When writing your author bio and marketing your book comes next….
You’ve written the book and now you’re exhausted. That’s it now right? You’ve done the gruelling bit, now you can let it marinate, sit back and let the book do the work for you, I mean how hard can it be?
I mean, you’ve given it an obscene amount of energy, time and sweat and can you really be expected to do anymore when you have a business to run?
Well er, yes because the hard work is only just beginning....now you must market your book and make sure your author bio is strong, and not just on your actual book, but across your website and social media channels.
You know what they say about how you could be the best thing since sliced bread, but if no one knows you exist then it doesn’t matter, because you’ll only be the best thing no one ever heard of. And your book will be the one that got away, the best book no one ever heard of.
You don’t want to be giving it away for free right? The online equivalent of a bargain basement with all books going for a $1/£1 a copy. You want people simply queuing up to buy it and give Amazon reviews by the dozen, extolling its virtues of their own accord, not because you begged them to...
First thing first, did you research your audience, do you know what they want to read about, what have they been asking you about most?
Do you post to social media, if so what type of questions were people asking you or just as importantly, which type of content was getting the most response?
Hopefully, you will have written your book on something your audience is desperate to get their hands on - you’ll know what makes them sweat and what they worry about because you’ll have done the groundwork first. Your book will now solve their problems and it’ll be the solution they’ve been waiting for.
You need to know what genre your book is and the demographic of your audience, your readers. What are their interests, where will they find you and your work online, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram? If you’ve been posting regularly to your readers on social media platforms you will know the answer to all these questions.
So now, the deep and dirty question is this - “what understanding do you have of your market?”
If you know who you’ve been writing for, who the book is for, and how it solves their problems, they’ll be ready to listen.
Keep in mind there’ll be plenty of books out there and there’ll be other writers who’ve written on exactly the same topic, so why listen to you?
Although you may have a strong following on a social media platform, if you’re looking to spread your wings and attract a big, meatier audience then you’ll have to roll your sleeves up and some serious marketing, you’ll need to lead people towards it, not let a few stragglers find you by accident.
There are too many methods to mention here today, but you could try starting with a lead magnet with 1/2/3 chapters of your new book free if they subscribe to your list, with the rest of the book to purchase via a link to your dedicated Amazon page.
You’ll need a strategy and a carefully crafted brand story loosely based on your book, centring around the main themes of your topic (you don’t want to give the whole thing away in one go!).
A bigger, wider audience won’t come at once, you’ll have to work at it to increase those sales, don’t reduce it to begging your peers for Amazon reviews on your behalf so you can increase interest and sales, work harder and you’ll reap the rewards later. Your book should speak for itself and although word-of-mouth is not enough, you really want to get people talking for all the right reasons.
You want people to see you as the go-to expert, someone with authority who knows their subject and can speak eloquently on it. Overtime and not overnight, you’ll increase your audience and your sales - which is what you’re aiming for.
If you need help with this or any other part of your sales funnel - get in touch via email or social media.
You can find me on the following platforms: Twitter - @gillianography,
Instagram - @gillianography1
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