You need a book marketing plan because if you want to sell books, it isn’t optional...
Hi There,
Last time, I wrote about compelling characters readers can relate to in my book. This week, my theme is investing in marketing to sell your book. I suppose I was naïve when I started to write my novel. I thought you just wrote a book, advertised it and hoped it would sell. How ignorant was I? If I had known then what I know now, would I have started to write?
Yes. I had a story to tell and needed to write it. The book was self-published last year, and holding my first Romance/Suspense novel in my hands was a great feeling. However, my book wouldn’t have even been published if it hadn’t been for my daughter and son-in-law. I didn’t have a clue how to publish the book. I know. I should have done my research before writing. Anyway, they came to my rescue, and one weekend, we got together, and they self-published the book (See a previous blog). Then I realised what was necessary to publish the book, let alone market it.
Publishing a book can be expensive. You are told to do this, that and the other: editing, book cover, title, book description, formatting, pricing, and reviews. Some you can do yourself. You can pay thousands of pounds to have these done professionally. I spent nearly two thousand pounds on a developmental edit and proofreading for my first book. I skipped the other types of editing, and now I self-edit my books. Once I’ve finished writing my manuscript, I will probably edit the text another 5/6 times, which is time-consuming but necessary if you want to make your novel the best it can be.
You need a good team around you, and I’m lucky to have one. My wife reads my books, checks for typos, and makes suggestions to improve the manuscript. My daughter creates the covers, formats and proofreads.
Writing is the easy part. What I didn’t know was that after publishing, you have to self-promote or market your book so that it sells. For me, this has been a minefield to research. There is so much information on the internet that you can suffer from overload and confusion.
Consider the following marketing ideas or fundamentals: website design, social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tic-Tock), author brand, keywords, categories, podcasts, influencers, blogs, optimisation, launching your book, algorithms, Facebook/Amazon Ads, email-lists, target audience/readers, ARC team, beta readers, book funnels and many more.
You need a book marketing plan because if you want to sell books, it isn’t optional - it’s essential. But where do you start? As stated above, it’s a minefield. You can outsource, but this can be expensive. The main problem is that marketing interferes with your writing, but I know I must learn such techniques to sell and succeed. It’s a long process, and you can’t do everything simultaneously.
Again, I am fortunate to have family help. My son-in-law created my website, and my daughter helps with social media and blogging.
I hope you find the above interesting and don’t be put off by my ignorance, inexperience and naivety. It’s a steep learning curve, but I’m determined to get there.
A reminder:-
‘An Educated Guess’ Book 2, Part 2 of the ‘Tom Stevens’ series, will be released in early November 2023.
Happy Reading and take care,
Mansel
Website:-Mansel-Winter.com