Literary Agents are full of great advice for both new and seasoned authors. They not only know the industry inside and out but also know what the best book marketing tips for authors are.

Writing and publishing your book is what gets your book finished and bound. Book marketing is what gets your book in the hands of your target readers.

Once your book is ready for publication, you need to get out of your comfort zone and exercise some serious business and marketing acumen.

The biggest question I get from new and seasoned authors is: How can I sell more books and get it in the hands of more readers? The answer is a well thought out publicity and book marketing strategy that is aligned with your business plan. There is no one book marketing strategy that works for every author. Book marketing needs to be customized and aligned with your goals and story. Remember, your story is unique and so is your book marketing strategy.

But to help you, I have put together the best book marketing tips for authors straight from the top literary agents in the publishing trenches.

Below you will find 13 of the best Book Marketing Tips for Authors to help you start attracting new readers.

Lloyd D. Kelly – Kelly Consulting Agency Inc.

“So many authors believe that their work is done once they have finished writing their book. Not true. In fact, the marketing phase of their publication can be the most critical part of the publishing process. Writers really need to stay engaged and involved with their publicist or book marketing team. So many terrific books just don’t sell, while so many less than terrific ones do. Why?  Because you need to take the time to promote your book by engaging with your target reader.”

Howard Yoon – Ross Yoon Agency

“You know your readers better than your publisher, so think through what it’s going to take to convince 5000 of them to spend the money to buy your book. How about 10,000 readers? How about 20,000 and 50,000 readers?

Outline all the different ways you can reach your target readership. Then make a list of all the organizations, interest groups, publications or channels you can access that will help you get to those book buyers.

You can not only depend on Social media as a way to promote your book.  Your twitter account will not sell books. What will sell books is you figuring out how to tap into the networks where these 50k book buyers hang out. Your goal is to get your book’s message across through those networks and channels.

When you first start marketing your book, focus on your core readers.

Outline how you plan to convert them into book buyers? And from there you can keep growing towards accumulating a broader readership.  No two books are the same, and no two books should be marketed the same.”

Sharlene Martin – Martin Literary Management

“Be aware of those who take the time to leave nice reviews for you on Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, etc. I encourage you to build a relationship with your readers by responding with a sweet short reply thanking them for taking the time not only to read your book, but to leave an online review encouraging others to as well.  It makes a reader feel as though they know you, and that you’re a respectful writer who appreciates the time and money spent to devour your work.”

Cynthia Ruchti, award-winning author of more than two dozen books –  Books & Such Literary management”

“As a multi-published author and now a literary agent, I’m more convinced than ever that the best marketing tip for a new writer is to make every marketing and social media effort reader-focused.

What are the reader’s…

• needs
• questions
• interests
• longings
• time-constraints…?

What will make a reader say, “Oh, I needed that!” Rather than, “Oh, another sales pitch”?

When directing potential readers to your book, consider how you can turn it into something that encourages or equips. A meaningful quote from your book, a helpful tip related to your book’s theme, a compelling reason to reach for the book that has nothing to do with its price but everything to do with how the book will make the reader feel or how it will better the reader’s life. That mindset shift can change everything. It’s not about needing them to buy the book. It’s about the book (and the author) meeting reader needs.”

Jessica Faust – President of Bookends LIterary Agency

“Of all the things authors are asked to do I think marketing or talking about your book is the hardest.

My best book marketing tips for authors is to not to be afraid to talk about your book.

When people ask what you’ve written be ready to proudly and unapologetically tell them all about your book. If necessary, have postcards or a bookmark in hand at every turn. The same holds for social media. (which I think is the number one source of all book marketing these days) While certainly, you want to inundate people with nothing but book talk, you do want to regularly post both about your everyday life and about your book. My suggestion is set up 3-5 posts a week that in some way relate to your book. Maybe it’s a picture of your book in a bookstore or a quote from a new review. Perhaps it’s little glimpses into your next book, a recipe that relates to the book, or a picture that inspired you.  

Once you start publishing great posts, make sure you interact!  Interaction is the key to successful social media marketing. It’s one thing to “like” something, but it’s entirely different to share or repost that review and thank the blogger, reviewer, or bookstore owner publicly. Remember, those people are in this for themselves too. While they might love blogging and giving reviews, they are also looking to build their own names and recognition.

Most of all though, have fun. Marketing is a scary term so don’t think of it as marketing. Think of it as sharing the news joyfully.”

