience is and go after them where they “hang.” In short, selling more copies of your book to the audience it’s written for spells success. Don’t reach for The New York Times when Popular Mechanics will do.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Miller Mosaic

Focus your social media time.

For effective book marketing (unless you have a huge marketing budget and a dedicated marketing staff) it is best to concentrate on a limited number of social media and marketing platforms. As a book author you need time to write, and if you spend hours a day trying to populate numerous sites with marketing your book, you will probably spread yourself too thin to be effective on any of these sites.

Choose the social media sites (and this includes participating on Amazon) that make the most sense for your personality and time commitment. Then share good content of your own and that of others to encourage people to connect with you on social media and re-share your updates.

Andrea Pass, Marketing Maven

Reach target audiences via traditional public relations and social media platforms.

Print and online reviews should be part of that public relations mix. Take all interviews and reviews and include that on the book’s website and social media pages for maximum effect. When handling public relations outreach, do not send mass mailings of the book. Carefully reach out to reviewers and guest bookers to gather their interest so that they are expecting to receive the book. Start outreach a few months before the book will be on store shelves.

Rhonda Rees, Rhonda Rees Public Relations Company

Be pro-active with your PR and media coverage.

Posting the information to your website, blog, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn page, and on other social media is a definite plus. Showing streaming videos, audio, and having print articles on display is what good PR is all about. You can’t expect that people will notice your coverage the first time around. It’s always a cumulative effort, and by targeting your media so that more people will eventually see it, is a good idea.

Sending out your coverage through direct mail, or electronically, or even by distributing materials at events is also smart way to go. You can reprint a magazine article for example, and put your contact information on it with a QR code leading them to your book. You can also print up postcards or flyers with this same information to distribute, or to have on hand. One good tip to say is, “As seen on XYZ.TV station” or “As heard on radio station XYZ…”, and people will be impressed.

Becky Robinson, Weaving Influence

Plan ahead and show up.

Don’t wait until a month or two before your book is released to begin building a community for your work and expect people to jump onboard. Start at least six months to a year in advance by creating a professional website as your unique online home, provide valuable content by blogging consistently, engage on social media, support the work of others, and build a permission-based email list. Everyone likes to feel like they have the inside track on the next big thing, so let them become an insider to your launch and include them in the success.

The best way to promote your book is for other people to talk about it. Word of mouth marketing is one of the most powerful tools out there, and often the difference maker between a best seller and a dud. Never underestimate the power of social sharing and community involvement – both of which require proactive planning and participation.

Boni Satani, Zestard

Build an email list.

If you have an email list, you have an audience who believes in your ideas and are ready to buy when the book releases.

Len Saunders, Author

Go out into the public with your book.

Try to visit schools, camps, libraries, or book stores and offer a book reading or signing of your book. For many, getting the word out about your book is difficult. I know when my first book came out, I was fortunate to get on “Good Morning America” and “Fox News.” But, this did not happen with every book I have written. But, I remember getting the word out about my book at a camp which led to over 500 sales in one day. If you are a lesser-known author, stay local and offer the reading or signing for free. Have a prepared presentation and keep your audience engaged.

Jyssica Schwartz, Author

Share your process.

Tell other people that you’re writing a book. Answer questions about it, talk to people, ask about ideas or their opinions. Have them vote on different cover options. For one thing, it will keep you accountable for actually writing and completing your book. But more than that, people will feel involved and invested in your book and in you.

When you do actually publish your book, those people will be happy to do reviews for you and excited for you. They will share it on social media and recommend it to others and encourage people to purchase it. Building a tribe and an email list of people who are already rooting for you will allow you a further reach than you can get on your own.. And that’s before any money is spent on advertising, giveaways, promotions, anything.

Janet Shapiro, Smith Publicity

Use an integrated, multidimensional marketing approach and ideally begin at least three months ahead of publication.

