It’s always been hard to get your book discovered, but with the growth of self-publishing, it’s even more difficult.

UNESCO estimates that globally today, 2.2 million new titles are released every year.

Yowza.

In today’s saturated market, understanding how readers discover books can make a significant difference in your success. The more you know about this, the better able you are to focus your efforts in the right places.

Here’s your guide to understanding how readers discover books so you’re better able to get yours in front of them.

Recommendations

Good word of mouth makes a big, big difference.

Personal recommendations from friends and family are influential because they come from trusted sources. We love sharing books we’ve enjoyed; that creates a ripple effect that can greatly boost your book’s visibility.

You’re probably familiar with this from your own reading habits. If a friend likes the same types of books you do, you pay attention when they say, “I loved this book and I think you will, too.”

Recommendations also come from online communities and platforms. Goodreads is the most vibrant community for readers. It’s where they discuss their latest reads, offer recommendations, and create reading lists.

For example, when one of my daughter’s friends and I discovered we loved the same books while talking at a wedding, she quickly jumped to, “Are you on Goodreads? Let’s connect there!” It’s a great way for us to quickly see not only what each other is reading, but whether we like those books, too.

Other influential online gathering places for readers include Facebook (it has groups dedicated to readers of nearly every book niche imaginable), Library Thing, Riffle Books, and Reddit, among others.

Engaging with these communities can help your book reach a wider audience.

Collaborations

One of the best – and possibly most overlooked – ways to get discovered by more of the right readers is to collaborate with authors and other types of product or service creators who already reach your target audience.

A newsletter swap is an easy way to collaborate. You and an author who reaches your audience recommend each other’s books to your newsletter subscribers.

You can also swap guest blog posts, host Q&As, or plan Instagram or Facebook Live events for each other’s followers.

Online platforms

Online platforms and their algorithms are key players in book discovery today, too. Selling your book on Amazon is a no-brainer. It’s where most people who buy books online buy them. It’s also where they review them.

They review them on Goodreads, too, so in addition to using Goodreads as a reader, you’ll want to claim your author account there so you’re more directly connected to your book on that site.

The same goes for BookBub, which is both a site and service created specifically to help readers discover more of the books they enjoy reading.

These options are all pivotal for book recommendations because they use complex algorithms to suggest books based on a reader’s past behavior and preferences.

When you list your book on these platforms and optimize your metadata on each, you enhance your book’s discoverability.

Reviews

You also know that reviews and ratings on these platforms are important.

Positive reviews can boost your book’s ranking and visibility, while detailed feedback can help potential readers decide to pick up your book.

Don’t expect them to happen organically, although that can and does happen, of course. Instead, encourage your readers to leave honest reviews that will help you maintain a steady flow of new readers.

Traditional and digital media

Media coverage, both traditional and digital, significantly impacts book discovery. This news media attention known as publicity can help your book reach a broader audience.

Don’t overlook the power of magazine and newspaper reviews; they’re still influential, especially with older demographics.

Visibility in online publications and blogs has become essential because readers turn to trusted bloggers and online magazines for book recommendations.

Trade magazine publicity – both reviews and interviews – can be important for certain nonfiction books, so be certain to explore that.

Securing coverage on popular book blogs can drive significant interest and sales, but so can interviews and guest posts on subject/topic blogs.

For example, if your romance novel is set in Door County, Wisconsin, pitch Door County bloggers (yes, they exist, I checked) on a review or Q&A with you on why you chose that setting.

Podcast publicity is increasingly important for authors, too, as more and more people are drawn to the specificity of podcasts. As with blogs, pitch an author interview with book podcasts, but also approach topic podcasters, as well.

Social media

As we’ve seen with BookTok on TikTok, social media has revolutionized how readers discover books.

Social media didn’t exist when my first book was published.

It was a humor book that took a lighthearted look at male behavior, explaining to women why men do what they do or say what they say. The topic is perfect for social media, so I can only imagine the impact these platforms would have had on sales.

Today, in addition to TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are homes to vibrant book communities that actively share and discuss their latest reads.

Instagram hosts book group accounts (think Reese’s Book Club), YouTube has BookTube, and Facebook (mentioned above) is home to lots and lots and lots of genre readers groups.

Reader communities also have their own gathering place on Twitter/X with Twitter Communities.

Are your readers on Threads? That newer social network lets users create groups (Book Threads) that become mini-communities, too.

