Do you have the motivation and stamina to go out and promote
your book? When I ask authors this question most give me a quick yes, but what
when I dig deeper and ask how have they promoted the response seems to be the
opposite. Promoting your work is much more than telling your family, friends,
and coworkers about it. It’s about promoting to those who have no clue who you
are.
In this age of networking it’s easy to consider saying, “Hey
buy my book,” on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pintinterest or whatever
networking group you’re a part of. But are you garnering any sales from it?
Probably not because your post or tag is getting lost by the millions of
others. If you’re going to say, “Hey buy my book,” you need to have a reason
for them to buy it.
On top of self-promoting on your networking sites what else
are you doing? Hopefully you’re not in the ‘I think it’s enough’ category. If you are, good luck with that. For those of
us who wish to be successful we’re in the ‘be in as many places as we can’
category. Along with networking we seek
out interviews, guest blogs, book events, and any other way we can capture a
sale. We don’t just stop with getting the interview or guest blog either. We
follow up and promote them. From having
authors on my blog I can always tell the authors who will succeed from those
who will fall by the wayside. How? Because the successful ones not only tell
people they’re being interviewed but they also follow up with commenting on the
interview the day it’s posted. The ones
who fall by the wayside leave it up to me to post and that’s it. There are
times I have thought I selected the publish button and haven’t and didn’t
notice until a day later. Guess the author didn’t care to check because I didn’t
get a, “Hey where’s my interview?” email.
If you have what it takes to write a book, do what it takes
to sell your book. Don’t be frustrated if you friends and family don’t buy a
copy. With my large family I should easy rake in 100+ sales, yeah right. I don’t
waste my time marketing to them. I go for the actual readers and then take it a
step further by following up.
This is just my 2 cents for the day. I have what it takes,
do you?
Omegia Keeys
The Not So Common Sense Guide for Authors
Rise and Fall of a Track Star
Single, Black, and Government Owned
This is a great post. I can tell you are a motivational speaker. I am an introvert of sorts but I have a book to promote too. I was that frustrated person from the beginning of your last paragraph. So I've had to find other avenues to gain some recognition. I work to try to help other authors do the same thing. Congratulations on your memoir. I hope you will check out my Monday Book Marketing. It's another place to be. http://kenyagjohnson.com/monday-marketing
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