Digital Marketing Venues

One of the things that a lot of people tend to forget is that books do not market themselves. A lot of people have this idea that when you publish a book that is all you need to do; it becomes part of the rotation of advertisements on the site that you published it on and that's it. You don't need to lift a finger and you can move on to the next project.

These people will not have books that sell.

The reality is that you need to market your book and do so aggressively. You need to make sure that everyone has heard about your book and that everyone gets tired of your book. This does not mean that you should hit the point of spamming, however; not only will it get the posts deleted in some situations, but it also may convert it to white noise. However, you do need to do some sort of aggressive marketing; post regularly, keep up the buzz, and you should do fine.

Put another way, your marketing plan should be to develop some sort of buzz about the project, have some sort of official launch date, and then maintain the buzz for a month or two afterward. You should not be afraid to have multiple campaigns going at the same time. With that in mind, some of the more basic marketing venues are below.

Mailing List

You should have some sort of mailing list. You can use services such as MailChimp to set them up and edit them as often as you'd like. A mailing list allows you to keep in touch with your readers and let them know what's going on with your books. You can also let them know personal news or anything else you want them to know. While it is advised to keep away from news that doesn't pertain to the books in question as well as avoid political views, sometimes that is part of what people are looking for, so only do so if it feels right.

Street Team

These are people that you have gotten together to help advertise your books. They place posters in conspicuous places, post on social media, and generally do what they can to spread the news about your books. These are great to have, especially at a convention where they can really cut loose. How you pay them is of course up to you, but some are willing to do it for just a book or other merchandise, while others should be paid as actual employees. Used well, a street team can spread the news far and wide in very short order, making it a very effective way to market your books.

Crowdfunding

Put simply, crowdfunding is asking people to invest in your book to make sure that you can print the book. While this can be an effective way of getting the book printed, it can also be a great way to get out the news about your book. Think about it: You need to develop several marketing tools, such as video, for the project that becomes publically available and it's put in a very public spot. People can peruse the crowdfunder, and if they like the book, how it's presented, and even the tier rewards, the book can do pretty well. All of this means that crowdfunding is not only a great way to fund a book, but it's also a way to market it.

Amazon

While Amazon does have one major limitation (its various environments are kept apart), it is nonetheless something that you should incorporate into a marketing campaign. For our purposes, the two biggest parts are the Kindle Desktop Publishing and Author's Page parts: KDP gives you several different advantages when it comes to selling your book, including several marketing tools as well as Amazon Advertising. The Author's Page gives you a forum on the Amazon site where you can easily link all of your books, some of your blogs and podcasts, and your bio in one place. Combined, they give you a major advantage.

Goodreads

This was a site that was set up for readers, i.e., your people. While Goodreads may not be as thorough as other sites, it does give readers a chance to post and peruse reviews and share the news with other readers. Because it encourages readers to network and share reviews as well as challenge others to read books from their lists, this makes it great for when you have a finished book and want to get a little buzz going on that book. Keep in mind that you need to establish your own network and so need to make a lot of friends, but otherwise it can work well for you.

Instagram

This is one that you should debate if your book has a lot of visuals, such as a child's book, a comic book, or a picture book. For those with a definite visual flair, Instagram can work, even if your book is nothing but text; this is where you can dump all of your posters, memes, and other marketing materials and it works. While it may not work as a primary marketing venue, as a secondary source it can do fairly well.

Facebook

If you can't find a way to use Facebook in your marketing, you need to just hire someone to market your books. Not only can you create a large network with little work, but you can also spread the word via your page, various groups, and even by tagging others. However, they are three things to keep in mind: Don't ignore the promotion rules a lot of groups have, don't post so often you become white noise, and don't post stuff that's offensive or misleading. Remember that, and you should be able to use Facebook as a great marketing tool.

TikTok

TikTok is sort of weird: It's like Youtube but shorter and not geared towards Big Corporations as much. In essence, it removes a lot of the filters that Youtube places on content creators; for a small businessman, this is a great thing as it means that you can create a lot of small-scale videos that you only need your phone and TikTok's tools to produce. All this means is that you can interact with your audience a little more effectively, which in turn is exactly what your audience is looking for. Because of this, it can be an effective tool, and all of the usual issues, such as not feeling comfortable in front of a camera, actually work to your advantage here.

LinkedIn

For those looking to connect with those in their industry and get help from others, LinkedIn is the answer. Not only that, but you can find a lot of people that may be interested in either helping you spread the word or buying your book in the first place. However, you need to remember that these are professionals in their field and need to be respected as such, but a little respect will go a long way towards getting you, new readers. Of course, it's also a great place to get some advice, and everyone needs that.

Blogs

Blogs should be part of your marketing campaign both as reviews and as potential guest columns. Blogs are still being read, especially those written by those considered insiders and influencers; those people are giving what appears to be free advice and due to their reputations others want that advice. Also, if you can arrange to write guest blogs for influential blogs and make sure that you drop your links, you can use those guest blogs to fuel your marketing campaigns. As such, you may want to track down blogs that apply to your books (such as comic blogs for comickers) and see what it takes to get some ink from them.

Podcasts

Fans want to get to know the people behind the books they read, and this is definitely the best way to do that. Because podcasts deal with interviews and allow you to show your actual personality, they can be all sorts of fun to be on. Just concentrate on answering the questions and you should be okay; while it is understandable to be nervous when you're being taped, concentrating on the questions will get you over that. If you're serious about getting your book out there, this is where you begin; just make sure that the podcast works for your book and you should be fine.

Personal Site

Having a personal site should be obvious: It allows you to set up a nexus for everything you are doing online and provides an easy way for your readers to find you. You can set up links to wherever your book is being published, a way to sign up for your newsletter, and any appearances, such as on blogs, podcasts, and even convention appearances. It also gives you a chance to control the message and doesn't rely on the permission of others. As such a personal site can and should be the basis of any marketing campaign.

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You need to remember that you need to market your own books. Unless you're paying someone to do it, you need to have some sort of hand in marketing your own books; this applies even if you decide to go the traditional publishing route. You should have decided what your marketing plan was going to be when you worked up your business plan; now you get to implement it. Figure out what plan will work best for you, and go for it!