Jill Marsal – Marsal Lyon Literary Agency

“I would suggest new authors work on building their platform before they publish their book. This includes building up your social media presence, networking with other authors who can help promote your future book, speaking, blogging, writing articles, and doing interviews.  You want to be able to help the publisher spread the word about your upcoming book to your target readership.”

Laura Strachan – Strachan Literary Agency

“Understand that marketing is as much your job as writing the book is (or was). Your publisher isn¹t going to do it for you. Take it seriously. Block out time each day to work on your website and social media. Remember what is important is to connect with people, not try to sell them. Buying your book will come naturally after you genuinely connect with your target readers.”

Robert Mackwood is President and Owner of the Seventh Avenue Literary Agency in Vancouver Canada.

“The best book marketing tips for authors is easy to describe but for many authors challenging to execute successfully. After 35 years in book publishing, dealing with hundreds of authors, I have only witnessed a handful that uses this technique successfully. Ironically it isn’t rocket science nor necessarily even expensive.

The best book marketing tips for authors is about selling yourself and, by extension, your book.

The handful that I have watched do this include an author who monitors local radio stations and phones in when appropriate to talk about the current topic while tying it to their just released book. It’s a writer who stands up at a town-hall type meeting and not only makes a point but somehow manages to tie it into the copy of their book.

These are people who know they are the best salesperson for their book. These are people who go into bookstores, face out each copy of their book, move some to other sections, introduce themselves and thanks each staff member on the floor that day.

There is a “best before” date on many books. As an author you have a short window of time before the next avalanche of books arrive and push your book farther afield. In the world of non-fiction where I am most involved, that claim is much more relevant for some genres than others. But for authors who constantly and effectively self-promote their book stays in the store a little longer and gets a better chance at success than most others.”

Denise Bukowski – Bukowski Agency

“I’d say in this era of reduced marketing budgets for the average book release, authors need to work on building a community of readers who will buy their books.

Social media, bookstore events or conventions, and newsletters are all ways authors can connect with their readers and build relationships. Giving dedicated readers exclusive access to behind the scenes stuff like cover reveals, early excerpts, access to ARCs, all engender positive reactions, and will keep readers coming back. As an author, you need multiple outlets because you will not find readers engaging only on one platform. This is why publishers look at things like author platforms and reach when they’re at the acquisitions table, an author who works to build these things up before their first release is a step ahead of an author who has to build from scratch.”

Jonny Geller – Curtis Brown Agency

“My best book marketing tips for authors is to be clear. If you can’t describe your novel in a concise, inviting and dynamic way, nobody can. Go back to the moment of conception of the story and ask yourself:

‘Why did I write it?’

‘What do I want my readers to feel?’

‘What is it really about?’

When you have answered these questions, you can lure readers in.”

Mary Kole – former literary agent with eight years of experience in the traditional publishing industry.

“All of my success in marketing my editorial services has been earned by delivering valuable content.

Your audience will grow tired of your message if it’s always about you, your book, what you have, etc. Sure, this information is what will sell copies of your book, but think about taking the indirect route.

My best book marketing tips for authors is always to add value first.

Readers are first attracted to value as it builds trust.  After you provide value, then you can remind them about what you’re selling.

For fiction writers, this can be tough. What can you put out there that has value but that’s not about you? A writer’s first audience is usually other writers. Try blogging or Tweeting about interesting writing-related topics, and any news or information pertinent to the subject matter of your novel.

Nonfiction writers have it much easier because their work is already topic-driven, and ideally aimed at a specific audience. (if they’re writing a book of financial advice, for example) However, fiction books are still about something with a timely or content-rich angle; one would hope!

For every four or five pieces of valuable, interesting, audience-focused information you send out into the world, feel free to do a blurb about yourself and your book. Work hard at this and give it away for free. I promise sales will follow. It’s the “long dollar” approach.  If you don’t follow this approach, your whole presence will come across as self-serving.”

Gordon Warnock – Partner at Fuse Literary Agency

“Just this month, one of my clients saw her debut novel, RAPID FALLS, get published and immediately shoot to #1 overall in the Kindle store. We had a lot of discussions in the months leading up to publication, and if I had to pick the best book marketing tips for authors to share, it’s that it’s dangerous to go alone.

Writing is a solitary act, but publishing is by nature public, so resist the temptation to stay in your little bubble.

Reach out. Connect with other authors in your genre. You’re writing in a genre because you love that genre, so go all-in, and make that your new family.

