Do it Yourself Book Marketing

Over twenty years ago when I was fresh out of college, the only job I could find was doing business-to-business telemarking. It was a tough job at first. Awkwardly trying to convince people to do a survey, getting hung up on constantly. It was the worst. Today I cherish those memories because it taught me something I still use today: marketing is tough. I mean really tough. So when I try to market something for my writing career, I have to remind myself that everything I try can’t be viewed as a success or a failure unless I do it consistently and for a long period of time. The problem, of course, is that no one has gobs of money to throw at their marketing. So today we’re going to discuss really cheap ways for you to market your writing.

A Note on “Cheap.”

Everything I am going to write about will either require no investment in money, or will require a very small one. What it will require is time. Your writing time, to be exact. For some people, this can be a problem.

Perhaps you are retired with a lot of time on your hands. You could reasonably do many of my suggestions and end up pretty successful. Perhaps you’re in your early twenties and find yourself with an hour or two of TV time every day you could easily do away with. You could try what I’m going to suggest and not be fazed.

But what if you’re working a full time job? What if you’ve got a full life of work, volunteering, and a rewarding social life? What if you have kids? (GASP!) Unfortunately, your time is more valuable than your money right now. In that case, maybe what I’m going to suggest won’t be successful for you. All I can say is use what feels right for you and discard the rest.

Free marketing

Social Media:  You are going to need a social media presence if you want to sell any books. Fortunately, participating in social media is free. For writers, Twitter and Instagram seem to be the most popular sites. Facebook is also big. Feel free to check out some other sites too. (Linkedin, Youtube, Pinterest, etc.) Some will require a lot more of an investment than others, but your readers are out there, so you might as well participate. You will want to be on these sites at least once a day. When you’re plugging your book you’ll want to be on there for at least an hour or two actively discussing your novel. Don’t be rude, don’t be crude, and avoid things too political.

Paneling: In Colorado we have many conventions every year where writers can go and pontificate on a variety of subjects. These conventions vary in size and occur throughout the year. Most of them are desperate for content and love having authors talk about various subjects. If you speak on a panel, most cons will give you a free pass for the day. It is here you will meet new potential fans and organically grow your audience. Many of these cons will also encourage you to sell your novels at their event for a minimal fee.

Email List: Eventually, you’ll want your own email list of rabid fans who want to hear from you. Having your own email list is a great way to get to your most loyal fans to be in the know about upcoming appearances and new book releases.

If you’re an indy writer, then you can put a blurb and a link in the back of your book before you publish it to encourage your fans to sign up. Remember to be in contact with your list regularly, whether that’s once a quarter or once a week. Whatever you do, don’t spam and don’t sell your list. Both are unethical. If you don’t know what to write about, pick up a copy of Newsletter Ninja by Tammi Labrecque. Also check out mailerlite.com and mailchimp.com for a secure place to store those email addresses you collect and write those newsletters.

Things that cost a little bit of money.

Reader Magnet: This suggestion is for those who are more on the indy side of the market. You can absolutely write a short story, a novelette, a novella, or a full blown novel, self-publish an ebook version with a cover on it and make it a free book that others can get for free—provided that they sign up for your email list. This gives you exposure to people who might be interested in reading your work, but don’t want to purchase things right now. (There are a lot of bad books on Amazon, I hate to admit.) If they like it, they will usually buy your other works. I know one writer who had two thousand people download his free reader magnet. Now about 600 were really cheap and immediately got off his mailing list, but the other 1400 stayed. Those are 1400 people he can market his new book to!

Prolificworks.com and Bookfunnel.com: Both sites have thousands of loyal readers looking for that new author to fall in love with. While Bookfunnel is considered the gold standard for free book giveaways, Prolific Works can be interesting, too. And, Prolific works also has a free plan while Bookfunnel begins at $20/year. Both sites will be very helpful giving away those reader magnets I wrote about earlier.

Personal Website: I know. I know. For many writers this seems like a big waste of time. We are in the post-blogging age and so starting, maintaining, and paying for a website seems like a big waste of time. But hear me out.

Having your own personal website can give you control over your brand and presence on the internet in a way other things won’t. You can write thoughtful blog posts that longer than a reasonable tweet or FB post. You can put video up that’s quite longer than anything they’ll let you do on most social media sites. And, when you’re all grown up and kicking butt with your marketing plan, you can even set up your own ebook store and collect the revenue personally. This means no middle man.

You can also get together with your fellow authors and trade blog spots with other blogs. You can write reviews of your friend’s books while they review yours. And, you can collect emails to add to your email list.

I hope, at the very least, that my blog has made you think about the different ways you can market your book. Whatever you decide to do, please know that it will take time to get it right. Be patient with the process and with yourself. Remember, the world needs your story.