It’s finally here! Secrets to Effective Author Marketing was released yesterday. At 372 pages it is filled with a combination of both tried-and-true consistent PR and marketing techniques, as well as the implementation of new opportunities that have become available over the last few years. With some good software tools any indie can now take advantage of scheduling, creating ads, and automating emails and other communications to gain economies of scale.
No automation can do the creative part of marketing–developing images, ads, and interesting content. Nor can it take the place of personalized interactions with your fans. However, it can help in the distribution and the wide sharing of content without having to do everything 15 times. It can also help to maximize your efforts without taking an in ordinate amount of time out of your already very busy life as an author.
This book focuses on marketing consistently, day by day, to build a strong following and spending no more than $100 per book campaign. I chose that focus because that is where the vast majority of indie authors are, even authors with five books or more. For those who haven’t been successful in getting discovered–where sales are perhaps only 3-5 books per month–it’s difficult to think of spending big money on marketing. So, I focused on all the things you can do, that will actually work over time, but not cost you your child’s college fund or your own retirement fund.
Too often I see authors wanting the quick fix–the easy button to becoming a consistent bestseller. The problem is there is NO easy button. Yes, you can throw a lot of money at it if you have more money than you need. And yes, you can buy your way onto the bestseller list if you have enough money–we are talking tens of thousands of dollars here. However, without the foundational PR and consistent marketing–the kind you need to work day in and day out–the impact of paid advertising is limited to how long you can continue to pay at that high rate. Most of us can’t afford that.
If you can do the hard work presented in this book for three to six months, you will see some change in your discoverability. You will have a good understanding of who your audience is and why they buy your books, so that you can find more of them. After consistently marketing for six months or more, you will have built a strong foundation to take you to the next level. That foundation includes: a consistent social media presence that is targeting your reader niche; a good size email list of active readers who are primed to buy the next book and the next; and a good team of superfans working with you both in pre-launch and post-launch of every title you release.
That stable foundation will then serve as the launching pad for taking the next step and being able and confident in investing money every month in paid advertising. That is where the next book begins. Secrets to Advanced Book Marketing: Paid Advertising, will be out in March 2018. If you find you are moving really fast and can’t wait until March–or you win the lottery and you have enough money to pay someone to do this for you–don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get connected with the right things to move forward.
I have plenty of recommendations for amazing courses to take from great teachers who know this stuff inside and out. I can recommend a number of good books that provide a strong basis for a single platform advertising campaign with step-by-step instructions. For those who decide, after the first book, that they’d rather pay someone to do it all (cost for that ranges from $500 to $2,500/month not counting the ad spend), I have good trustworthy names for people who can do that well.
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