Don’t treat these authors like your competition, and don’t try to climb them to reach your own success. Help them out, and give them a boost. If they do better, you will do better. This mindset is both a security blanket when you need it and a substantial investment in your future as an author.”

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Learn how to get your book into bookstores

We all dream of seeing our book on the bookstore shelves! Where people will be lining up to get a copy. But is that just a dream? In this article, you will get everything you need to know to make that dream a reality. To get your book into bookstores takes hard work and some healthy habits. It is not easy. But it is not impossible. With the right steps, tools and this article, you will get bookstores selling your books in no time!

Both traditional and self-published authors need to be their own sales agents and their own book advocates.

If you are a traditionally published author, you still need to support your publisher in promoting your book. Your publisher has hundreds of books they are already promoting, and priority is given to bestselling authors and newly released books. This means your book could fall through the cracks if you don’t work on marketing it and getting bookstores to sell it. As a traditionally published author, your job is to help your publisher get your book out there.

As a self-published author, you are the publisher, marketer, CEO, and sales agent. It is your job to either hire and work with a team and publicist to get bookstores to sell your book or do it on your own. I always suggest working with a team, publicist, or book coach to help you promote your book to bookstores. It will come across as more professional plus you will get faster results. But hiring anyone to support your book sales is always optional as a self-published author. The biggest bonus of being a self-published author is that you are in control!

Here is how you can get your book into bookstores…

Step 1: Know Who Your Target Reader Is For Your Book

Before you approach any bookstores or even write your book description, you need to have a clear outline of who your target reader is. Knowing who your target reader is will help you define your book’s price, genre, and what bookstores you should be approaching. You only want to get your self-published books into the bookstores whose customers are your target readers.

Step 2: Write Your Book Description and Your Book’s Metadata

Now that you know your audience you will want to write your book description and all book metadata in a way that captivates them. Readers find your book through metadata and decide whether to buy a book or not based on the book’s description.

What is a book’s metadata?

Metadata makes it possible to search for books in book-only databases and system, such as book wholesalers and distributors. Metadata gives readers, librarians, and booksellers an easier way to finding the exact book they’re looking for.

What Metadata Does a Book Need? A book only needs a few fields of metadata:

• Title
• Subtitle
• Author
• ISBN
• Format
• Publication Date

If you have finished writing your book you already have this information.

Step 3: Know How Bookstores Buy Books

Most chain bookstores buy from wholesalers. However, independent bookstores will also buy on consignment and directly from authors and publishers. As a self-published author, you’ll want to be targeting independent bookstores as a priority. Targeting independent bookstores will give you faster results as there are fewer hoops to go through.

Independent bookstores are more likely to want to work with new authors- especially ones in their community. A great resource to find independent bookstores is the IndieBound Community. IndieBound offers a comprehensive listing of independently owned bookstores searchable by name, type and/or location on their website.

Step 4: Get Into Book Wholesalers

Bookstores and libraries will look to order books through their favorite wholesaler’s database. As a self-published author, you’ll want to make sure that every book distributor or wholesaler database lists your books. You’ll also want to ensure they list it correctly.

If you are ‘Print On Demand’ with IngramSpark, then your book will already be listed in the Ingram Wholesaler database.

If you are not ‘Print On Demand,’ then you can apply to the wholesalers of your choice.

Start by visiting these websites:

• Ingram
• Baker & Taylor
• B&T Application
• America West
• Brodart
• Follett (K – 12 and University Libraries)

Step 5: Develop A Book Marketing And Media Plan

The most significant step to getting self-published books into bookstores is to create and maintain a marketing strategy that creates demand for your book. In spite of what we might wish, your book will not fly off the shelves unless you have worked to create buzz around it.

You need to create buzz around your book for booksellers to want to order and sell it. Look to build a marketing plan that includes offline book marketing strategies, book publicity, social media strategies, and book review strategies. Be creative and look for smart ways that help accelerate your book marketing results.

Step 6: Create Professional Marketing Materials

Bookstores and libraries will know in seconds if they want to order and sell your self-published book or not. So how do you convince bookstores to sell your book? Well, by creating and sending them professional book marketing materials, such as a press kit. A press kit puts all of your book information in one place and helps the bookstore get a clear picture of who your target reader is, what your book is about, and why people will love reading it.

Step 7: Contact Bookstore Buyers and ask them to sell your self-published books

Most self-published authors think contacting bookstores is the first step. It is actually one of the last steps. By following the above steps you are now 100% prepared to contact bookstores!