The best way to work toward book visibility in any online group is to become an active member and participant first. Showing up as a marketer, especially before you understand a group’s vibe and personality, is a waste of time.

Bookstores and libraries

Let’s not overlook how many people rely on browsing through physical bookstores and public libraries for books they might enjoy.

Fact is, while many self-published authors release only as e-books, most people still prefer physical books. Even Gen Zers prefer that format.

Curated displays in both stores and libraries plus bookstore staff recommendations can spotlight your book to new audiences.

Case in point: When I attended an NYU School of Professional Studies webinar on how Braiding Sweetgrass became a best-seller six years after it was published, I learned it was through the power of independent bookseller recommendations. Pretty cool, isn’t it?

As for libraries, many readers rely on them almost completely for reading material. That means library programs that include “lunch and learns,” book clubs, and author talks can introduce your book to new-to-you readers.

What can you do today to get better plugged in to your local library’s programs?

In-person engagement

One of the best ways to maximize discovery and good word of mouth, though, is meeting readers in person, face to face.

Author signings, book tours, presentations, and literary festivals allow you to connect with your audience directly on a personal level. These events create memorable experiences that can turn attendees into loyal readers.

Virtual events. including virtual book tours, webinars, and summit workshops. have also become popular, especially since the pandemic.

They offer the advantage of reaching a global audience without the need for travel. Participating in or hosting virtual events can help you connect with readers from different parts of the world, too.

Advertising

Paid advertising on Amazon, where readers are looking for books, can pay off under the right circumstances. Many authors also have success advertising on Facebook, where they can target specific demographics and interests.

Both options help your book reach potential readers who are likely to be interested, as long as your Amazon detail/sales page is “optimized” and you understand how to create and buy effective ads.

How will readers discover books by you?

Considering how many ways authors discover your books, where should you put your efforts to make sure yours gets found?

There’s no pat answer for this. With the exception of selling on Amazon, what will make the most difference for one author might not be the best choice for another.

For example, novelists get more traction on Goodreads than nonfiction authors do. And, some authors are so uncomfortable with in-person events that while they’re great for visibility, they’re not worth the stress.

Choose your discoverability channels – social media, publicity, advertising, and so on – according to where you’ll find your readers, your skills, and your interests.

But do something. Don’t wait to be discovered. You have to make it happen.

FAQs about how readers discover books

1. How important are personal recommendations in helping readers discover books?

Personal recommendations are incredibly influential in book discovery.

Readers often trust friends, family, and even online communities like Goodreads for book suggestions. These recommendations create a ripple effect that can significantly boost a book’s visibility, as people love sharing books they enjoyed.

Engaging with these communities can help authors connect with potential readers and spread the word about their books.

2. How can collaborating with other authors help in book discovery?

Collaborating with other authors can be a highly effective way to reach new readers.

Authors can participate in newsletter swaps, guest blog posts, or co-host events like Instagram Lives or Q&As. These collaborations allow authors to tap into each other’s audiences, increasing exposure to readers who are already interested in similar genres or topics.

This strategy can be particularly powerful in niche markets.

3. Why is a presence on platforms like Amazon and Goodreads crucial for authors?

A presence on platforms like Amazon and Goodreads is crucial because these sites are primary destinations for readers searching for books.

These platforms use algorithms to recommend books based on user behavior and preferences. By listing their books and optimizing metadata on these platforms, authors can enhance their discoverability.

Reviews and ratings on these sites also play a significant role in attracting potential readers, making it essential for authors to encourage reviews.

4. What role does traditional and digital media play in book discovery?

Traditional and digital media can significantly impact book discovery by reaching broad and targeted audiences.

Media coverage, such as magazine and newspaper reviews, remains influential, especially among older demographics. Digital media, including blogs and online publications, offer a more accessible and often cost-effective way to gain visibility.

Authors can pitch to book blogs, podcasts, and online magazines to secure reviews, interviews, and features, driving interest and sales.

5. How can social media influence book discovery, and which platforms are most effective?

Social media has revolutionized book discovery by creating vibrant communities where readers share and discuss their favorite books.

Platforms like TikTok (BookTok), Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, and newer networks like Threads have dedicated spaces for book lovers. Authors can build a presence on these platforms, participate in discussions, and engage with readers.

