Marketing books is a _____’s ass
It's tough, extremely tough. All that sweat, blood, maybe tears, and not more than 100 buy it. That's the average sales for 99+% millions of books published. Amazon has 18 million books, some say 40 million. After a few months of no sales on Amazon, they make it extremely hard to find your book title even if you search for it by name. Since they aren’t making $$ on sales, they stopped giving it any small prominence months after publishing.
Even if you make the Times Bestseller List, incredibly hard on your own, it's there for maybe a few weeks, then replaced. But you are a writer or poet. Anyone can write for themselves. But then no one benefits, even those 100 readers, if you don't publish.
I assume, as you must, you had the book professionally edited or reviewed before publishing, and made the best cover for that book. i don’t say that ‘cause I are one, but everyone does. Rightly so. No one wants crappy grammar, sentence structure etc.
Here's the keys to a marketing journey:
1. It takes time. Plan ahead. Draw up a Marketing Plan in advance. Set a marketing budget of at least $1,000.
2. Be specific in your book theme, story(ies), poems etc, but ensure it is universal too. Profile your potential customers as you write and before you market. Market or advertise either narrow or wide to a potential audience. Those are readers interested in what you have to say, and why, not anyone. Shotgun blasts may get the word out (good), but not result in many sales.
3. Give pre-publication talks, send email blasts, post on social media, and on your publishing site, like Amazon or wherever, and have pre-pub book purchases. On multiple platforms. Do the work: get into B&N, KOBO, Google Books et al.
4. Make your book launches special. Plural launches. Put $$ and time into them. Again, always on multiple platforms. The first 3 months when new are critical. Do interviews, podcasts, library presentations, author talks and fairs, even YouTube. Newness sells.
5. Continually build your contacts and send emails long before and long after book launches. Email has a 44% ROI. Emails aren't just "Buy my book," but are fun, interesting, informative, and excerpts. It's the relationship that counts. Every human being is an influencer and can tell others.
Those are all good starts. There are 1,000 hawkers of author programs and marketing schemes to promote books. Always, always, consider the breakeven point:
Formula (sales - costs) = profit
costs = book production, marketing, and advertising.
Don't lose $$. No one can afford to, least of all you.
Good luck, but better yet, good planning
Rod
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Rod is a 7-time author and Principal of ABLiA Media since 2012, and helps writers & poets edit, polish, format, and/or publish. More on https://rodneyrichards.info
Author page and Amazon books Here
