Market a Book - Get Yourself Organised
When it comes to the point at which we market a book the story is all too familiar in the world of the Indie Author/ Self Publisher. The book is written having been painstakingly toiled over for months, probably years. E-book or paper version it matters not, the direction and the outcome unfortunately is so often a well trodden path to marketing failure. Do not go there. There is another way and the key is organisation. To market a book you need to be organised and disciplined. Of course there are no guarantees of success, but you need to give yourself the best opportunity you possibly can to reach out as far as you can but, and here is the key part for me, at the same time you must maintain a balance between your writing and your marketing. It can be done. Marketing your book does not mean that you cannot continue to write. Just get organised, write a plan, do not scattergun, stick to the plan and ensure that you have a clear vision of the future. Above all else be patient. Most books do not sell in large numbers immediately and the marketing strategy for each book is enhanced as other books are added to your author's portfolio, perhaps sequels or maybe a whole new novel or subject matter is written. A method which I have come to use, not just in my writing, is to create a structure with a clear centre point, or a hub as I like to call it. This method can be applied to absolutely any situation in life either on a grand scale, if you are perhaps moving house, or on a smaller scale, if you are planning a birthday party for example. For the purposes of this article I will refer only to the use of this method when you market a book. I hope, however, that it will be obvious how it can be applied elsewhere.
First create a stable hub, a static website (in the case of marketing a book), which will host the core of your marketing strategy and will become a place to which you can refer others who either express an interest in your work or who you reach through an advertising campaign. Let this hub have clear and concise links to your:
- Points of sale
- Social networking sites
- Twitter feeds
- Other 'hubs' for other projects
- Videos
- Online reviews
- Online news articles
- and so on
Also display some reviews on the hub page.
Make this place, the hub, your own, whether it is a self hosted blog or website or one which you have commissioned. Choose a domain name which is memorable, relevant to your book or to you and one which you think will be easy to refer enquirers to. I hope that you can see by now that in its simplest form, pulling all of the strands of your authoring life together in one point is hugely beneficial in keeping clutter from your mind and showcasing your work, and it is an incredibly simple concept really.
The situation actually gets even better as once this hub is achieved you can let it mature and gain status on the internet in the knowledge that it will still be there tomorrow, next week, next year or in ten years time. As the hub is literally a showcase it does not suffer from the same flaws as social networking pages such as Facebook, or even your blog. What I mean is that no-one expects the content of the 'hub' to change so it doesn't need your constant attention, unlike your Facebook page, Twitter feed or Blog which, if they do not get updated regularly your visitor's perception is that you have perhaps lost interest and they quickly move on. As browsers and book purchasers we are a very fickle bunch I can assure you.
Of course a hub can be tweaked, but I do find that once it is established it just quietly sits there doing its job and it actually needs a minimal amount of attention from you. Imagine, as has happened to me, bumping into a friend who you have not seen for some time in the supermarket. You want to tell her about your book and you want to direct her to where she can find you online. In an instant you know that there is one simple, and relevant, web address that you can recite which will cover all of your bases. It will lead to sales points on Amazon or Smashwords for example or to your Facebook, Pinterest or Google + page and contain some on site reviews. Simple. You could even sell your book directly from this hub using your PayPal buttons which can easily be set up.
I sincerely hope that this makes sense to you and that it is something which you might consider when you market a book. It works for me and I can assure you that before I did this my marketing strategy was chaotic and I could not find time to write or follow my other interests because of my 'mind clutter'. Give it a try. It works.
I am Nigel Jameson from http://websitesforbooks.co.uk and my passion is to help fellow Indie Authors simplify the Self Publishing and Book Marketing processes, which can appear quite daunting at first. My system will help you simplify and organise your process. Take a look now at Websites for Books and see how I can help you simplify the book marketing process.
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