Contact bookstores and ask them to stock your self-published book by sending them an email or giving them a call. Your email should include your press kit and state that you are promoting your book. Your email should also be aligned with the bookstore’s goals and customers.

Cold calls followed up by an email work the best. You can also try personally visiting the bookstore to directly talk to the owner or manager about selling your book. Keep this in mind, and you will establish stronger relationships with bookstores.

Step 8: Follow Up With Bookstores

Not every bookstore is going to get back to you after your first email or phone call. Make sure you send a friendly follow up email to the bookstores that did not get back to you.

For the bookstores that did respond, make sure you are ready for their questions. The bookstore buyer will ask you a few of the below questions. Always do your homework and know the answers to these questions before the book buyer asks them.

Here are some of the questions the bookstore or book buyer may ask:

• Is your book returnable?
• Where is your book available?
• What discounts and terms are you offering?
• What marketing are you doing?
• Are there any events or programs you can do at their location?
• Are there any articles or content you can provide for their website or newsletter?

Hard Work, Consistency, And Time Will Help Get Your Book Into Bookstores

There are more than a few thousand bookstores out there, and a lot of them are going to be an excellent fit for your book. Follow these steps to getting your book sold in bookstores. But remember, getting self-published books into bookstores is not easy; it takes time, hard work, and consistency. If you put in the time and effort results will come!

Start Increasing Your Readership With These 10 Offline Book Marketing Tips On How To Sell More Books Offline

This article is packed with information to help you start selling your books offline. So it is okay if you read this article a few times over.

I have worked in the publishing industry as a PR and marketing consultant for over 8 years, and the number one campaign that ALWAYS sells tons of books is using B2B tactics where authors sell their books offline in conjunction with online marketing campaigns.

There are many opportunities to market your book offline! Like way too many! You just need a bit of creativity.  Don’t get me wrong, using digital marketing campaigns and strategies to increase book sales works. (like my free 100 Social Media Tips Guide) But promoting your book offline as well can gain you faster results.

How? Implementing offline book marketing tactics will set your book apart from the rest. Most authors are so focused on online marketing tactics that they ignore offline ones. This gives you a HUGE opportunity. (as it is less crowded in the offline space) But this doesn’t mean you can ignore online book marketing strategies.

You Need An Online and Offline Marketing Strategy To Fully Promote And Sell Your Book

When you start to create a marketing strategy for your book, you need to outline an offline and online marketing strategy. Both strategies go together. For example, if someone saw you at a book reading, your goal is to get them to purchase your book (at an online or offline book retailer) and to follow you and promote your book on social media. Why? Because this one reader who you met at a reading can share your book with their online network. But for them to share information about your book online, you need an online presence and brand.

For both traditional and indie published author, offline book marketing strategies can help grow your readership and brand. It can help introduce your book to new readers that online marketing methods can’t. Plus as humans, we love face to face interactions.

Here are 10 Tips On How You Can Start Marketing Your Book Offline.

1. Arrange For A Book Reading At Your Local School

Doing a reading at a local school is a great way to inspire students and bring reading to life. Arranging an author visit has many benefits for students, one of the main benefits is that it validates the lessons teachers and librarians tell kids. Plus author visits bring books and topics to life, like writing, art, science, and civil rights.

2. Get Involved At A Local Literary Convention

As an author, it is so important to be apart of the publishing industry- whether you are an indie or traditional author. Most literary genres have a variety of conventions that you can go to and be a part of. These literary conventions are full of book launches, readings, and authors talking about their work and strategies that made them successful.

Research what conventions are local to you in your genre and then get involved. You can get involved by becoming a volunteer, a speaker, or a guest on a panel. Some conventions will also have an area where authors can sell their books. When you go, make sure you bring business cards so that you can give people you meet details of your books.

Some book conventions are just for book fans, and these are the best ones to go to promote your book to a new audience. Both types of conventions are worth going to promote your book and network. You never know who you’ll meet!

3. Go To Events That Fits Your Genre

Investigate events going on in your area and see what there is that fits your genre. Maybe you write books on knitting or woodwork and could sell them at a craft fair. Perhaps you write YA fiction that you could sell at the local cosplay convention. Perhaps there’s a steampunk market where you could sell your steampunk, Victorian or fantasy fiction.

These are chances to reach people outside your usual circle of readers so grab them with both hands.

4. Run A Series Of Low-Cost Newspaper Ads

People still read the newspaper! Local communities, universities, colleges, and high schools all have their own newspapers. Plus papers that get printed for a smaller demographic or community are excellent resources for low-cost advertising.