The key is to be an active and genuine participant rather than solely promoting books. Each platform has unique features that can be leveraged, such as Instagram’s visual appeal, TikTok’s short video format, and Facebook’s extensive group communities.

What are you doing to get discovered that’s working for you? Please tell us in a comment.

The Booky Call smartphone app, available for both iOS and Android users, mimics the look, feel, and function of a dating app, with users swiping right or left to indicate interest.

That’s more than a gimmick, though. It reflects both dating app user and reader demographics, reports Brant Menswar, CEO of Booky Call.

“When we looked at a cross-section of dating app users, and then looked at the fastest growing segment of readers, we saw that it’s pretty similar – 18- to 29-year-olds,” he says.

How the Booky Call smartphone app works

Regardless of age (and familiarity with dating apps), all book lovers can download the app, create a free account, and set their preferences for fiction and nonfiction.

The app offers recommendations; book descriptions presented to users aren’t from back covers, though. A writing staff of 14 replaces them with “dating” profiles that reflect Booky Call’s match-making theme. “Who should swipe right on me?” asks the description for the popular thriller, The Guest List by Lucy Foley. “I love going to weddings, and this one is going to be quite the drama,” it begins.

In addition to swiping through recommendations, app users can search by keyword or author name.

When there’s a match, readers can buy the book from three retail partners in print, digital, and audio formats.

The active, current database includes 5,000 titles. After six months, books roll over to the archive, where they’re still available via search, but not actively recommended to users.

Potential for self-published authors

Books available on the app represent all publishing models, including self-publishing.

“We wanted to open this up to self-published authors to help them reach a targeted audience,” says Menswar, who adds that both he and co-founder Jim Knight have self-published and worked with a hybrid publisher. It’s an off-shoot of an affordable book promotion business they developed after Menswar didn’t get the results expected from a pricey book publicist.

“Amazon uploads more books in a day than we could have in our library. That means there’s a better chance your book will be matched to a reader on Booky Call,” he says.

On the traditional publishing side, the focus is on backlist books.

“The average author sold only 200 copies last year, which means that publishers have warehouses with thousands of books that didn’t sell. We’re saying to publishers, ‘Here’s a chance for us to put these books in front of people asking for them in a completely innovative way,’ ” Menswar says.

Good books only, please

Established publishers can place a limited number of books in the database at no charge; they pay the same fee as self-published authors after that. A $250 fee places each book in the current library for six months and in the archive for another six. Keep the book in the archive after that for $50 per year.

A new smartphone app that recommends books based on reader preferences offers both book publishers and self-published authors an innovative way to reach their target audience -- and sell them books.Click to tweet

Menswar cautions authors that self-published books need to look and read like traditionally published books, starting with professional editing. “This is step one for us – a professional editor, not your aunt who reads a lot,” he says.

In addition, because people still like to read print copies, books must be available in print format (print on demand counts). “We want to hold a book in our hands, dogear those corners, feel it, and smell it,” says Menswar.

How to get your book listed

Think your book meets quality standards? To be considered, complete the short questionnaire on the app’s website. If interested, editors will request a PDF copy for review.

When a book’s accepted, the author or publisher can take advantage of additional paid promotional opportunities beyond the $250 listing fee. They include Book of the Day, which displays the book to all users when they log in, and a feature on the companion Booky Call smartphone app podcast. Future plans include a “speed dating” event for books and readers in independent bookstores.

“Our goal is to create a community around books,” says Menswar.

Giving authors and publishers an affordable way to reach readers is a good start.

What do you think about this new way to help readers discover books they’ll love? Will you try the app as a reader? Please tell us in a comment!

If you’re familiar with Reedsy, you won’t be surprised to know that I think How to Market a Book: Overperform in a Crowded Market by Reedsy co-founder Ricardo Fayet is an excellent book.

It’s not thorough – it doesn’t address many book marketing tactics that are effective – but it doesn’t need to cover all options to offer value.

Fayet’s book focuses primarily on how to understand how Amazon works, then use that knowledge to sell on that platform using email, pricing promotions, and advertising.

It also goes in-depth into how to leverage Apple Books, Google Play, and Kobo. Since most books are purchased on Amazon, though, he spends more time explaining what you need to succeed there.

Who will find this book helpful?

There’s no question that this is a valuable resource for any author who wants to sell books.

While it repeats some of what you might have read on this site already – the importance of writing a great book with a genre-specific cover and knowing as much as possible about your target audience, for example – it also goes into great detail about Amazon algorithms and lists.