The most successful book launches begin well in advance of publication date. Ideally, three to six months ahead of publication an author should start building awareness around himself and the pending book. It is critical to have: a solid website that is informative and useful for visitors, and promotes the book and author; a strategic media outreach program in place designed to hit key influencers; and two or three social media platforms ready to enhance and cross-promote all interest. The top online and print review publications require an advance review copy at least four months ahead of publication.

The other advantage to a pre-launch marketing plan is the ability to present articles and excerpts to online media and influencers to begin, or enhance, credibility and momentum. Social media, both pre and post pub date, rounds out the plan and enhances the buzz. It’s typically never too late, however. If you haven’t started ahead of your book release date, begin promotion by identifying your target end-user (book-buyer) market, and the media which cater to this market, and then roll-out pitching to these outlets.

Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound

Become a subject matter expert in your topic or niche, even if you write fiction. Promote your expertise first and your book second.

Authors sell books. Author experts sell books, speaking engagements, consulting, coaching, and more. They also get requests for media interviews. Just look at the number of HARO media queries that use the word “expert.”

If you’re not an expert yet, choose the main topic of your book, or a sub-topic that doesn’t have a lot of competition with other experts. Spend 30 minutes a day researching. Expertise isn’t only about what you know. It’s more about what you do with that knowledge. Experts teach, blog, podcast, create, and share compelling content, answer questions, start conversations online, and more.

Brianna Valleskey, Brave Ink

Use influencer engagement and content marketing.

Find people who have a large following on their blog, social media account, or YouTube channel and offer to send them a free copy to review. Make sure that the topic of your book relates to what the influencer typically posts about (i.e. a fashion blogger is not likely to review a book about financial markets).

Always be courteous and helpful when interacting with influencers. Remember that they work for themselves, not you. From a content marketing perspective, you can publish excerpts of your book on your blog – or even write original posts about a similar topic and then link to a place where people can purchase your book. You can also reach out to popular related blogs and offer to guest post an excerpt or write an original post that would link back to your book. The more you can position yourself as a thought leader in the industry you’re writing for, the better engagement you’ll get for your book.

Ame Verso, F+W Media International Ltd.

Craft your Amazon author page.

The Amazon author page is a powerful marketing tool as evidence suggests that the Amazon algorithm favours books with a complete and updated author profile over one that doesn’t. You should therefore update your author page as frequently as you do your website and make sure that any new books you publish are linked to it. You’ll need to set up an author page through Amazon Author Central separately for Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk – something many authors fail to do, focusing only on their local market. Ensure you have as complete a profile as possible including a headshot, biography, – Amazon.co.uk will even let you upload videos and display your Twitter feed, helping you to grow your platform across multiple channels.

Andrew Warner, Content Ranked

Build your fanbase before the release.

If you have a new book (or even if it’s your first book), it doesn’t hurt to build a little fanbase around your book well before the release. This will help out drastically when it comes to the marketing side of it because that fanbase will be doing a lot of the promoting for you. To build your fanbase, and if you have a website, you could hold contests or various writing prompts that’ll really involve your readers. To take it further, you could create a special Facebook group of ambassadors for your book that’ll help get the initial word out.

Sherrie Wilkolaski, Publishing Architect

Market by networking.

It seems a bit “old-fashioned” in the digital age we’re living in, however, given the propensity for everyone trying to connect only via social media, the impact can be monumental. Identify a local writer’s group that suits your genre and get involved. The education an author can get just by having a few conversations with writers already established in the same space is invaluable. Writers enjoy helping other writers get through the muck that is book marketing and PR.

Opportunities to cross-promote your work will be plentiful. Things like offering to doing guest blog posts on another author’s site, sharing their book excerpts to your audience, and announcements about local book signing events, will be plentiful. The “meeting in person” relationships are sure to extend into the digital space, but will have a stronger foundation. It will make those social media posts and online promotional messages even more valuable.

