Before you ever publish your book, there are some book marketing essentials you’ll need have dialed in if you want to give it the best chance at success. We’re not talking about running ads, or using your social media savvy. We’re talking about what you need to do before all that. Because the below checklist is the foundation for ALL your book marketing efforts going forward.
Editing Help is the First Book Marketing Essential!
You’re probably wondering what an editor has to do with marketing and why we would include this in a list of book marketing essentials. Well, because before you spend money and time and effort marketing your book it needs to be in as good of shape as possible.
You can do all the other things on this list and you can create ads and promote it on social media and try to sell it at every chance you get. But in the end, if the book isn’t polished and up to professional publishing standards it will come back to haunt you in the form of bad reviews and low sales. Your reputation as an author is on the line, and so is your future success.
Here is some guidance on the type of editing your book may need, so you don’t waste your time or money.
A Book’s Cover is Its Biggest Selling Point
Another aspect of successful book marketing that may not come to mind when building your book marketing strategy is your book cover. Your book’s cover needs to be polished and professional, just like its content. After all, you put in all that work writing it, so that should be reflected on the cover. Because the book cover is what people notice first. It is what makes people choose to grab it or pass on it.
This is why a great book cover is a book marketing essential! Your book cover will need to fit all the standard conventions. The genre should be obvious at a glance and it needs to contain high-quality images and design. Even the cover treatment matters!
If your book cover looks unprofessional or sloppy, if it doesn’t fit the intended genre or has mistakes in its layout or design, no one will even give it a chance, no matter how good the content is inside.
Read more about what makes a good book cover here.
Another Book Marketing Essential is Excellent Marketing Copy
An often overlooked book marketing essential is the back cover copy. Far too many authors view this as an afterthought. They think they can write a nice summary of what the book is about, and that potential readers will get it. The issue here is that marketing copy is a much different style of writing with a much different purpose than writing a book.
Your back cover copy (or book description) needs to grab the reader instantly. It needs to fit the tone and tell just enough. The intent is to leave the reader wanting more. It needs to speak directly to them. There needs to be a buildup of emotions. A summary or overview of the plot alone won’t do this. It needs to be attention-grabbing and then it needs to pull them in.
If your book’s marketing copy is bad, it’s a hard thing to overcome. This is doubly true if the cover is bad. But if you have a bad cover, readers probably won’t even pick the book up to read the marketing copy in the first place.
Get Reviews. As Many as You Can.
Word of mouth is the number one seller of books. Next to word of mouth, positive reviews are the biggest driver of book sales. Even Amazon favors books that have multiple reviews(and positive ones) over books that have very few. This is because readers want proof that a book is worth buying and they trust other readers.
Reviews build trust! This trust will compel readers to buy. This is why reviews are one of the fundational book marketing essentials. Good reviews, and a lot of them, tell the reader that an unknown author is worth taking a chance on.
Reviews hold a lot of marketing power because they be used everywhere to promote your book. Use snippets on the cover itself. Add them to your website. Quote them on your social media posts. Add them to your Amazon page along with your book marketing copy.
Are you wondering how to get book reviews? Well, there are several tactics you can try, including sending out ARCs(Advanced Reader Copies). But you can read all about getting book reviews here. Direct endorsements are even better! You can read more about getting endorsements here. Remember, you want to have these reviews and endorsements ready BEFORE your book launch.
A Book Marketing Essential That Can’t Be Overlooked: Precise Metadata
Your book’s metadata, including keywords, is another super important book marketing essential to get right! Metadata and keywords help readers find your book organically. This is because readers in your genre will be searching for books like yours using certain keywords and phrases. Platforms like Amazon use this metadata to add your book to the right categories and to make it searchable for users.
It’s very important to get your metadata right. Just as it’s important to put your book in the right category. Precise and accurate BISAC codes matter too.
Keywords and categories are part of setting your book up on Amazon and other sales and distribution platforms. Even IngramSpark requires adding categories and keywords when you upload your book.
And they need to be the right keywords and categories. Using the wrong keywords will render you invisible to your target audience.
Metadata also includes your book descritption. It’s important to keep this in mind when crafting all your book marketing copy. Even your title(especially if you write non-fiction) is part of your book’s metadata. Also keep in mind that the keywords needed for online sales platforms like Amazon work a little differently. Amazon is always making tweaks to how these work and changing up the rules, so research and awareness of these things are key. No pun intended!
A pretty fail-safe method is using Publisher Rocket for Amazon keywords. As for the rest of your book’s metadata, you can find out how to get it right in this post.
Let’s Not Forget the Importance of Your Author Platform and Brand!
Your visibility and how you present yourself to the world is a foundational book marketing essential because you and your book are linked. You are the business and your book is the product.
An author platform is a catch-all for your visibility and reach. It’s your digital footprint. It is also your stage. It includes your website and social media channels, and your blog or newsletter. It can also include speaking engagements, podcasts and media coverage. Basically, it is how you reach your audience and where they can find you. You grow your author platform by being more visible and capturing attention, which hopefully leads to gaining a larger audience.
An author brand is your reputation and how you present yourself. It’s who you are and what you’re all about. Having a platform will make you visible to your audience, but your brand will keep them engaged. It builds loyalty and trust when done well. Your brand is what sustains a connection between you and your audience.
Some authors already have a platform and some don’t. But the key is finding the right spaces and using them to their full advantage. This starts with not only knowing where your audience is, but also where you feel the most comfortable.
These are the Key to Sustainable Book Marketing Efforts
Together, your author platform and brand function to grow your audience and build your fanbase. But this is meant to be done with intention. Figuring out where your audience is, who they are, and what they want allows you to use your platform to its full potential. Then, your brand allows you to build connection and trust with your audience. This is how they become loyal fans.
Your platform and brand are the anchor that make your book marketing efforts sustainable.
Read all about the importance of an author brand and platform and why they are a major part of your foundational book marketing essentials on Jeniffer’s blog.
It All Fits Together to Set You Up for Book Marketing Success
The work put into these book marketing essentials all begins before your direct promotions, and before you publish even. They are the foundation of a solid book marketing strategy. If there is a problem with any of these things it will show itself. So, before you spend money on ads and other promotional tactics these are the things to have in order. Can you see how they fit together to build a solid marketing foundation?
Remember, if you have a lackluster book with spelling and formatting issues, people will eventually catch on. Even if your cover is good. But if your cover isn’t good, will anyone even bother? Having a good cover with bad marketing copy that doesn’t fit the tone, or drags on with wordy summaries will make a reader second guess the author. If there are no reviews, potential readers may be skeptical. If your book is in the wrong category or you’re using the wrong keywords in your metadata it may never be discovered in the first place. And, of course, you need an author brand and platform to sustain all this effort.
All six of these book marketing essentials need to be in order and working in tandem or all the ads and promotions in the world still won’t sell your book. And that’s a lot of wasted effort, potential, and money.
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