We all need to understand as much as possible about how Amazon works.

Still, as I moved through the book, I realized that the ideal reader for this particular book is what I might call a “career author.” Fayet is writing for someone who has the potential to support themselves through book sales.

It doesn’t matter if that doesn’t describe you, though. How to Market a Book is still important to your work as an author, especially with regards to understanding Amazon better.

Note, too, that it skews toward series fiction writers since that’s the best way to become a full-time author. He notes that nonfiction authors can also write series, but his examples tend to be from fiction.

My favorite gems

As Fayet notes in Chapter 1, book marketing is all about getting discovered. It’s not about chasing down readers, it’s about how readers find your book. Everything in Section I, “Mindset and Marketing Fundamentals,” is a must-read for all authors, but I especially appreciated his thinking on “the silent majority” in Chapter 4. These are the people who don’t leave reviews, but could recommend your book to friends.

I discovered a new-to-me concept – book “universes” – in Chapter 7. Fayet describes this as “series of series” – creating a new series that’s related to another series you’ve finished writing. Think TV series spin-offs – for example, NCIS followed by NCIS L.A. and NCIS New Orleans, or all of the Law & Order programs.

Chapter 8 explains read-through rate for series books and explains how to calculate it. Again, if you don’t write series, this isn’t useful. But if you do, you need to understand this.

I especially appreciated Section IV, Amazon Marketing, where Fayet went into great detail on Amazon’s lists and algorithms. How much do you know about Popularity Lists and how they work? You’ll learn even more in Chapter 17.

You’ll get good basics on e-mail marketing in the section on mailing lists. If that’s something you want to get better at, though, read my review of the excellent Newsletter Ninja: How to Become an Author Mailing List Expert. (Then buy that book.)

There’s an incredible amount of information on advertising in Section VIII because this book focuses on paid marketing tactics.

Finally, one of my favorite gems in Chapter 50 on audiobook marketing details how to get an audio clip from your book to share on your website. If you’ve got books available in audio format, you’ll appreciate this chapter.

As is often the case, there was a chapter or two that could have had more substance, including the one on editorial reviews. Still, How to Market a Book includes enough links to tools that will improve your marketing to make up for that.

Five stars

Read this book, which you can download on Amazon for free. It will get you on the right track, especially on Amazon.

And let’s face it: No matter how you feel about Amazon, you can’t avoid it if you want to sell books.

I highly recommend reading it, whether yours is a stand-alone book you want discovered or you’re a series writer who plans to make a living from royalties.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Tell us in a comment.

7 foolproof SEO tips for authors

By Miral Sattar

Let’s be honest. You understand the power of Google, but have no clue how it works, right?

This lack of understanding can be a problem for authors, though.

You rely on Google, the largest search engine in the world, to help readers discover your books, so you really should know at least the basics about how to get found.

What you do to your website and Amazon sales pages to make sure they’re discovered through Google searches is called search engine optimization – SEO. And there’s lots you can do to make sure that readers find you and your books when they’re searching online for your topic, name, or even parts of your book title.

Here are seven ways you can use the power of SEO to make it easier for readers to find and discover your books immediately.

1. Optimize your Amazon pages.

There’s no question that Amazon is one of the most well-indexed sites online. The search box there is a search engine, after all. Actually, if you search for your book or your name, it’s likely that your Amazon page will show up much higher than your website does.

Here are a few things you can do to optimize your Amazon pages:

• Make sure you have an Author Central account with your bio and picture. This will help you rank higher on Amazon searches.
• Connect your social media accounts to your Amazon Author Central page.
• Make sure your book has the relevant keywords you would use to find a book like yours.

2. Start blogging on your website and do it in a meaningful way.

It’s important to have a blog because it’s the key way that people learn about books.

It’s a good idea to blog to add value and not just to blog for the sake of blogging. David Gaughran and Joanna Penn are great examples of authors who blog effectively.

Blogging helps make sure that when people type your name into the Google search box, your website shows up on the first page of search results. They will then get to your site, where you  have all the information about you and your books that they need (and want).

3. Optimize your blog for Google.

You want to make sure that your blog is optimized for Google so that when it gets “crawled” or visited by all the major search engines, they will find the right content.

Plugins that include Yoast  will help you set up tags, title, keywords, and metadata.

