Completing your book is the culmination of much hard work, and the next steps entail marketing your new publication to as many potential readers as possible. Book launches have grown into specialty marketing ventures as a result. With some planning and research, you can launch an attention-grabbing book promotion campaign that will bring in sales quickly.
- Find the Best Fit for a Book Agent. A good literary agent is invaluable for a book launch, particularly if he or she is well-versed in author public relations tactics and book marketing. Ideally, you should seek an agent familiar with your specific book genre as well as its core audience. This preliminary knowledge will help you and your book agent strategize the best ways to get the word out to as many interested readers as possible.
- Narrowly Target Your Core Audience. People in general have at least one subject area they love to talk about with others who share the same interest. Writing a book on any topic comes with a core audience for that subject, and the challenge is to locate them. Some tactics include researching that audience through social sites and forums as well as joining in the conversation. Once you get an idea of participants’ interests in the potential book subject matter, polling this target audience will give you early feedback about how likely they would be to read your book.
- Share Your Book Progress. Once you have that hard-won publishing contract, it’s time to sit down and write the full manuscript. The process can be challenging, but the Internet gives you plenty of tools to build a loyal reader audience even before your book is finished. You can start a blog and write regular updates on your progress and posts on other issues tied to your book’s subject matter. You can also post short chapter excerpts to strengthen readers’ interest.
- Learn to Assemble a Press Kit. A good book press kit is essential for promoting your finished work to any media outlets. It consists of a written press release, an outline of your book’s major topic points and any other related material that reporters or interviewers would find informative.
Check out our next post for more tips for a successful book launch.