Most authors start their book promotion at the wrong time. Find out the right time.
When should book promotions start? It’s a great question. Let’s find out.
Most authors ask the wrong question. They ask, “how do I promote my book?” That’s the reason most authors are not bestsellers. Bestsellers ask, when should book promotions start? When bestselling author Jay Baer’s new book Youtility came out, it became an instant success. Or, at least it seemed like that to the untrained eye. He was #3 on New York Times Bestseller List, #1 Marketing Book on Amazon.com and #1 Overall book on BN.com. What really happened was Jay put in about 21 months of marketing effort before the book was released. (Oh and by the way, Jay is not a first-time author).
Do you see where I am going with this? So, when should the book promotions start? Definitely not a month or two before the book is due to release. This is the mistake most authors make. Then they wonder, how come I cannot make the bestseller’s list? Let’s ask again … when should book promotions start?
Well before the book is written. It’s the only way you will build a large enough audience who will buy your book and possibly push you to the bestseller status. But, why so early? Because you need to build rapport with your audience. They need to get to know you and like you before they buy from you.
Understand that you are not the only author who will come out with a book on any particular day. If you want to sell enough copies of your book, you need to promote it aggressively. Unless of course you are Stephen King or Malcolm Gladwell. Then all you will have to do is send out a tweet and people will buy your book.
Hope you understand the importance of timing when it comes to book promotions. Here are some ways you can begin promoting your book.
- Build a website and optimize it for SEO
- You can write a blog
- Build a podcast
- Build an e-mail list
- Create social channels (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.) and share interesting and enjoyable content regularly.
- Do frequent guest blogging for other authors in your genre especially if your audiences overlap.
I understand authors want to be authors and not salespeople. But it’s the sad truth. There is no such thing as “New York Times Best Writing List”. It’s called “New York Times Best Selling List”. Hence, write great stuff, start promoting your work early … way early and become a bestseller. Chances are you deserve the title.
Just to make sure the point is driven home … When should book promotions start?
Got questions or comments? Hit me up! Comment below and I will reply.
Rock it,
Mayur
Authors mentioned: Jay Baer, Stephen King, Malcolm Gladwell
Books mentioned: Youtility
Just for Kicks: Checkout Jay Baer’s presentation 25 Secrets – How I Wrote and Marketed a New York Times Bestselling Business Book