Now that you’ve learned so much from these experts, you’re ready to start thinking about your book marketing plan. Start by downloading the free Build Book Buzz “Book Marketing Plan Template.” This easy-to-use fill-in-the-blanks form comes with complete instructions for filling it out — along with examples to guide you.

All you have to do is click the blue bar below to get your free copy immediately.

What’s your best book  marketing tip? Please share it in a comment. 

Using Google Analytics to determine your most popular blog posts helps you:

• Identify trends
• Uncover surprises (“I expected the article about how to replace a kanooter valve to be more popular than it was.”)
• Guide what you write about in the following year

When I did this to find my top 10 articles from 2015 to list here, I was happy to see that one of the trends I’ve identified in the past continues: I do a good job of recruiting guest bloggers.

When I hear a good story from a colleague or author friend and can convince them to write about it for us here, the article usually resonates with readers.

Three of the articles on this list — including the most popular one! — are guest posts. I am grateful to our guest bloggers for sharing their wisdom and experiences with us.

Here they are, starting with number 10. Click on each article title to read more.

10. 3 steps to more social media followers

If you know how to play “follow the leader,” you’ll be able to boost the number of people who follow you on social media. (Be sure to scroll down to the “Tip of the Month,” too.)

9. Author email list lessons

This article was “ripped from the headlines” — the headlines in my email inbox, that is. Learn how one author reacted when people he added to his email list without permission unsubscribed when he invited them to do exactly that. (There are lots of comments on this one.)

8. The Amazon reviews brouhaha and you

Amazon is cracking down on authors and other product sellers who pay people to write reviews. Get the what, why, how, and who cares in this article. (The “Tip of the Month” at the bottom is pretty cool.)

7. 29 awesome gifts for authors

I had so much fun researching this one! It’s not too late to buy any of these goodies for a writer friend or for yourself — they’re timeless.

6. Avoid these four author bio mistakes

Self-published authors are often surprised to learn that there’s a right way and a wrong way to write an author bio. These tips will help make sure that yours is as good as it can be.

5. How to sell out at a book signing without being a celebrity

Jane Sutter Brandt sold every book she brought to her first book signing event — all 99 of them. In this article, she offers eight success tips plus a few more lessons learned.

4. Book promotion timing: Implement these 9 strategies as soon as you’ve finished the first draft

Don’t be that author who waits until the book is published to start thinking about marketing. There’s a lot you need to do long before your book is ready for its launch.

3. 10 terrible social media myths authors should avoid

Guest blogger Chris Syme, a social media specialist and author, takes on everything from hashtag stuffing to ageism in this post packed with excellent tips and advice.

2. 21 free resources for authors

There are some pretty cool resources on this list that won’t cost you a cent.

1.  Book sales skyrocket when author adds social media images

Novelist Randi Lee carefully documents how sales started climbing once she started adding teaser images to her social media posts. And she did it all without spending money.

Do you have a favorite from this site that’s not on this list? Please share the title or topic in a comment.

Tip of the Month

I always share a “Tip of the Month,” a free resource or tool for authors, on the last Wednesday of the month.

Get a free author marketing evaluation from Penny Sansevieri and team at book promotion firm Author Marketing Experts by calling the company or using the provided form on the company’s site. They do great work.

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I meet with my goal buddy near the end of every year so we can celebrate (usually with cheesecake!) what we’ve accomplished, announce what we plan to accomplish, and discuss how we will reach our goals for the coming year.

My 2015 goal helps with your 2016 goals

I’m super pleased to announce that I’ve achieved one of my biggest goals for 2015: Creating a useful resource that will help you reach your book marketing goals in the coming year. The result is your new helper, 365 Daily Book Marketing Tips, which sends you one book marketing tip every day via email for one full year.

It’s that simple. Every day, you receive a tip that gives you ideas and information that you can act on immediately. And the price is so low — just 99 cents — that you can’t afford not to sign up to receive the tips now!

