Marketing a Book Online

You were probably searching “marketing a book online” because you are any of the following:

– An aspiring author

– A self-published author

– Someone who is interested in independent publishing

– A professional who wishes to write a book

– A business owner who wishes to publish and market a book to establish yourself in a thought leadership position in a market or industry

Whatever your reasons may be, we can help you.

The Content Experts PH offers a complete suite of services related to writing eBooks, promoting social media content writing, and digital and print book design and layout services.

We also offer small business digital marketing packages that you can use to build your authorial presence online while promoting one or more books. Email us today for a quote!

How Do You Market a Book?

Authors rarely need to worry about marketing if they solely write because they enjoy the process (and that’s it).

However, if you are self-publishing and want your books to be read by as many people as possible, you will need to master a new skill: how to promote your novels. Because good book marketing requires some early thought and work, it would be beneficial to be clear about your goals. Another issue would be the debate between print books vs. ebooks. Should you publish digitally? Physically? Or both?

Marketing for authors entails attracting and engaging your target audience by sharing more information about yourself and your book. It’s just a matter of communication. However, this ‘small act’ necessitates plenty of commitment, effort, and time on your end.

This post will go through several book marketing techniques that will help you increase book sales by increasing your book’s visibility among your target audience.

Create a Blog or Website

How do you promote a book before the publication date?

Before you complete writing your book, it would be super helpful for potential readers if you already have an author’s website. We recommend starting a blog on a WordPress site. WordPress is the most extensive content management system in town.

You need three essential things to make a WordPress website work: WordPress development, WordPress maintenance, and WordPress web design.

Once your WordPress site is up, update it frequently with pages and blogs/articles that will help surface your website on Google results. Keep your target demographic in mind. Make the content count and make sure the content is SEO-optimized, too.

If your book is about managing emotional well-being, include the most recent scientific breakthroughs in the field interspersed with quotes from your book. If you wrote fiction, you might write a review of some of the genre’s most popular books or notable characters.

Your website must become a generous tributary of information and knowledge.

Effective book marketing means you’re willing to share knowledge with your audience even before buying the book. If you don’t have time for market research, keyword research, and the actual writing of the content (not all writers have all the time in the world), consider outsourcing your content writing to the Philippines.

As your book’s release date approaches, you can use contests and book giveaways to generate interest in your book.

Post-high-quality blogs and other content entice your target audience to sign up for updates. Then, if you have a year before your book’s release date, you’ll have plenty of time to establish an extensive email list and boost your site’s position in organic search rankings.

Expand Your Online Visibility

There are a variety of techniques to improve your online visibility. For example, you may publish your articles on high-traffic websites, participate in forums that debate issues relating to your book, or ask popular websites or blogs in your target demographic to include you in an interview or guest post. In addition, add a link to your website and any books you’ve published or are working on in your byline.

Tap Social Media Fiercely

Create accounts or profiles in the proper social channels. Don’t create an account on every social platform known to man. You will spread yourself thin. The top channels for most genres are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

If you are a professional who wants more visibility on LinkedIn, publishing a book and then publicizing it on LinkedIn through blogging on that platform is a wise decision. Despite the platform’s growing reputation as being spam-ridden, the good graces of inbound marketing always shine through.

Examine which posts and promotions receive the most likes, shares, and retweets, and use the information to grow your social media following and better engage with them.

Remember that it will take time, and fluctuations in engagement, likes, shares, and even comments are exceedingly common. Before you can reach any level of growth and virality on any platform, you will first have to put in the necessary work.

Study The Best-Selling Books in Your Genre To See What Makes Them So Successful

Examining their titles, cover designs, and typography will help you determine what works best in your category. Make a list of the ones you like best or don’t like, and consider why you came to that conclusion.

There are numerous advantages of studying top literature in your market or genre. First, you’ll notice terms and phrases that resonate with and characterize your target audience as you read their reviews.

You will likely boost your book’s popularity by focusing on your target audience’s queries, hashtags, popular topics, etc. Be sure to use this information to enhance your book’s metadata. Keep an eye out for balanced and informative reviews as you go through this process; you can add the reviewers to your shortlist and approach them for a review once your book is finished.

Ask People to Review Your Book

Approaching reviewers of any of your past books with a free copy and a polite request is the quickest way to get genuine book reviews. However, if you’re a first-time author, search up Amazon’s top reviewers and make a shortlist of those who have written about books in your genre, market, or field.

While Amazon does not allow reviews for pre-order books, if you have a paperback version of your book and have connected it to your unreleased eBook, any reviews left for the paperback will be carried over to the eBook. In this manner, your book will have social proof from the moment released.

You can also use a featured giveaway to promote your pre-release book to Goodreads’ network of over 65 million members. Pre-release book reviews are permitted on Goodreads. It’s worth noting that, even though Amazon owns Goodreads, reviews left on one site cannot be transferred to the other.

It’s good to contact four times the number of reviewers as the number of reviews you want. Then, at least once, preferably a week or two after your initial email, follow up with your chosen book reviewers. You should also seek editorial evaluations from notable book blogs, well-known authors in your category, and newspapers.

(Does your book need a well-balanced review? Our team captain Marius is a literary critic by training! Click here if you need him to review your book!)

Write the Best Book Blurb of Your Life

A book blurb is a 100–150-word advertising copy for a book. Blurbs are printed on the back cover of print publications and sales pages on the internet.

