Marketing your books is important, but it can quickly get expensive. In this guest post from author BK Walker, she shares some great tips to help you promote your book with little to no budget for marketing.
Oh the thrill!
The thrill of wanting to write a book and making the decision to actually do it. For months, maybe even years, you pour your heart and soul into each page, until what will soon become your baby is finally finished. You then submit your completed manuscript to publishers, doing the Happy Dance because your writing is good enough to receive an email back from a publisher wanting to take your book under their wing. Maybe you are an indie publisher who hit the “Publish” button to see your book go live to the world.
What most authors don’t realize, whether traditionally published or self-published, is that you’re responsible for the marketing and promotion of your new release. I know…Shocking!
It’s not as hard as you think, but it does take consistent, persistent work on your part. While some authors spend thousands of dollars in their marketing campaigns, there are some things you can do that cost little to no money at all.
- Start marketing your book at least 6 months before its release. This means building your author platform, sharing information about your book with blogging and social media.
- Create a mailing list. You can create this free of charge using Mailchimp. Your mailing list will become your life line when your book releases and for future books, sales, KDP free days and special promotions.
- Make friends with other authors. When your book releases, ask them to share the news with their readers and in return, you can do the same for them. Author cross promotion is a great way to increase exposure, sales, and gain new fans to your reader base.
- Become visible. Be active on social media, posting every day, several times a day. You can even set this on autopilot, scheduling posts with platforms such as Hootsuite or Sprout Social.
- Get graphics. Design stunning graphics/images with teasers or excerpts from your book and share with your readers. You can get amazing graphics done for you for $5 at Fiverr.
- Be easily found. Create a website that has your amazing bio, all of your works so readers know what you write, how they can get their hands on a copy of your book(s), and how they can connect with you.
While writing a book and becoming a published author is exciting, it’s important to realize that building a strong author platform is crucial to the success of your book(s).
It doesn’t have to be a drag either. You can make marketing and promoting your book(s) fun while connecting with some amazing people. Stop by and listen to my free podcasts for more ideas and tips for marketing and promoting your books at BK Walker Writing.
BK Walker is just like every other ordinary woman – a wife, mom, caregiver, and animal lover, who just happens to also be an Amazon bestselling author. BK loves to share her knowledge coaching authors to break through the marketing masses making their mark on the world at BookIt BK, and giving their books the attention they deserve with increased exposure organizing virtual book tours at the Virtual Book Tour Café.