Debut Book Marketing Round-Up: Oct-Dec (Part 2)
Note: this is about marketing I did specifically in the pre-order phase of my book, months 4 and 3 before release date.
There are a few things I probably should have mentioned in part one. I have a Bachelor of Science in Marketing. After Uni, I worked as an advertising copywriter for almost a decade, where I was responsible for creating ad campaigns and writing supporting sales materials, all within brand guidelines. I changed careers in my early 30s and went into professional photography, starting in weddings and eventually opening a portrait studio that went on to become one of London’s top photography studios.
I enjoy marketing. It’s creative, when done right. And it’s unpredictable. You never know what’s going to work and what’s going to fail. In a recession, marketing budgets are always the first thing to be cut, which invariably turns out to be a mistake because, without marketing, there is no pipeline for your product.
Both traditional and independent authors need to be adept at marketing. The former because publishing houses’ budgets are so stretched that they often don’t have much money to put behind an author’s book launch, especially debut books. I’ve heard many of my traditionally published friends complain about this. Over the years, the lesson I’ve learned repeatedly is that the best advocate for my own brand is me.
Marketing Activities Nov-Dec
They used to say that potential customers needed 3 touches to notice a marketing message. For example, they might see your mentioned in a blog post, then in a Facebook Ad, then a friend might mention you—making the potential more likely to take action and buy your product. However, word on the street is that the number has increased to SEVEN TOUCHES—which means that your marketing messages need to be in as many places as possible. Here’s what I’ve been up to. Buckle your seat belts and grab a notebook—it’s a long list.
1. Created a PR Tracker. This sounds a lot more fancy than it is. A PR Tracker is simply a spreadsheet where I can keep track of my PR activity. I break mine down into media type: podcasts/radio, magazines, bookstores, and influencers (which is further broken down by type of influencer). There are columns for the name of the contact their contact details, a notes column and a next steps column. The hard part is populating it.
2. Signed up for a blog tour. A blog tour is usually organised by a third party who has a database of bloggers/bookstagrammers who will read your book and review it honestly in exchange for a copy of the book (epub is fine). I’ve scheduled my tour to begin on the release date of the digital version and to continue throughout the week, every day. My blog tour organiser doesn’t want me to mention her, but you can find one of these glorious organisers by searching the ole Internet.
3. Designed Amazon A+ Content and claimed my author profile. Once you’ve uploaded your book to Amazon, you will see mentions of something called A+ Content. Basically, it’s an opportunity to give potential readers a further insight into your book through a graphic. Amazon says that it improves the chances of a reader hitting that all-important BUY button. Here is a link to a comprehensive article about A+ Content. The other thing I did was claim my author profile through Amazon so that I could start amassing a fanbase and give readers some autobiographical information about me.
This is my A+ Content.
4. Joined groups. I’m a big believer in getting involved. I was the PTA chair for my children’s school for 2 years (raised £75k, thank you very much). Joining relevant groups is especially important in your career. I’ve been a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association for 2 years in their fabulous New Writers Scheme. Last January, I answered their call for volunteers and became their blog coordinator because I believe that being involved will bring unexpected opportunities (which it has). There are also often new PR opportunities listed in the members-only Facebook groups.
Another group that has been INVALUABLE is the Alliance of Independent Authors. They have members all over the world, but they are based in the UK. Their private Facebook group alone has been a source of excellent information and guidance for a newbie like me. Every time I have a question about self-publishing, I hop on there and within minutes somebody has answered it. Also, they are inveterate champions for their members – if you have a problem, they will go to bat for you. They also have a list of vetted suppliers and have a good relationship with Ingram Spark. It’s only £89 per year for the author membership and worth every penny. In the time since I’ve joined, guess what? – yup, I’ve gotten involved! I love the organisation so much that I’ve become an ambassador. If you’re interested in joining, here is my affiliate link (which means I get a small commission). Feel free to pop any questions in comments below.
