001 - Where Do I Start with Marketing My Book?

In the episode, host Suzanne Tregenza Moore shares the reasons authorpreneurs often get stuck on the idea of marketing their books, some key strategies for doing so, and several items they need to have ready in order to do market successfully.

In this episode Suzanne discusses:

·      Why YOU are the only one in charge of marketing your book

·      What a great marketing plan consists of

·      5 things you need in place to properly market your book, and

·      What you should focus on when marketing your book (despite what others might say!)

You are the only one in charge of marketing your book!

The old publishing model put the marketing onus on the publishing companies, with writers supporting those efforts. TODAY, even with traditional publishers, authors won’t get a deal if they don’t already have a marketing machine in place and ready to be revved up at the right time.

Sadly, this means one thing for you and your book, regardless of the publishing model you go with.

YOU Are the only one in charge of marketing it!

This is a fact that may be exciting to some but will be daunting to others. Regardless of which you are, the sooner you accept that YOU and YOU ALONE are responsible for marketing your book, the better!

A great marketing plan starts with specific goals and plans that support the goals

If you have been marketing, but haven’t set goals or created a focus, it is likely that you are a bit all over the place. I’ve been there, and done that, so I know it doesn’t feel good and it doesn’t lead to success.

o    Outcomes – measurable results that come from marketing activities

o   Book sales – An obvious direct correlation!

o   Downstream revenue – perhaps you are offering a course that goes more in depth or offers access to you and covers similar material to your book. This is a great way to make money from the effort and investment of writing your book - because most authors don’t make money from book sales alone.

o   Building an email marketing list that leads to book sales and downstream revenue – An extremely beneficial way to create an audience of people who may not be ready to buy from you now but may in the future.

o   Activities – these are the actions you take that lead to the measurable outcomes. Each of these requires a plan and for you to action the plan.

o   Speaking or writing plan – whether you are speaking on other people’s stages, or writing on other people’s blogs regularly introducing yourself to new audiences is an important part of marketing

o   Social media is a great way to enforce that introduction to new audiences. Getting a like or a follow is a low bar of entry. But then you need a plan of what to do with it. Not to simply be silent.

o   Content marketing plan – once you have followers, providing engaging and educational content is the way to keep them following and to build credibility. These are the actions that get people really thinking about working with you.

To have success with all these plans though, you’ll need to have some basics in place. We’ll move on to

5 things you need in place to properly market your book

A Bio – This may seem obvious, but I can’t tell you how many people don’t have a proper speaking bio…or think they have one, but it is so long and so boring it begins any speaking opportunity to ends any guest blog with a big ho-hum! I could do an entire show on bios – and likely will at some point, but for now, if your bio is more than 75 words and doesn’t identify your ideal client in it, you need to do some work on it!

DOWNLOAD YOUR GUIDE TO CREATING A FABULOUS SPEAKER BIO HERE

A Free Gift – for your list-building…because sign up for my newsletter works about one half of a percent of the time! This is the thing you offer people at the end of your bio or during a talk, or while you are being interviewed that they can get some immediate value out of in exchange for giving you something precious to them – their email address!

A Media Kit – if you are going to be seeing interviews or speaking opportunities, you are going to want a professional media kit. These are simple to put together but pack a huge punch when done right.

Admin Support – once you’ve created all the plans we discussed in order to achieve all the results you’d set out to achieve in your goals, you’re going to realize that you can’t do everything yourself…that is, if you haven’t already realized that! Remember that help can come in all different ways, from all different places. You don’t need to hire someone full-time!

Tech Support – Unless you are technically gifted, you will likely need help in this area. Setting up all the tech systems you need to market in today’s world can be daunting. Find someone to help rather than believing the sales videos that say everything is easy.

Focus on your strengths

Somewhere along the way marketers have been told that to market their solutions they need to tell people their system is the only way to achieve desired results.

There is no ONE system that will work for everyone because we are all different. We come to marketing with different strengths and weaknesses. For the longest time in life, I was made to feel that I had to improve my weaknesses, but a shift has occurred to me. Now I lead into my strengths, and I teach others to do the same.

You know what…it’s a really good thing!

Many writers are much happier hiding behind their computer screens tap tap tapping away on their keyboards. For those, guest blogging and producing written content is probably the way to market.

Others are all about getting in front of a crown and soak up the kind of attention it garnishes…as a LEO…I am squarely in this camp…so they should. And likely, video blogging, interviewing, and speaking on stages will suit them better.

Ideally, we would all love to do all of this, but the world is not ideal. So, play to your strengths in your marketing, and accept your weaknesses and vulnerabilities. When you do this, those who are meant to follow you will be delighted to do so.