'So now you’ve published your book how do you keep on promoting it?'
This is the perplexing question that I was asking myself not so long ago. Before publishing my book, I did all the hard work to get it as near perfect as possible, then worked with my publisher to design what I hoped was an interesting and eye-catching cover. Pre-sale orders looked promising. The book launched and there was an initial surge of purchases. So what to do now? How could I keep the momentum going?
I began to realise that no matter whether you take the traditional, hybrid or self-publishing route, there is still more work to do. Travel Mementos, my first book, was published earlier this year, so after that I plunged into an immersive learning experience to teach myself about book promotion and marketing. At times, it felt like deep sea diving! But I’ve come up for air now and would like to share some practical advice from some of the lessons I’ve learned.
An obvious starting point in promoting your book is to boost the number of ratings and reviews posted by readers of your book. When anyone contacted me to tell me that they had enjoyed reading Travel Mementos I replied and included a request to rate and/or review it on sites such as Goodreads, Amazon or similar. To make it simple, I emailed readers direct links to the book on these sites. Readers’ book reviews often include insights into its interest value, as well as highlights and strong points and this can help sway an undecided customer browsing the reviews section. They also provide helpful feedback for the author too and quotable endorsements for any social media posts.
Speaking of social media, another step I took was to shake the digital dust off an old Linkedin account and revive it. In my case I had only kept one social media account after retiring and had not been active on it for a while. Personally, I prefer Linkedin to Twitter or Facebook as I like its professional feel but there are other factors to help you decide which to one is best to focus on. My advice is to stick with one - you can spread yourself too thinly if you try to manage several of them, and as we all know, keeping up a presence on any social media can eat into time when you could be writing. When you’ve decided which social media account to concentrate on, start following and connecting with other writers, publishers and reading groups, build up your contacts, like and/or comment on associated posts and post regularly yourself to promote both your writer’s profile and your publications.
You may have set your sights on a national or even international market, but don’t forget about the local one because local writers often attract local interest. Great - if you managed to get a mention of your book launch by your local print or broadcast media, but if you didn’t, don’t worry, all is not lost. I researched the names of reporters from any local newspapers and radio stations that had missed out on the launch details, then sought them out and connected with them on Linkedin. A follow-on message informing them that I was a local writer and asking if they would be interested in more information about my new book produced further press coverage, and more publicity for my book!
I visited smaller independent book shops in my area to see if they were interested in stocking my book under their local author section. By taking an interest in how many books they sell and promoting these local outlets in your social media posts, both you and they stand to gain. Gift shops aimed at passing tourist trade will also often stock local books so include a visit to them. As an author you can offer to sign copies on the shelf. It all helps. And don’t forget to notify your high street library about your book. Most have a local authors section and library loans help grow your readership as well as producing a little income.
If you have the time to spare from your writing, offer talks to reading circles and other local interest groups about the writing process, your book, whatever you feel comfortable with. If you’re attending any literary festivals in person, take signed copies of your book along.
By joining online writing communities you can also extend your reach. These provide opportunities to boost your profile by writing guest blog posts, engaging in forum discussions, which all helps to get you and your book noticed, gain more potential readers and increase sales.
Finally, keep on writing! Readers do not necessarily read books in the order that the author publishes them. Some will only discover your past publications after reading your most recent so it’s important to keep the production flowing. Readers of Travel Mementos have already been asking if there are any more stories in the pipeline so I’ve begun a second volume and have already written a quarter of the stories planned for it. I’m on the case!
Julie Watson is the author of Travel Mementos: Personal Stories about Faraway Places, published by Beachy Books. She lives on the Isle of Wight and is now writing her second book of travel stories.
You can purchase Travel Mementos via Beachy Books or Amazon and view Julie's author bio.
Comments