Book Packaging & Creativity Workshops

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Build Marketing Muscle – Find Publishing Success

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Indie authors have long known that when they type the words “the end” their job is only half-way finished. Authors can no longer sit back and wait for book sales. Find publishing success and build your marketing muscle. 

How many jobs can one person handle?

Chances are you wake, prepare breakfast for yourself and possibly others, go to work, workout, work around the house, work in the garden, spend time with family, and maybe, just maybe there’s a bit of extra time to do your writing. But if you sacrifice writing time for marketing time, your book slate might suffer. If you don’t market, your book sales could suffer. 

I recommend that authors understand the different jobs associated with how you build marketing muscle for publishing success, and then decide which ones to take on and which ones to pass along to a professional. If you understand the basics, you can make informed choices on who to trust with your book as well as whether it’s worth spending money to save yourself time.

Publishing Success…If You Tell Them, They Will Buy

In my many years of working with authors, I have learned a truth about book marketing that still surprises me to this day. It’s what I call the “Field of Dreams” aspect of marketing. Similar to that movie’s famous line, “If you build it, they will come,” book marketing oftentimes carries the “if you tell them, they will buy” sensibility. I’ve always believed in a soft sell approach. And yet, I know that marketing means telling people about my book. But there are clever ways to market your book.

“Pull Quotes” Pack a Punch

As I write my fiction (under the pen name Mia Fox), I might notice a line of dialogue and happily think that I nailed it. I created something that will resonate with my romance readers. Perhaps I do a little happy dance, thanking the stars that writers’ block didn’t strike, but more likely, I make a note of this sentence in a separate document. These notes will become pull quotes. I recommend using an online graphic tool such as Canva to create interesting graphics featuring your quotes that can be posted on social media.

Your Own Book Contains Creative Marketing Ideas

You’ve probably tried a few book marketing tactics already. Perhaps reducing the price of a book, running a contest, advertising on one of your social media platforms…you know, the types of campaigns we’ve all run. But how successful can a campaign be if everyone is doing it?

In addition to these methods, look within your own book for ideas. Does your main character have a hobby? Do the characters eat at a particular restaurant? Do they live in a well-known town that offers special tourist attractions? These are all aspects of your book that can be expanded upon.

One of my most successful marketing campaigns was for my book, Malibu Angel. I sent out a newsletter pre-release that showcased the beauty of this well-known beach in a pictorial layout. I included articles about restaurants in the area, celebrity sightings, and must-see shops. These details weren’t mentioned in this paranormal romance book, but they served to elaborate on the setting and give some “behind the scenes” details.

Create Receptive Marketing Campaigns

Best of all, it gave me a way of talking about my book without the obvious plea to buy my book.

Let the details and descriptions sell your book.

To me, marketing is most effective when your target audience is receptive to what you want to sell.

Selling isn’t easy. Build marketing muscle. Take the time to spice up your campaigns with creativity, suddenly you’ll enjoy the process and your readers will reward you. It does take time and there’s no shame in hiring someone to do the marketing for you, or at least to create the template for your campaign.

What you must remember, whether you are doing the work or hiring someone to do it for you, make your campaigns resonate with authenticity. Ensure that your marketing campaign is appropriate for your book’s genre. And finally, never let your writing fall by the wayside.

Should Authors Do It All?

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What’s better? To be a jack of all trades or to specialize in a particular skill? Naturally, there are arguments for either choice depending upon the circumstance. Let’s say you’re an athlete and have suffered torn cartilage in your knee; you’ll want to consult with an orthopedic surgeon. After all, they’re experts at what they do. So why is it as authors, we don’t seek out experts? Should authors do it all?

Assuming that your writing is finalized, let’s examine all of the jobs or tasks that are required to bring a book to market.

Publishing Requires Juggling —

  • Editing/Proofreading
  • Cover Art
  • Digital and Paperback Formatting
  • ISBN Registration
  • Synopsis Writing
  • Keyword and Category Research
  • Distribution / File Uploading
  • Marketing and Public Relations
  • Social Media and SEO Content Writing

Phew…what a list! Considering that today’s reader has an abundance of choices available to them, it makes sense to give your audience what they crave….more books! Many authors have learned that one of the secrets to building a loyal fanbase is to release their books in rapid succession. Some debate the pros and cons of doing this with a series versus a standalone novel.

Regardless of which choice, series or standalone, how do you keep up with your writing if you’re busy with so many tasks? And if you are taking on all of these responsibilities, are you doing each one justice? 

Let’s examine three of these tasks in greater details  — cover art, formatting, and social media — and analyze what makes for a superior job versus one that is somewhat mediocre as a result of not focusing on only that task.

Can you judge a book by its cover?

We’ve all seen them…the book covers that stand out from the rest and not in a good way. Considering that now there are numerous contests for book cover art that can benefit the writer as well as the artist by bringing attention to your book, you don’t want to attempt cover art on your own for the sake of saving money.

Especially considering that many cover artists create what’s known as “pre-made covers” that can provide immense cost savings. These are covers that aren’t created to your specifications but rather, fit a typical genre such as romance or thriller. Writers will see one of these covers (often times as low as $30 and typically not higher than $75) and use their great imagination to actually pen a scene into their novel that suits the cover image, thereby making it appropriate to their book.

Functional Formatting is Key for Reader Enjoyment —

Many new authors do not realize that proper book formatting requires knowledge of specific softwares that can generate a file format that is accepted by the ebook retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iTunes and more. Furthermore, Amazon won’t accept the same format as the rest. They want what is known in the industry as a “mobi” file whereas the other ebook retailers will accept an “epub” file. As you can see, simply uploading a Word document from your computer won’t cut it, even if you think it’s beautiful with fancy fonts littered throughout your text.

Professional formatting will save the author time because you won’t receive error messages from the ebook store sites. Imagine if you did receive an error message. Would you know where in your entire book to find the problem? And, if you did find it, would you know how to correct it? For this reason, as well as the aesthetic quality that a professionally formatted book can bring to the reader, it’s important to choose a professional book formatter.

In my opinion, professional book formatting should serve three functions: saving the author time, bringing aesthetics and beauty to your words, and providing a level of technical functionality. Clever book formatting will include numerous benefits to the reader experience. Here’s just a few things that can be added to your ebook with formatting:

  • Hyperlinks within the text to outbound URLs
  • Author social media links
  • Link to Amazon’s listing of the book whereby a reader can leave a review

Social Media…Fun and Games or Serious Business?

Let’s face it, social media can be fun. Why wouldn’t you want to spend time on Facebook chatting to readers, tweeting messages on Twitter to other authors, or posting pictures of your adorable pets on Instagram? Because quite simply, social media is a time sucker and if you’re serious about your writing, you need to limit your time online. However, there’s no denying that if you want to sell your books, you need to be visible and have a proven author platform.

How do you do both? As authors, how do we find the time to write our books and use social media? In a word: balance! I write extensively about how to live a creative and balanced life. It’s a subject I feel strongly about because we all wear many hats.

In no particular order, I’m an author, a wife, a mother, a book packager, and a ghostwriter. Trust me, I understand busy. But I also have learned when to back off and ask for help.

In terms of social media, I think it’s a great idea to learn a few key lessons from social media strategists and then experiment with how much of this task you can do yourself and still maintain a regular writing schedule and your sanity.

As to answer my initial question, should authors do it all? I think it’s wise to educate yourself. Know how much a cover will cost. Research the different formatting fees. Spend time on social media and see if your tactics are converting to sales. Once you educate yourself, it’s easier to hire an expert because you understand what their job is and you’ve developed realistic expectations.

If you have questions about anything publishing related, I’d love to chat.