Begin your blurb with an intelligent lede that piques the reader’s interest and makes them want to read more.

Then, depending on your book’s genre, give a hint about the plot and characters (for fiction) or the primary topic (for nonfiction), using compelling words like fantastic, incredible, mysterious, powerful, life-altering, and so on.

The conclusion should enthrall your reader. You may provide a story’s crossroads or turning point in fiction, and you could say who should read the book and why in nonfiction. Include any editorial reviews in the blurb if your book has received any.

(Do you need a professional to write your book’s blurb? We offer copywriting services for authors, too! Click here to ask about book blurbs!)

Hire A Professional Cover Designer

Would anyone give a book whose cover is excessively cluttered, has jarring colors and typeface, or appears unpolished and amateurish a second look? A professional book cover designer can help you create a well-designed cover that will increase the salability of your book. Of course, paying attention to the current book design trends also helps.

The Content Experts PH brings 15+ years of professional experience to online book marketing for authors. So whether you’ve been published previously or are planning to self-publish this year, we can help you. Simply email us to inquire.

Marketing a Book For the First Time

Marketing a book is the second most crucial step after writing and revising a book. If you are self-publishing or independent publishing your book, marketing a book is the component that ensures more sales and more stability for the author.

Because, let’s face it – if you spent all that time writing the book and revising it to its best form, why would you hold back now when you need to bring it closer to your audience? Uploading the book on Amazon is just the first step.

You still need to do some active marketing so you are not at the mercy of the Amazon Kindle algorithm.

While plenty of authors find their fortune on Kindle, beginning authors need to push a bit more to get their titles on people’s minds through book marketing. Those who haven’t the time to write their books outsource the writing (which happens all the time!)

People self-publish books for many different reasons. Some want to grace the world with their literary talent. Others need to do it because they want their business or professional name to stand out in competitive markets.

Regardless of the type of book they’ve written, nearly all self-publishing authors eventually conclude that a lack of strategy in marketing a book is the final nail in the coffin.

We are sure that in the beginning, you became greatly disappointed when you learned that even in the realm of the written word, you still must do marketing.

Marketing isn’t for everyone, we agree. That’s why The Content Experts PH also offers small business digital marketing packages – the process can be annoying and exhausting!

The good news is that many other indie authors have faced this problem before you. By following in their footsteps, you can develop a book marketing strategy to have your book flying off the shelves (physically or digitally).

Which is Better: Digital Books or Physical Books?

Digital books have been around for decades but are still relatively young if placed beside the illustrious line of physically printed books.

Physical books have been around for centuries, and our idea of what a book looks like is hinged on physical books. Nonetheless, digital books have certainly captured our collective imagination.

You can read about the comparison between eBooks and print books here.

People have also been reading text (as books) on their laptops, Macs, PCs, and mobile devices for decades.

Culturally, reading a book on a mobile device is already commonplace. eBooks are incredibly portable, and you can carry hundreds of them on a single e-ink device or digital reader. Platforms like Play Books for Android devices also allow users to upload their files and read on the go through Google’s free cloud service. And let’s not forget the endless deluge of e-reading apps on the market.

These apps are on every ecosystem, and you can even tweak an Amazon Fire device to carry a free e-reading device. So if you decide to sell your work as an eBook, you can do so from multiple channels, not just Amazon.

You can sell your books through your website using simple plugins like WooCommerce, link your Stripe or PayPal, and get going.

Of course, you will still need to know how marketing a book works, or else no one will know that your book is out there or what it is about.

Below are some vital statistics about the eBook market in the United States:

1. The book publishing sector in the United States generated over $26 billion in revenue in 2020.
2. In 2021, an eBook accounted for one out of every six books sold (17%)
3. People in the United States have mixed opinions regarding eBooks: 28% say they prefer all books equally, regardless of format, while more than a third only read print books. This remains a strong argument for pursuing digital and print versions of your books.
4. In 2020, about 23% of the US population purchased an eBook, totaling 191 million eBooks sold.
5. Amazon controls almost 70% of the eBook market.
6. Amazon paid out $39.8 million in royalties in October 2021, mainly to self-published authors.
7. According to national sector projections, the eBooks market in the United States will earn $7.78 billion in revenue by 2025.

The global book publishing sector shows promise, too:

1. In 2022, the global book publishing sector is expected to generate $112.5 billion in revenue.
2. In 2022, the global book publishing sector is predicted to grow at 2.9%.
3. Between 2017 and 2022, the global book publishing industry’s market size remained stable.
4. The global book publishing sector’s market size shrank faster than the economy.
5. In comparison to global manufacturing, the market size of the global book publishing sector remained stable.
6. The global book publishing sector ranks 32nd in market size and is the 65th largest sector globally.

But what about print books?

Statistics show that a slightly larger number of people still prefer buying physical books. This is because the second-tier readers are hybrid, meaning they appreciate both eBooks and physical books.

The demand for physical books has waned but has not disappeared, and millions are still buying print books. While physical books no longer fully dominate the book market, it still has a strong following. There’s nothing wrong with releasing a book in print and digital formats. If you need help with this, you can check out our article on digital and print book design and layout.

Whatever the case, The Content Experts PH is ready to help you with many of the crucial tasks related to marketing a book online.

Marketing a book online requires the full-time help of experienced content marketers specializing in inbound marketing and organic traffic. And we happen to be these professionals – and we are certainly ready to help you. So email us today for a quote!