“The times they Are a changing’.”
Bob Dylan’s title for his 1964 album remains fair as far as today’s book marketing arena is concerned. In fact, we could say that the times are still changing, as we have seen many changes and there are many more to come.
The main change that has occurred has been a shift towards online marketing as an absolutely essential part of any marketing strategy. The offline strategies that worked yesterday don’t work today or we could say that they are not as effective. Let’s take a look at some.
Five old book marketing strategies that no longer carry the weight they once did:
• Book signings
• Offline book tours
• Traditional sources of paid book reviews, such as Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly
• Printed advertising
• Impersonal and broadly targeted press releases
• Impersonal Media Kits
This is not to say that these strategies cannot bring some visibility and value, but they are certainly not as powerful as they used to be. Taking the marketing lead are smarter, easier to read, personalized and search engine optimized strategies. Let’s look at some of those.
Eight newest and most effective book marketing strategies:
• Optimized author websites and blogs
• Content marketing
• Social networks and networks
• Virtual Book Tours (Online)
• Online reviews from high ranking review sites
• Free abstracts, other useful gifts, electronic galleys
• Custom Media Kits
• Email marketing (electronic newsletters)
If you look closely, what do you notice? What are some of the main elements of the most effective new strategies?
Four predominant elements of new book marketing strategies:
The first element is the cost. – There really aren’t any. While you may incur some costs, they are generally reasonable and affordable. And much of what needs to be done can be done for free.
You can also upgrade your skills for free. Take free courses in your niche. Attend free online conferences. Watch free webinars or videos. Do whatever it takes to help you hone your craft or develop your marketing skills.
Having low-cost or no-cost strategies within reach is great for independent authors and those with small publishers.
the second element is to have an online presence or an online author platform and generate continuous visibility. The basis of that platform and visibility is a website. You CANNOT have an effective online presence without a website.
Other elements of a platform include content marketing, social media, and email marketing.
the third element it’s about giving people what they want, whether it’s information, excerpts from your book, special offers or anything else, it’s about ‘giving’.
the fourth element is to connect, be sociable and personalize. In the future, having a relationship with people, especially with readers, will probably be the most important element in effective book marketing.
Of course, there’s more to creating and maintaining a successful book marketing strategy, but these four elements are at the forefront of what you need to do.
What strategies will you use in 2014?