How to market your self-published book
Photo by Shosh Kruger
I’m a member of a lot of writing groups and some of the most common questions I see is after an author has self-published their book: Now what? How do I get it out there? How do I market this thing?
Marketing a book is a comprehensive process and this blog post isn’t intended to cover it all. But here are a few tips for those of you looking to find a way to get your work into readers’ hands.
Good luck and congratulations on your book!
Preparation
First things first, there are a few things you need to prepare.
Create a media release for your book. It should include the following information: The title, a picture of the cover, a blurb, a bit about you as the author, the ISBN, the price and the publishing date. Extra information you might include is the format (ebook, paperback, hardback) and quotes from advance reviews.
Get your website and social media up to date. You need a user-friendly website with links to where your book can be purchased and at least one social media channel where you actively engage with other readers and writers. Keywords there are ‘actively engage’. You need to be talking with other people about what they are reading and writing, not just your own book.
Pre-launch
It’s time to find some advance readers and get some early reviews in to build hype. There are a couple of different types of advance readers:
1. Other writers or readers you have a personal relationship with
These sorts of advance readers are ideal for providing cover quotes for your book. They are writers or readers with an interest in your genre who have a strong following, are usually published themselves or working with a reputable reviewing publication. They may have offered to review your book prior to its publication or they may be close professional friends.
*Note: I don’t recommend reaching out to authors who you don’t have a personal relationship with to ask them to read your book. Authors are already swamped with reading requests and it’s unpaid work for them. They are unlikely to have the time, so stick to people you know personally who are keen to see you succeed.
2. Book reviewers with a strong following and engagement, particularly on social media
We’re talking about Bookstagrammers, BookTubers, BookTokers and Book Bloggers. Look for people on these platforms (Instagram, YouTube, TikTok) who read in your genre. You’re not looking for the people with the prettiest pictures of the books they read. You’re looking for the people who actually give proper reviews, who seem to have active engagement from their followers and who are fans of the genre and themes you have written about. You’ll also want to look for people who seem to be actively engaging with independent authors. If the books they post about are all traditionally published, it’s unlikely they’ll review your self-published book. There is a strong indie-reading community online who are huge supporters of self-published authors. These are the people you want to approach.
When you do find them, send them a private message asking if they’d be interested in reviewing your book. Send them your media release, confirm the publication date and offer them a free review copy. If they accept, ask whether they think they’ll be able to provide a review in time for your publication date. If the answer is yes, ask them to post within three days of publication and to tag you in the review. This last part is important because you’ll want to be able to share reviews and praise for your book especially early on in the launch.
If they won’t have it ready that early, that’s fine. It’s just important for you to know whether or not you’ve got enough hype around the launch date.
Hold a book launch
It’s go time!
Step one: find a venue
If you’ve got a good relationship with a local independent bookseller, that is the best place to have your launch. It’s best to talk about it with them in person. Call ahead to ask when the manager will be in and whether they’d be free to talk briefly about the possibility of hosting a launch for you. When they’ve set a time when you can come in, be punctual and provide them with a printed copy of your media release and a free copy of your book so that they can check the quality of both the production and the writing.
Most bookstores will only stock self-published titles on consignment. This means they won’t pay you for the books until they sell, but if you hold your launch in a bookstore they are more likely to stock your book after the launch as well. The typical sale rate for booksellers is 40% of the cover price so make sure you take that into account when setting the price of your book.
If the bookseller is on board. Great! In-person book launches generally have some food and drink available so be sure to ask the bookseller whether they have any rules about catering before you start organising.
If you’re struggling to find a local bookseller to be the host, you may want to try your local library. Alternatively, an online launch is a cheap and easy way to go. You can use platforms like Zoom or Facebook Live to host your event and have readers join you no matter where they are. Keep in mind that if you’re doing an online launch, you may want to post out any pre-orders early so that your readers already have a copy when the launch occurs.
Step two: find an MC
Ask a fellow writer friend who knows you and your book to be your MC. If they haven’t already got a copy, offer them one well in advance so they can read it before the launch and ask them if they’ll conduct an interview with you.
Your MC will be in charge of welcomes when the event starts, hyping up the book and introducing you. I recommend getting them to launch straight into the interview after a brief introduction and then make sure they give you a chance to do any thank you’s at the end. They’ll then round out the formal part of the proceedings and invite people to buy the book. If you’re online they will invite people to head the website and if it’s in person they will direct everyone to the booksellers and let them know that you’ll be signing books.
Step three: invite and advertise
It’s time to start inviting your family, friends and fellow writers who have watched your writing journey. Once you’ve invited all the people you definitely want there, you can also open up invites to the wider reading and writing community. Create a Facebook event and consider advertising your event with your local writing representative body. For example, here in Western Australia, we have Writing WA who have a regular newsletter and webpage filled with upcoming events.
Step Four: have fun at the launch!
Keep the ball rolling
Your book is now out in the world and has some early reviews to build hype. It’s time to keep the ball rolling. A few things you can consider doing include:
1. Run a competition on social media
I’m always a big fan of the tag a friend style ones where the offer is two copies: one for you and one for a friend so you can read and discuss the book together. This means your existing followers will be tagging friends they think will enjoy your book and hopefully generate some sales for you even from those who don’t win.
2. Hold a book blog tour
The likelihood is that some of those book bloggers and social influences you reached out to for advance reviews won’t be able to get them up in time for the publication date. And that’s totally fine. They’re still really valuable people to have looking at your book. Instead of asking them to post in time for publication, you could ask them to post on specific days perhaps a couple of weeks after the launch. Tell them you’ll be hosting a book blog tour and ask them to share the details of the tour when they post their review to social media. You’ll be driving your followers to their website and they’ll be driving followers to your website, as well as networking with others working in the same space.
This method also allows you to spread out the good news over a week or so rather than everything happening all at once on launch day. It keeps your book in readers’ news feeds for longer and creates a sense of ongoing excitement. When people are mentioning your book every day, readers are going to see it and be reminded of it more often. They may not buy it the first day, or the second, but by the fourth or fifth day of seeing in their feed, it starts feeling like everyone is talking about it and suddenly they want to read it.
3. Do a guest post for a book blog
Some book blogs do interviews with authors or offer them an opportunity to write their own guest post about writing, reading or something tangentially related. If you find a blog like this that looks like it might be a good fit for your own genre and style, reach out and ask if they’d be willing to have you as a guest writer. You may also want to offer to do a giveaway competition as part of the appearance.
A warning on social media marketing
I’ve seen it a million times. An account where they post nothing but links to buy their book. It doesn’t work and you’ll either struggle to gain followers or quickly lose the one’s you have. It’s one thing, in the first week or two of your book launching, to be posting reviews and links and encouraging people to buy it. But ideally, you will have already built a solid following through social engagement and your followers will be excited for you and excited to see your success.
However, if don’t start your account until your book comes out and you don’t engage in any conversation other than to post links to buy your book, not only will you struggle to build a following but you’ll also turn off potential readers who feel like you’re only there to advertise.
Authenticity is key in social media so while you should absolutely use it to promote your book, don’t forget to socialise and post other things as well.