Finally, I joined Facebook groups on publishing; for example, Wide for the Win which is for authors opting for a wide distribution and 20Booksto50K. You never know what nuggets you might pick up and it’s always inspiring to see successful indie authors posting screenshots of their £1million+ income from KDP. Goals!
5. Printed bookmarks. Bookmarks are great promotional items for authors because they are small and easily portable. I keep a stack in my bag. I also have asked people I know with consumer-facing businesses to put them out; for example, my gym, my manicurist, my dentist, and my hairdresser. He probably knows more about this book than most people, having listened to me blather on about it for years. Always ask yourself: who do I have in my network that can help me?
6. Wrote a press release. If you plan to approach anybody about featuring your book, you’ll need a press release that lays out the salient points and catches their interest; at the very least, list your pull quotes, include the book blurb, and a short author bio with that professional photo you had taken in phase one. You might want to tailor the content slightly depending on who you’re approaching; for example, I might write something slightly different if I’m reaching out to photographers versus magazine editors.
7. Checked proof copy and ordered ARC copies of book to send out. Always check a proof copy before ordering your book in bulk. I promise you that all those typos you missed suddenly jump off the page when it’s in print! I ordered 100 copies of my book to post to people with an audience I wanted to tap.
You also need to think about the packaging for the book. I don’t have the budget to create fancy boxes with items for the reviewers to use in flat-lays, so I kept it simple. I sourced environmentally friendly red wrapping paper and cardboard packaging that fits around the book (making it small enough to fit through a post box which affects mailing costs). I printed stickers with one of my pull quotes to stick on the front of the wrapped book. In the package, I included the wrapped book, a press release, and a bookmark. To deliver them, I used Evri. I’ve put a breakdown of costs below.
Hard copies of book (100) = £616.87
Recycled Kraft Cardboard Book Wrap = £56.88
Roll of recyclable wrapping paper = £32.08
Stickers from Printed.com (250) = £23.09
Bookmarks from Printed.com (1000) = £104.86
Postage with Evri Next Day = £3.29 per package
8. Compile a list of influencers to contact about reading ARC copies. For example, bookstagrammers—people who review books on Instagram. All over Christmas, I’ve been screenshotting the pages of people who I would like to approach. I’ll add them to my PR Tracker this week, and contact them to see if they would like an ARC copy of my book in exchange for an honest review. I did a trial with this before Christmas and received a 4.5/5 star review from a Bookstagrammer in Texas, who said, “I finished this book in 2 days. I couldn’t put it down.”
My book is about weddings and photography, so I am also exploring contacts in those fields. I haven’t yet tried to reach out to any of the big TikTokers, which brings me onto…
9. Waded into TikTok. For those that know my story, you’ll know that one of the reasons publishers turned down my book was because they wanted to sign younger authors with a better chance of going viral on TikTok (the other reason we heard was that they already had a wedding romcom on their books). Despite the fact that I have loads of Twitter and Insta followers, it was TikTok that mattered. So, I pulled up my trousers and waded in.
I managed to build my audience to the magic 1000 quite quickly (1000 is an important number so you can add a bio link). I tried to create interesting content and did quite well with my initial videos, but it suddenly slowed down for no apparent reason and I went from thousands of views to barely hundreds (especially when I ran competitions). I am on loads of Facebook groups about TikTok, which are a rich source of advice, but it is often conflicting and sometimes feels overwhelming: use lots of hashtags, don’t use lots of hashtags, just put up videos of book pages flipping with a quote, post once a day consistently, post three times a day on US time…
After a couple months, I needed a mental health break from it, especially with Christmas on the horizon. So I stopped posting. I did manage to run a competition for an advanced copy of SHOOTERS which got me 29 newsletters sign-ups. I will go back to it this January, but I’m going to try to plan out my content better using a social media planner and not put so much pressure on myself to constantly create compelling content.
That being said, I’ve read many posts from experienced TikTokers saying that the algorithm has changed dramatically in recent months and their old strategies aren’t working anymore, so I suppose we just need to watch this space.