When picking a newspaper to run a few ads to promote your book, make sure your book appeals to its demographic. You don’t want to spend money on an ad that is targeted towards an audience who would not be interested in your book.

You can also try approaching widely read newspapers and offer to buy any advertising space they can’t sell for a reduced price.

5. Host A Free Lunch At A Local Community Center (aka Lunch & Learns)

Have you ever had another company come into your office with pizza to host a lunch and learn? If you have ever worked in corporate, you probably experienced this at least once a month.

As an author, you can host a lunch and learn at other companies that are relevant to your book and at community centers. The benefit for you is you get to introduce your book to a new audience and make sales. The benefit for the community center or company is that you are helping to bring a team and community together and are increasing engagement.

6. Host An Educational Workshop

Hold a workshop that has educational value for potential readers. These workshops should not just include you reading your book out loud. Instead, they need to be engaging and offer something of value that your audience can take away with them. Your books and/or services can be included as a solution to challenges they face, but should not be mentioned until the end.  An educational workshop is more for authors who wrote business books and are using their book as a business card.

7. Get Business Cards That Promote You As An Author

Your book is a product, which makes you as an author a business. So, as a business owner, you need business cards. These cards should announce the book by providing necessary details such as reproduction of the cover, price, any associated website address, your email, and your author photo.

8. Donate bookmarks to a local library

Did you know that bookmarks are seriously cheap? Plus they are an excellent way to promote your book offline. So, once you have ordered a bazillion of them give them out for free! Donate them to your local library, ESL center, community center, sports team, or ask to leave some at a local coffee shop.

When making your bookmarks, don’t forget to add how to purchase the book and put a QR code on there to track how well this marketing tactic is working.

9. Sell your book at a trade show, book fair, festival, or farmer’s market.

Who doesn’t love going to book fairs, festivals, trade shows or farmer’s markets? (I am a huge book fair and farmer’s market fan!) These are significant events for you to promote your book offline.

For all these events, ask a few authors to join you in purchasing a booth to promote your books at. Other authors are not your competition. Instead, if you help promote and support each other, you will all sell more books and grow your readership faster.

10. Offer your book as a prize at a charity event.

Promoting your book offline while giving back and supporting a cause is a win win win!

When choosing a charity to work with it is essential to make sure it is aligned with your book, target readers, and brand. Try to offer something with your book as a prize. Such as a lunch with the author.

Why Offline Book Marketing Strategies Work

As an author, your best asset is marketing- both offline and online. Most indie authors don’t market their book at all or they only market online because that seems easier. These authors are missing out on huge opportunities. With offline marketing, your book has a better chance of standing out.

When it comes to promoting your book offline, think outside of the box!

As an author you are already creative, smart and witty- especially when it comes to words. But now you need to take those skills and use them to create a marketing strategy!

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all when it comes to an offline book marketing strategy. Explore your options and test campaigns out to see what works for your book and brand.

The publishing marketplace is saturated. To stand out, you need to ramp up your marketing efforts to attract new readers. This will take time, work, and lots of thinking outside of the box for it to become successful. On the bright side, you don’t need to create complex marketing campaigns to reach more readers rapidly. Instead, you need to work smart, harness that motivation and get some of that author creativity to make a big impact and lasting impression.

Book readers love recommending and sharing books with their friends. After finishing one book, a reader will usually tell five or more friends about it. Why? Because we love sharing stories. We love discussing stories, and we love it, even more, when our friends follow through with our recommendation. Word of mouth is powerful. It is also the reason why book readers can multiply fast! The more readers you have, the faster they reproduce. But before any people start reading your book you need to target them and in order to target then you need to outline who your book’s ideal reader is.

But Where Do You Start When It Comes To Finding Your Book’s Ideal Reader?

The best place to start promoting your book is among the people you already know. They could be friends, family, colleagues, your existing social media following, or people you sometimes see at the gym. Your inner circle is more extensive than you think.

Getting family and friends to buy your book can be tricky, and you don’t want to force them. So instead give them a copy for free. Your primary goal here is to get your existing contacts to share your book with their friends. Plus by providing a copy of your book for free, your network will be more inclined to give something back, like a book review or a little free shout out on their social network.

Outline Your Ideal Reader

Once you have your inner network busy reading your book it is time to start marketing it. Before you start promoting your book, you need to know who your ideal reader is.

Stephen King describes a book’s ideal reader as, “all novels are letters aimed at one person, the ideal reader.”

