Marketing your book is critical to getting sales, so it’s important for authors to have an understanding of the process. Even when you're in the beginning stages of writing your book, you'll want to identify your audience demographic and get some traffic (attention) in order to ultimately sell books. Your publisher may have marketing programs available, but all authors can—and should—take every opportunity to help promote and sell their book. Below is a simple, three-step process that you can follow.

1. Know your audience.

A writing coach once told me to pick a certain person and write to him or her. Defining your audience through a singular “avatar” has its benefits:

• Know what problem you are solving for your audience.

• Clearly define your storyline.

• Clearly define sales or speaking points.

• Write your elevator pitch with your audience in mind.

• Define your demographic.

• Create a sales page that speaks to your audience and post it on your website with a link to buy your book.

2. Start with traffic.

There are two main types of traffic: traffic you own and traffic that is organic. Building email lists is a way to utilize traffic you “own” and can reach anytime. Organic traffic comes through social media sites (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, podcasting, etc.).

• Offer unique and free content through your posts.

• Engage with colleagues, bookstores, and local media.

• Make each post aesthetically pleasing.

• Share videos.

• Share relevant content from thought leaders in your field.

• Write an email or text to your warm market, friends, and close network, asking them to like, share, rate, and review all of your channels.

• Cross-promote through all of your channels.

3. Get conversions to sales.

Once you have established some traffic to your website and social media platforms, your next step is to focus on converting this attention into sales. Here are some steps:

• Set up a place for people to buy your book online through your website.

• Complete a practice run to make sure your ordering system works before marketing begins.

• Point people to your sales page online with a call to action.

• Run multiple short ad campaigns to see which one does the best, then fine-tune.

• Boost posts that have a clear call to action.

Our team can help you define your demographic, assist with traffic on your social media sites, and promote your book to drive sales. Through strategy calls and coaching calls, we can help you best utilize your marketing budget. Check out our marketing options!