Another way to optimize your blog is with sitemaps. This is a structured listing of all the pages on your blog or website. It tells Google and other search engines about your site’s structure.

A sitemap also lets Google know when a new post is published so it can index it and add it to search results.

4. Understand and use outbound and inbound linking.

Linking (links from one site to another) is another critical element of SEO.

You want other sites to link to your content, and you want to link to theirs, too. Let the sites you link to know you’ve linked to them so they can link back to you, too.

When someone links back to your blog posts, it’s basically a vote for your content as far as Google is concerned. Those links to your site are weighted by Google according to their reputations. For example, if TIME.com links or Buzzfeed.com links to your site, you get the equivalent of bonus points from Google.

5. Guest blog.

Guest blogging is a great way to establish yourself as an expert. It provides an opportunity to link back to your book or site in your bio that runs with your guest post (like the bio at the beginning of this article).

When author Hymn Herself wrote a blog post about 5 Things Movies Don’t Tell You About Mental Institutions for Cracked.com, the link to her book in the article bio helped her sell 1,000 copies in a few days.

She wrote about that experience for us on Bibliocrunch.

6. Write good headlines, keywords, and metadata.

Having a good title tag that tells what the blog is about will help make your content easy to search. When I worked at TIME, I was in charge of all the SEO and one of my responsibilities included training journalists in SEO.

Here are a few tips:

• Titles: Writers love using titles that don’t say anything about the content. For example, “Amazon Stops Selling Hoverboards Over Safety” is much better than ” You Don’t Want to Buy This Dangerous Gadget.”
• Keywords: Have five to seven keywords that describe your content. Examples would be: Amazon, hoverboards, hoverboard safety, Swagway, consumer safety
• Meta description: This is a short paragraph that describes your blog post content. This will show up in Google results. The meta description for that article about hoverbards might be, “Several models pulled by online retailer Amazon over fire hazard fears. Leading hoverboard maker Swagway confirmed the online retailer is requesting companies manufacturing the popular devices to prove they are safe to use.”

7. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly.

Because a lot of users now read on smartphones and other mobile devices, Google changed its algorithm in April 2015 to penalize any sites that are not optimized for mobile devices.

Use the free Google tool to test if your site is mobile-friendly: Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool

These tips will definitely help you rank higher and make your books easier to find. If you’d like more help implementing these and other important steps that will help your book get found and purchased, register for my new training program, “Masterclass: SEO That Translates to Book Sales.” (This is an affiliate link.)

This course for authors will teach you how to get more traffic, fans, readers, and buyers for your books. And, Build Book Buzz readers get a 50 percent discount on registrations through tomorrow, June 7, 2018, so make sure you check out “Masterclass: SEO That Translates to Book Sales” now! (This is an affiliate link.)

How to blog your way to discoverability

By Nina Amir

Writers write, but they don’t always want to blog—even though this activity involves writing. The reason is twofold: In their minds, blogging equates to promotion, and most writers would rather be writing than promoting. Plus, they think they don’t have time for both blogging and writing.

Here’s the truth of the matter: Your blog provides the best tool for ensuring you and your book get discovered by potential readers in your target market. Not only that, blogging provides a way to write and promote your book at the same time.

In fact, your blog is the best tool in your promotion toolbox. Let me explain.

Your blog increases the reach of your message

Your blog serves as the “primary station” from which you broadcast your message. Think of it like a radio station. You have something important to say, so you say it—write it—on your blog each time you publish a post.

Your blog broadcasts to the Internet and all your social networks. Think of these like satellite stations. Each one receives the message and then broadcasts it out again, giving what you say, or write, more reach and more visibility.

Your blog provides you with a way to reach your potential readers with your message. In the process, you strengthen your brand, gain new readers and subscribers, and gain authority and visibility online.

That’s the first reason a blog is such an amazing tool. Here’s the second.

Your blog increases the discoverability of your book

Every time you publish a blog post, something magical happens. The bots, spiders and crawlers—computer programs—from Google and other search engines show up to “read” what you’ve written. They catalog the keywords, or search terms, in your posts. The more often they find the same keywords, the more often they “file” your blog under those terms.

Here’s what that means for you: If you publish posts often and consistently, and if you focus your posts on one topic (maybe two), your site quickly rises in the search engine results pages (SERPs). After a while, the potential readers of your book who search for related terms find your your blog on the first Google SERP. Maybe you’ll even have #1 Google ranking, which means your site is listed first on the first page of a Google search.