To create an effective marketing plan for your book you need to identify your ideal reader and target them specifically. The broader your target, the more diffuse your message will be.

It can be challenging for authors to determine why a person will want to read their books. But it is vital for you as an author to understand and outline who your audience is. If you don’t know what value your book is providing your reader or why the reader wants to read your book, then you won’t be successful.

You can read my blog post on how to outline your ideal reader for your book for more information. But if you already know who your reader is then read on!

So, now that you know who your ideal reader is it is time to start getting people to read your book!

How to Attract, Engage, and Convert More Readers Who Will LOVE Your Book

Attract, engage, and convert are the three main steps to getting people to buy your book. Here is an outline to describe how these steps work.

Attract Readers To Your Book

The biggest struggle you will first face as a new author is that nobody has heard of you yet. Your goal is to change this by attracting your readers to come to you. There are many ways you can go about this, such as running social media ads, holding contests, attending fairs, increasing your exposure by doing blog tours, doing a free promotion, and other types of marketing activities allow people to learn about you. Your audience may not be ready to buy the first time they hear about you, but getting them to know about your book is the essential first step. Your audience usually needs to hear about your book a few times before they are ready to make a purchase.

Engage With Your Target Readers

The next step is to “engage” with your audience. Once you have been able to attract people to follow you on social media or gave you their email, then you need to engage with them.

Engaging with your audience is an opportunity for you to build relationships with readers. Once you develop that relationship, readers become more invested in you, and they will be more likely to purchase your book. When you engage with your target reader, it is essential to offer them something of value and answer their questions. Don’t engage with them by saying ‘buy my book.’ Saying this is the fastest way to lose readers.

Convert Your Target Readers Into Book Sales

Your last step is to convert your target reader to buy your book. Many authors try to start at this step. They want sales right away and then when no sales come through they wonder why they aren’t getting any. If you have not attracted and engaged with your audience, you will not get many sales- if any! But, if you attract and spend the time to engage with your audience, it will be much easier to make book sales.

Attracting your target audience takes time, and it will be a continuous effort. The results make it worth it though.

Once you build a solid reader base, attracting new potential readers will become easier. Your current readers will start promoting you through social media, book reviews, and word of mouth.

12 Ways To Build A Solid Reader Base For Your Book

• Create an author website
• Do A Blog Tour
• Ask your readers to send in images of them with your book and then pin them on Pinterest. (people love the human connection)
• Comment on threads in relevant Facebook groups to build your reputation as an expert in your niche or to offer advice
• Start and follow a well-planned social media campaign (psst. get my free 100 tips towards social media success here)
• Do a presentation at a local meetup group. Don’t ‘sell’ your book, provide great information, and make sure to have some books to hand in case people ask.
• Create a discussion on Quora. Ask questions that engage your target audience, but don’t make your discussion a pitch for your book. If you are keyword savvy, then use keywords in your post title and content so that it will show up on the search engines and give you ongoing promotional returns.
• Put a link to your book in your email signature
• Set up an Affiliate partnership or program
• Run a contest or a giveaway for your book from your website or Facebook page
• Contribute advice and ideas to LinkedIn groups and make sure you have a section of your profile that promotes your book
• Write an in-depth blog post on a topic related to or covered in your book, and add a CTA to learn more about your book at the end.

These are just a few ways to promote your book. There are hundreds if not thousands of different ways an author can promote a book. The trick is understanding who your audience is and creating a marketing strategy that will best attract and engage with them.

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So, do traditionally published authors need to market their book? The quick answer to this is 100% YES! If you are a traditionally published author, you still need to market your book.

Traditional publishers and their staff work hard and are passionate about books. If they were not passionate than they would not be in this business. But publishers are also working with a lot of authors, and the reality of the editorial process demands a lot from authors- especially when it comes to marketing their books.

Publishers expect authors to help promote their book and drive sales. They want to work with authors who will help promote the book before and after it is published- because there will be more sales.

Publishers want to publish your book for one of three reasons:

1. You are a great writer and have written a fantastic story
2. You will help promote your book and will work hard to get book sales
3. You already have an established reader base that the book can be promoted too.

Do Publishers Market Books?

To an extent, yes. But all authors are also expected to promote their books. If you are a traditionally published author, you need to work harder at promoting your book than the in-house book marketing and publicity staff.

The publisher mostly works on the author’s marketing behind the scenes by promoting the book to the industry itself. (booksellers, wholesalers, libraries, reviewers, media) This means you are in charge of your brand, social media, and online marketing campaigns. The publisher may guide you- but you need to manage it.