Email delivery eliminates any technology problems. We’ve even set this up as plain text messages — no bells and whistles  — to make sure that your daily tips stay out of spam folders or promotion tabs on Gmail. That’s the best way to make sure you get — and can use — every single tip.

You can get all the details at the product information page for 365 Daily Book Marketing Tips.

Sample tips you’ll receive

Curious about what information you’ll receive for less than a dollar?

Here are just a few of the 365 tips. Note that they’re short and to the point — and that many of them have links to more detailed information online.

1. Re-evaluate the categories your book is listed in on Amazon periodically because they change. You might need or want to change one of yours. https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A200PDGPEIQX41
2. When sharing a link to your blog posts, use the specific post link, not a generic blog page link. You want domainname.com/blog-post-title, not domainname.com/blog.
3. Want a book club to read your book? Get it into libraries. Many club members are borrowers, so library borrowing is often a prerequisite for a club selection.
4. When you find a website that reaches the same audience as yours, check the links on blog rolls, resources pages, etc., for more websites like it. Connect with the owners and comment on their blogs so you start building your network.
5. When you are offering your book for free or for a sale price, check out the list of 100 websites that will let you list and promote your book. http://bit.ly/1LVh5VI
6. Discover what other books were purchased by people who bought your book with the cool Yasiv tool. http://www.yasiv.com/

Every single daily tip gives you information you can act on immediately — and isn’t that what you need to market your book? Don’t you need lots of ideas and encouragement to take action?

Start receiving your daily tips on January 1

Because it’s so close to the end of the year, we’ve set this up so that the tips start getting delivered on January 1, 2016. There’s also an option for those who don’t want to wait until then — details for downloading all 365 daily tips plus 10 more tips right now are on the information page.

I know you’ll agree that the price — less than a dollar! — is more than fair. You will have me and all my years of experience looking over your shoulder, nudging you every day.

You owe it to yourself to get this daily help so that 2016 is the year that you sell more books.

Affordable gift idea

And what a great Christmas gift for you or an author friend, right? Nothing says “I care” more than a gift note saying you’ll start getting these action-generating tips at the start of the new year!

I’m really looking forward to coaching you by email every day in the coming year. If you think your author friends would also benefit from daily book marketing advice from a pro, please share this link with them.

To learn more or purchase, please visit the information page.

As always, if you have questions, just shoot me an email.

I’m looking forward to sending you a message every single day next year! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to provide this daily guidance.

Chances are, you’ll recognize it in the helpful article, “18 Book Marketing Experts Reveal Secrets That Boost Recognition, Get New Readers, and Increase Sales,” on the eReleases.com blog.

I’m one of the 18 surveyed for the article (scroll down for my input). I did my best to offer advice that I think will truly make a difference for your book’s success.

I hope you’ll read through all of the comments to find a gem or two that strikes a chord with you today. I particularly liked Penny Sansevieri’s distinction between “fans” and “super fans” and Louise Myers’ reminder to use visual images in book marketing (because it’s SO MUCH FUN!).

More than one said . . .

I spotted a few patterns in the responses, too.

• A few noted that you should publish several books before you start promoting any of them. While they didn’t say so, I believe this advice is targeted to fiction writers. The advice-givers noted that when someone loves one your books, they immediately look for more of what you’ve written. This happens less with nonfiction. It’s also less important with nonfiction, because with the right topic and the right author, you can build an entire career out of one nonfiction book when you factor in consulting and paid speaking engagements.
• Building an e-mail list is essential. For more on that, read “Building your author e-mail list.“
• You need to know your target audience — those people most likely to love your book — and figure out what they read, watch, and listen to as well as where they hang out online.

While seemingly geared to self-published authors, “18 Book Marketing Experts Reveal Secrets That Boost Recognition, Get New Readers, and Increase Sales,” offers solid advice for all authors. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read what the experts shared.

What “aha!” did you pull from the article? Please share it in a comment.