I write a lot about writing a book and only occasionally about marketing your book.
Within one week, I self-published a nonfiction book on writing for children, How to Write a Children’s Fiction Book, and had a traditionally published picture book released, The Case of the Plastic Rings – The Adventures of Planetman.
Dealing with one book being published is tough enough, two is a bit overwhelming, especially if you’re writing another story, or two, or three.
The purpose of this article is to emphasize how important it is to market your book. If you don’t, you won’t get any sales and just as bad, no one will read a story you’ve slaved over.
The other purpose is to explain the strategies I used, am using, and will use to promote my book.
STEPS I’M USING TO PROMOTE MY BOOK
- Your Website’s Book Page
As soon as my books were available for sale, I added them to my Books’ page on my website.
I also included links to the sales pages.
For the self-published book, I linked to the Amazon sales page.
For the traditionally published book, I linked to my Publisher’s author page for me.
To find out why I won’t link my traditionally published book to Amazon, you might read this:
Amazon, Your Book, And Third-Party Sellers
It’s important to note that you can and should do pre-publication promotion.
Let people know you have a book coming out. Give tidbits about the book to whet the reader’s appetite.
I didn’t do this as everything happened too fast and I had too much on my plate.
- Video / Book Trailer
I created a video for my nonfiction book.
I have a paid subscription with Powtoons – that’s how I make my videos. You can add music and/or a voice over.
They also have a free plan that gives you 60 seconds for your video.
I intend to create a video (book trailer) for my children’s picture book also.
- Author Interview
My publisher for the picture book did an author interview with me:
You can check it out here:
Interview with Karen Cioffi – The Case of the Plastic Rings
I promoted the interview through my social networks.
You can also ask peers or others who have a ‘relevant to your book genre’ website if they’d be willing to do an interview with you.
- Reviews
Reviews help sell books.
I asked around for peers and others who would review my books and post their reviews to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Goodreads.
For this, you’ll need to send a PDF of the book or send a print copy if the reviewer requests it.
You can also find people who review books online.
Ask the reviewer if you can post the review on your website also.
Again, reviews help sell books.
- A Press Release
When I have a chance, I’ll write a press release for each of the books and ask fellow authors if they’ll put it up on their sites.
I’ll also post it to a press release distribution service.
There are free press release sites that you can upload the release to.
Here’s a a list of 60 free PR distribution sites.
6. A Book Website
When I get a chance, I may create a separate website for The Case of the Plastic Rings, it’s the first of a three-book series.
I have separate sites for my other two children’s fiction books, Walking Through Walls and Day’s End Lullaby.
Or, thinking about it, I may add full-detail pages for all my books to my writing for children website instead.
Keeping everything in one spot (on one website) has its advantages.
I’m not sure yet. Maybe I’ll do both.
- Social Media
As soon as the books were available for sale, I posted about them to my social media accounts.
Currently, I’m using Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. I may also create an Instagram account.
- Encourage Affiliate Marketing
A writer friend has an affiliate account with Amazon and will be happy to promote my press release.
If a friend or peer has an affiliate account with Amazon, they have a bit more incentive to help promote your book.
They get a small payment for every book that’s sold from their Amazon affiliate link. It’s not much, but if you can do volume, it can add up.
- Using PayPal’s Buy Buttons
If you’re self-publishing and your book is on Amazon. Rather than sell through them, you can use PayPal Buy Buttons on your website.
That’s what I did.
You can see how it works here:
http://karencioffiwritingforchildren.com/diy/
Why did I do this?
In case you didn’t read the article I provided about Amazon and 3rd-party sellers, the gist of it is that Amazon allows 3rd-party sellers to sell your book.
My nonfiction book just came out and there are 3rd-party sellers selling it through Amazon. I set the price of the paperback at $14.95 but it’s being sold from $14.95 to $25. It’s crazy.
These 3rd-party sellers do the same thing with traditionally published books which is why I link to the publisher’s selling page rather than Amazon’s.
There’s no way to know where those 3rd-party sellers are getting the books from – they may be bootlegged. This means the author and publisher don’t get the money they should from the sale.
Hope this gives you ideas for your own book marketing journey.
Whether you need ghostwriting or rewriting, let me take a look at your children’s story. Just send me an email at: kcioffiventrice@gmail.com. Please put “Children’s Writing” in the Subject box. Or, give me a call at 347—834—6700
Let’s get your idea off the launch pad or your outline into a publishable story today!
Or, if you’d rather give it a shot and do-it-yourself, check out my book, HOW TO WRITE A CHILDREN’S FICTION BOOK.
http://karencioffiwritingforchildren.com/diy/