The publisher will continue doing their best to support initial sales through stores and create a positive track record. But once this is finished, they have to move on to the next season of titles.

So, as a traditionally published author you are expected to promote and market your own book over the years the same way as an indie author would if you want to be successful. Plus, for better or worse, the publisher’s industry-facing marketing initiatives may not produce a lot of sales, or may not cultivate a relationship with the targeted reader. So you need to help them promote your book. What will increase sales is working to develop a strong online brand and audience to promote to.

How Publishers Promote Books

Publishers use a wide range of new and old-fashioned ways to promote books. A lot of their book promotions can be seen at Book Expo America (BEA).

One of the leading marketing initiatives publishers do for a book is spend a lot of money to be apart of events like BEA. Publishers attend these types of events to increase brand awareness within the industry and cultivate partnerships.

Publishers will also purchase banners to promote the book. These banners are placed in stores, at events, and used for book signings. But one of the biggest marketing campaigns they run is giving out Advanced Review Copies to media, bookstores, buyers, and librarians. Their goal is to get testimonials, reviews and generate brand awareness. Testimonials and reviews build instant trust and credibility with your target audience. It is a market step that should never be missed.

Sales is another huge component of any Publisher’s marketing strategy. They have a sales team that schedules meeting with book buyers to sell your book too. But keep in mind that book buyers will choose to order books based on if they have an audience to sell to or not. It is so important to work with your publisher to create a ready audience of readers.

Never Stop Growing Your Book’s Readership

As an author, your goal is to continue to build momentum and have consistent sales over the long term. Try to worry less about how much your book continues to remain stocked in a Barnes & Noble, and focus more on ways you can get attention and word of mouth for your book from the readers who are most likely to buy it.

To increase your readership, you need to learn how to create and implement book publicity and marketing campaigns. You need to understand content marketing for authors and start building an audience on social media for your book before it launched. If you are interested, you can download my Ultimate Author Checklist To Selling More Books for free.

To Be A Successful Indie or Traditionally Published Author, You Need To Promote Your Book

The reality of the book marketplace is that all types of authors (whether indie or traditional) need to work on building their own brand. Traditionally published authors need to be prepared to market and promote in the same way self-published authors do. If they don’t then panic will set in, especially if they expected more from the publisher.   

Marketing and selling your book is a long-distance run, not a sprint. Don’t focus on the publication date – that’s only the beginning of your journey. Instead, you need to focus on developing long-term goals.

Create book marketing strategies that can achieve sustainability for your book. Short-term and quick plans will have short-lived results. You want to build results that last years and continue to grow. To get those results that increase over time you will need a long-term marketing plan.

Just remember, your book is a product and a time investment. So, it takes time and consistent work to grow a steady readership.

Good luck.  I hope your book finds the audience that it needs and deserves.

Curious to learn about affiliate marketing for authors? Affiliate marketing is its own breed and can be confusing. In this article we will walk you through how to exactly set up affiliate marketing for authors.

Your book is out and has launched, but where are the book sales? Time is ticking, and you need some solid strategies that will help support book sales. Have you tried using affiliate marketing to promote your book?

Too many authors don’t incorporate affiliate marketing into their long term or short term book marketing strategy. As an author, you can quickly increase book sales by starting an affiliate marketing for authors program.

What Is Affiliate Marketing for authors And How Does It Work When It Comes To Book Marketing

First, what is affiliate marketing for authors? Affiliate marketing is an arrangement where you the author pays a commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from its referrals.

Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways people make money online. Bloggers, social media influencers, vloggers, and at times media outlets usually look to become affiliate partners with trusted brands as a way to make some extra money on the side.

What Does An Affiliate Partnership Look Like?

Affiliate partners who agree to promote your book will share an affiliate link to your Amazon page or website on their blog or social media channels. The affiliate links track the book sales and traffic to your author website that an affiliate partner sends your way. If an audience from your affiliate partner clicks on the affiliate link and goes to purchase your book, the partner will receive a percentage of the sales.

The Basics Behind Affiliate Marketing For Authors

Before you approach influencers, blogger, or vloggers and ask them to become an affiliate partner you need to set up an affiliate program.

Creating an affiliate program can be quick and smooth depending on the platform your website uses. Shopify and WordPress make it very easy to create an affiliate program for authors and other companies. Both offer a wide range of apps and plugins to help you build out your affiliate program. It is up to you which app or plugin you want to use.

