There are many tactics that can help boost book sales. Some of these require spending money, and some require spending time. Some of these will be done long before you publish and some will rely on the momentum of your book’s release. This is why having a solid book marketing strategy is so important!
Below are some of these tactics, which can be integrated into your book marketing strategy. Some of these are overlooked actions that can have a big payoff. Make sure to follow the links for details on how to use these strategies.
The Right Keywords Help Boost Book Sales in a Big Way
First, we’d like to reiterate that your book marketing strategy begins long before your book is released. The beginning stages include setting up a foundation for your long term strategy. The things that can help boost book sales once your book is actually available are behind the scenes actions. This phase in your book marketing strategy includes things like research and building your author platform.
You’ll need to research your audience, your comparable titles, and your keywords. Keywords play a huge role in making your book discoverable. This means using them on your website, in your marketing copy and book description, and especially on your sales and distribution platforms.
Using the right keywords requires research and on sites like Amazon, it can mean the difference between being buried forever or directly reaching your audience. So do your research and compile a big list! And be prepared to revise them when things aren’t working.
Reviews Sell More Books!
Positive reviews are a major way to help boost book sales! Reviews from readers, fans and professional outlets all help. Of course, everyone is dreaming of getting an impactful endorsement from their favorite author or thought leader but those aren’t the only reviews that will matter. Not everyone is able to get an endorsement from a big name, and that’s okay.
A lot of positive reviews from everyday readers can have just as much power. And Amazon’s algorithms basically require you to have a certain amount of reviews(even negative ones count) to make it discoverable.
Does this sound daunting? No need to despair. There are several ways you, as an unknown author, can get reviews! This is why it’s important to plan ahead and start marketing your book long before it is published. Here are the best ways you can get reviews( Follow the links for details):
You can also ask those in your professional and social circles to read and rate your book! This also requires providing an ARC, of course.
This will be a bit of effort and not everyone will provide a review when asked. You also risk getting a less than positive review from unbiased parties. But this is how it goes. Reviews do so much to help boost book sales that it’s worth it.
Track Which Tactics Help Boost Book Sales with A/B Testing
In your active promotion phase you’ll be using tactics like sharing on social media, creating content like newsletters and blogs, and searching for opportunities like podcasts, interviews, guest blogging, and other media coverage to help boost book sales. You also may want to do paid ads. That’s up to you. But when creating promotional content, paid or unpaid, you should maximize the potential of these tactics to help boost book sales by tracking what works and what doesn’t.
If something is just not working, you’re wasting your time, energy and possibly your budget. A/B testing isn’t complex. You can use simple built-in analytics on your social platforms or website to see what’s working. You can do the same with paid ads by tracking conversion rates.
But A/B testing is more than tracking the success of any given post or ad because you’re comparing to get more precise data.
You simply use two or more options to see which gets the best response from your audience. This will include which marketing copy you use and which images you use. You can create one image with varying marketing copy and see which gets the most engagement on social media. Or use the same marketing copy for two posts with different images. Run an ad with, or boost the post, that performed the best. Or use this best-performing content across all platforms. It’s that simple.
You can do the same with Facebook and other ads. Just make sure you do the proper research on your audience, genre and comparable titles first, because this is how you create the kind of promotional material that will help boost book sales!
It should also be noted that with each test, give each ad or piece of content at least a week.
It can become more complex, but even on a basic level this is a solid tactic to use in your book marketing strategy.
Offer a Look Inside or Read Sample Option!
If you choose to make your book available on Amazon there are many tactics (some of which are complex and shifting and dependent on their algorithm) to help boost book sales. But besides using the correct categories and keywords and having at least twenty reviews, there is one simple tactic you can use that can give the reader that last push they need to purchase.
What is this tactic? It’s giving the reader a preview of your book!
Amazon offers the Read Sample or Look Inside option. They offer this automatically if you’re using KDP. But you can manually add this feature as long as your book has an ISBN.
This tactic is effective because not only does it allow readers to sample the product and get them hooked, it also includes that Buy Now button for easy, one-click purchases once they decide they have to keep reading.
This is also a case for having a professional quality product. Because if your book’s interior is formatted poorly, or the quality of writing is bad, this will backfire on you. It also helps to have stellar marketing copy on your Amazon page. You can read more about the difference between back cover copy and Amazon marketing copy here.
A Great Cover is the Number One Way to Help Boost Book Sales
The truth is, no matter how much money you spend on ads, or how much you promote on social media, or even if you have great reviews, none of this will matter if your book cover is so bad no one even bothers to look at it.
This includes the art and the book description. Your book cover needs to grab your reader’s attention and not in a bad way. Your book cover is its biggest selling point. Because it’s what will draw people to it in the first place.
Your cover art should be high-quality and genre appropriate. The layout and design needs to follow conventions and your book description needs to be top notch! We can’t stress enough how important this is for your book’s success.
If you’re going to skimp on anything in your book marketing budget, do not skimp on this. The same goes for using a professional editor. People don’t like to feel like they’ve been tricked. They don’t want to be tricked by ads, and they don’t want to be tricked by a book cover. So the cover needs to be the best it can be first, and then the material inside needs to match.
There’s really no way around this.
Good book cover design includes:
We always remind our clients and readers that a good book marketing strategy is all about the multitude of little things you do, and doing them consistently. It’s not just one powerhouse tactic that will help boost book sales. So if you build a strong strategy, and follow it consistently, while leaving yourself open to changes and revisions, your book will be successful.
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