When people do a Google search for anything, they typically don’t look past the first Google SERP—the first ten results. And they only click on links that appear relevant. If your site comes up on that first page and is relevant to their search, they click through to your site. If you advertise your book on your site, they not only find you and you and your blog but your book as well.

That is called “discoverability.” You want discoverability online.

How to get found online by readers

Your blog provides the simplest way for you to get found by readers online—or to get your book found online. To put this tool to use effectively, you need to do three things:

1. Write and publish posts regularly and consistently.
2. Blog only about one or two topics.
3. Share you posts on every possible social network consistently.

Write your book while you blog

Knowing all of this, you still may find the idea of blogging repulsive. I get it; it can take you away from writing your book. And you are promoting rather than creating art.

Look at blogging in a new way. See blogging as a way to write your book as you promote it.

Consider blogging your book, or writing it in post-sized bits that you publish on your blog and promote on your social networks.

When you blog a book, you publish the first draft of your book on your blog post by post. If you are like most bloggers, in the past you have published posts on a variety of topics. The only thing that links the posts is the fact that they are written by the same person or that you blogged about the topics or themes in your book. With the dual-purpose blog-a-book strategy, however, you publish short installments—300-700-word pieces—of your book on your blog. Each installment (blog post) comprises part of a chapter. As such, the posts work like a long series all focused on one topic or theme.

Blog visitors want to keep “turning the pages.” The continuous flow of related blog posts keeps readers coming back for more. And it gives Google a lot of content to catalog!

Promote as you write

That means your blog enjoys more return visitors and more page views. You’ll also gain new readers because you blog in a focused manner. This practice drives up your site in the SERPs, making it more discoverable. When someone searches for information on the topic of your book, they are more likely to find your blog—and your book.

The only thing you need to do to make that happen is:

• Write your book and publish it post by post.
• Take 10 minutes in the morning, afternoon and evening to share your newest post on your social networks.

As you do so, you will build author platform—you will pre-promote your book. You also will build the foundation for effective post-release promotion. And once you finish blogging your book and publish it, you can continue blogging to promote it.

Or blog your next book.

Stop complaining about promotion. Instead, embrace blogging. Turn your blog into the best book-writing, author platform and promotion tool available today.

Win a free printed copy of How to Blog a Book Revised and Expanded Edition: Write, Publish, and Promote Your Work One Post at a Time by commenting below. We’ll randomly select one U.S. or Canadian commenter. (Sorry about the geography limits — blame the cost of shipping.) 

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. 

“Discoverability” is one of the newer buzzwords in the book publishing industry. Maybe you’ve heard it a few times by now. Hearing it and understanding it are two different things, however.

As Thad McIlroy (quoted above) explains in his brief article, “Findability, Discoverability, and Marketing,” the difference between “finding” and “discovering” a book is that with finding, you’re looking for something specific — you know what you’re looking for. Discoverability is what happens when you’re looking, but not for something specific. Because of that, discoverability might bring with it more of a sense of delight than “finding” offers.

For example, I’m always looking for books that help authors solve a problem. Always. It’s one reason I’m on author and consultant Kristen Eckstein’s mailing list — who knows what resource I might learn about from her? Last Friday, I received an e-mail from her that offered one of her short e-books free on Kindle that day only. I immediately downloaded her Author’s Quick Guide to Creating a Killer Non-Fiction Book Title because I had discovered something useful for me — something I hadn’t been specifically looking for but knew I wanted when I saw it. That’s discoverability.

I shared the link and offer with my social networks, too, hoping that others would experience that “Yes!” that can accompany discoverability.

Get discovered

You want your books to be discoverable, too. Ideas for doing that include:

• Go where your readers are. Maybe they’re on Goodreads.com, maybe they aren’t. Maybe they use Twitter, maybe they don’t. You have to know your target audience to get in front of it.
• Talk to your readers about how they discover the books they end up buying and reading, then act on what you learn.
• Figure out who influences your target audience and get copies of your books into their hands so they can become your evangelists.
• Offer promotions with discounts, as Eckstein did, or special bonus material with a purchase. Host contests to get people interested and engaged.
• Build a strong, solid author platform that helps you and your books get found when people are looking for what you write. Eckstein’s mailing list is part of her platform.

What are you doing to make sure your book gets discovered?