Marketing the Unknown

We are two days post release! First, I want to say thank you to everyone who is giving my book a chance and I am so happy to see it falling into the hands of readers. For those of you that do pick it up, please do leave reviews! I’m dying to hear what everyone thinks.

Now… onto today’s subject.

Marketing.

What is it? And how do you do it?

You’ve done an incredible thing. You wrote a book. You agonized over every detail. Questioned every word, comma, character flaw, and plot point. You love your story. So… how do you get other people to love it, too?

The harsh reality is on your first book, you probably won’t. Not the way you want to. Great stories live and die at the whims of readers. And most people don’t like to take chances on the unknown. You need to find a place of peace about this. It doesn’t mean your book is bad. It doesn’t mean that you’ll never be successful. It just means that no one knows who you are.

How do you fix this? There are small things you can do to gain some traction on your first book. Get involved in social media. Not all of them. ONE of them. Pick just one. And don’t just hop on there and start yelling “BUY MY BOOK” at the top of your lungs.

It won’t work.

For example, my most prominent platform is X. I beta read my friends stories. I comment on other people’s posts, look for stories I’d be interested in reading, share and like pitches, and am working on being part of a community of authors and readers. Now, this will not immediately translate to sales. If your sole focus is sales, you’re going to have a really hard time unless you’ve got the budget to pay for ads. What this does do, is get your name out there.

What else you can do — free reads on Goodreads. You send out ARCs (advanced reader copies) and ask people to leave reviews, you post once a week or so about your book and continue being part of the community. Small numbers of sales will trickle in. Then, the most important step.

Write another book.

Being an author is about a body of work, not a single book. Write that sequel. Write something completely different. Write short fiction. JUST KEEP WRITING. Your goal with every publication should be 10-50 loyal readers. And that takes time. Could take months or years. Might not be this book, might be the next. Some of my favorite authors I discovered on their second or third books. But what happens is when they find you… they go look and see what else you have written.

With every new publication you have the chance to reach more people. You have more time to build up an even bigger following, generate more buzz for your newest project. And those new readers will look you up. Someone will find book three and go back and read the whole series.

So, take a breath. Congratulate yourself for what you have accomplished. Don’t let a lack of sales discourage you. And remember, you have more stories to tell.