How does one get their work seen when over five thousand books are being published daily? It's all about marketing and targeting the right audience.
Many writers forget that other writers are not their target audience. Most writers barely have time to write let alone read someone else's work. So while it is great to create connections with other authors and network with them, you must realize that they will not be the ones buying your book. Your target audience is readers, book bloggers and vlogers, bookstagramers, and anyone of the like, They are the people that you must appeal to if you want your work to thrive. So how exactly do you market yourself in a way that would appeal to a reader?
Here's a short checklist:
Have at least five beta readers and clip things they say about your novel and use those clips as teasers.
Collect a handful of passages from the novel, no more than three sentences each, to act as teaser releases as well.
Do a cover tease and then a cover reveal.
Introduce each of the main characters, one a week, to start building anticipation.
Get a book trailer done. It's 2021, people's attention spans are limited but a book trailer is entertaining enough to at least get them to know the title of your book.
Do an unboxing of your author's copy when it arrives in the mail.
Release a secondary book trailer, but make sure it is vastly different than the first.
Release the first 2-3 chapters for free somewhere for readers to get hooked on the book.
Set up a pre-sale.
Do aesthetic mood boards for each of the characters, release them in the same order as the introduction of those characters.
Start releasing one book promotional image every week until it's published - make sure the images are different every time.
Get together a street team to hype up your novel.
Enlist at least five alpha readers who agree to publish reviews of your novel when it's published (make sure these alpha readers have a substantial social media presence and they aren't just your friends and family).
Hold a giveaway during your pre-sale that includes winning free and exclusive merch - the merch given away for the presale must never be offered again.
Throw a release date party and have someone video it or live stream it.
Then host a virtual release day party the day after.
Submit your book into appropriate contests once it's been published.
Host additional giveaways the months after publication so your book is not to be forgotten.
It may seem like a lot of work, and that's because it is. Unless you are signed on by a big name publishing company, you need to do most of the marketing yourself. It will cost you time and money to do this. But it is necessary for the success of your work.
You are first and foremost the biggest fan of your own work and biggest advocate for your own work. If you are not excited and screaming about it from the heavens, why would anyone else be?
Now of course there is a difference between being a fan, and being a salesman - and let me just tell you that nobody wants to buy a book from a salesman. So what are we going to discuss next week?
Well, over the next couple of weeks, we are going to go over each of the items on the list and talk about how they can be implemented on both the lavish and free side of things.
I hope you enjoyed this Workshop Wednesday post and keep your eyes peeled for our Follow-up Friday post where Plotbunny will go into detail about how she implements these strategies herself.
Love always,
Novella & Plotbunny
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