10. Booked podcast appearances. In June 2022, I started a podcast called Two Lit Chicks. It was scary and completely out of my comfort zone, but we are now in season 3 and I’ve spoken with so many authors I admire, like Bonnie Garmus, Claire Fuller, Joanne Harris, Nikki May and Julie Cohen plus many more.
The reason I started the podcast was to give me something to do while my book was on submission to publishers (we all know how that turned out!). But it’s also a marketing tool for me and my co-host, Edward Crocker—not just so we can talk about our publishing journey and books on air, but also so that we can network with other podcasters and guest on their shows.
I’ve approached many podcasts about having me on as a guest, tailoring my pitch to each one and what their show is about. I’m doing one in America where I’ll talk about my experiences with Dirty Dancing and what it’s like to go viral on YouTube. Others are writing podcasts. Some are photography podcasts. I threw my net wide.
As I said, the important thing is to get your pitch right. Make sure you’ve listened to some of their episodes and have a good feel for the hosts and what might interest them. The biggest benefit of podcasts is that they are evergreen, which means that they are always fresh because new listeners find old podcast episodes all the time.
11. Built newsletter audience. This is a work in progress and something you’ll continually be looking to do. I already have 5000 subscribers from my photography business, who I’ve recontacted with my new venture. However, these are not people who signed up because of my book, so the effect on book sales has been low. It just goes to show that it’s better to have a list of 100 engaged fans than 5000 disengaged ones. I ran a competition for an ARC of SHOOTERS on social media, which got me 29 sign ups. I didn’t think this was good, but apparently it is. Hopefully, as some of my other marketing activities take root, I’ll see this number increasing organically with raving fans.
For debut authors like me, it’s also a good idea to see if you can get anyone else to mention you in their newsletter. Remember when I asked: who do I have in my network that can help me? Well, who do you know that has a business with a newsletter list? Your personal trainer? Another parent at the school gates? Friends? Offer the person an ARC of your book in return for a mention in their newsletter with a link to your pre-order. Simples.
12. Cued up interviews in magazines. This is something that can be hard to do without prior contacts. My book is about wedding photographers; I used to be a wedding photographer. I was also a regular columnist for a major UK photography magazine. I know a lot of people in that industry and photographers are readers too! So I’ve managed to line up a handful of interviews in major photographic press. What subjects does your book touch on?
13. Created an email signature plus social media banners. On my email, I made a small graphic, put a link to my pre-order, and listed all of my social media links for me and my podcast. The goal is to make it easy for people to find you and buy your book. You never know…that customer service rep that you’re emailing might just be a fan of your genre.
Other useful things:
Booklinker: This gives you one link for all the stores that carry your book. For example, somebody in the UK who clicks on your Booklinker link will get taken to the UK store. Someone in the US who clicks on it will go to your US listing.
The Hot Sheet: This is a subscription service for news for authors, described as “The Economist of publishing but a lot easier to read.” It’s important to keep up to date with new developments in publishing and The Hot Sheet allows me to do that. It’s excellent. You are allowed two free issues before you pay any money, so it’s worth trying out.
Bio links: A bio link is a link that you can create on social media to share more than one link. There are different companies that offer this: Linktree is £4 per month, Unfold by Squarespace is currently free, but I imagine this will change in the future.
Canva: For people who don’t know how to use Photoshop, InDesign or other design software, Canva is a great option for you. There are loads of templates in there for different social media platforms. You can even edit TikTok videos in it.
Where to find image elements: You can find elements to help with your designs in places like Shutterstock and iStock. For example, I bought an empty book standing up at an angle that I could superimpose my book onto it and all the graphic elements for my A+ Content. Also, I licensed the pictures there to create this this book trailer.
I think that’s everything. I’ll probably keep adding to this article as I remember other stuff I did. I’ll give another update at the end of January and the end of February. In the meantime, happy marketing and please do share any other tips that might help your fellow authors in the comments.
If you’ve enjoyed this email, please do forward it on to someone else who you think might benefit. And if you fancy my book, you can pre-order it here.