In general, here is what an Affiliate Partnership that promotes book sales looks like:

1. The author sets up an Affiliate Program and Strategy.
2. Partnership with an influencer, blogger, vlogger, etc. is established.
3. The author sets up an affiliate link to share with their new affiliate partner.
4. Affiliate partner uses that link to promote the author’s book.
5. People click on the affiliate link which takes them to the author’s website or the book’s Amazon page.
6. The book is purchased.
7. The authors pay the affiliate partner a commission for helping them get another book sale.

Here are some of the common terms associated with affiliate marketing:

• Affiliates: Where you the author are using affiliate program links to promote and make book sales.
• Affiliate marketplace: Is an easy way to find and participate in affiliate programs. It gives companies and authors offering affiliate program a broader group of potential partners to reach out too. There are many marketplaces like Amazon Associates, Avangate, and Clickbank.
• Affiliate software: Software used by companies and authors to create an affiliate program for their product.
• Affiliate link: A tracking link to track the progress of affiliate promotions.
• Affiliate ID: Similar to the affiliate link, but many affiliate programs offer a unique ID which can be added to any page of the product site.
• Payment mode: Different affiliate programs offer different methods of payment. Some payment methods are already built into the affiliate software. But you can always use other methods like PayPal.
• Affiliate Manager/OPM: Some authors and most companies hire a dedicated marketing manager to help affiliate partners earn more by giving them optimization and marketing tips.
• Commission percentage/amount: The amount or percentage an affiliate partner will receive in affiliate income from every sale.
• Landing pages: A single book sales page used for the purpose of increasing sales.
• Custom affiliate income/account: Many companies and authors will offer a custom affiliate income to people making the most affiliate sales for them. This means you might offer them a larger commission for every sale they make you.
• Custom coupons: Custom discount coupons help increase your book sales by giving your affiliate partner a chance to provide a discount to their audience.

There are many affiliate programs available today, which means getting an affiliate partner on board to promote your book can be competitive. So it is essential to make your brand and value proposition stand out and catch the attention of the blogger, media outlets, influencers, and vloggers that you want to become affiliate partners with. Once you have done that, you are on your way to implementing a successful affiliate marketing campaign for your book.

Here are a few tips on how you can make your affiliate program stand out and start making you more book sales:

Locate niche partners whose audience is your target reader

As an author, you should have already defined your target reader. Now it is time to find who your target reader is following on social media. Why? Because you want to partner with people whose audience is your target reader.

Develop compelling promotional material

Provide your affiliate partner with creative messaging and graphics that they can use to promote your book. You may also want to send them a copy of the book so that they can take photos of it to share with their audiences. Your goal is to make their job of promoting your book easy. The less work, your affiliate partners, have to do the more conversions you will see.

Always look out for new affiliate partners

Always look to grow the number of affiliate partners you have. You can find new partners by advertising your affiliate program on your website, marketplaces, and your personal social media page. Or you can always send a cold email.

Look out and help your current affiliate partners

Communication is key. Communicate with your current affiliate partners regularly and ask if they need any support from you or if they have any questions. By continually engaging with them you and giving them tips will help ensure their success in promoting your book.

Here Are A Few Affiliate Marketing Platforms Authors Can Use To Promote Their Book:

Aerio

Authors and publishers can upload their books to Aerio to find new affiliate partners. Authors can also become an affiliate partner by choosing from Aerio’s inventory of fourteen million books to create a curated online storefront on their website.

Amazon Associates

Amazon also offers an affiliate program to people, authors, and companies. You can add your book to the program to attract new affiliate partners. You can also sign up as an affiliate partner and promote other author’s books while receiving a commission.

SmashWords

The Smashwords affiliate program can help you make a little extra on your book and other books you recommend when you use affiliate links. As with Amazon, you can promote other authors to your network or post reviews of books on your web page with affiliate links to Smashwords.

Can Affiliate Marketing Help Authors Make More Money

Affiliate marketing can help you reach your readers and earn some extra income. However, success won’t happen overnight. You may have read claims that affiliate marketing programs can make you tons of money by just spending a few minutes a day working. This is far from the truth.

You will not be able to get rich quick through affiliate marketing. You may get rich from it after spending consistent time working on growing your affiliate partners and following a strong well-planned out strategy.

Affiliate marketing is a strategy that works. It will get you book sales. It will help you grow your readership. But your success depends on how well you execute your affiliate business plan. Remember success takes work and time.

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