Opinion: How Indie Authors Can Stop Worrying and Learn to Love Book Marketing

Belinda Griffin's pep talk will jumpstart your book marketing plans

Book marketing coach Belinda Griffin of book marketing company SmartAuthorsLab, kicks our blogging week off with a challenge to indie authors everywhere to stop making excuses and learn to love marketing their self-published books! Wherever we are in your writing career – whether just starting out or with a large back catalog of books – it is useful to remind ourselves of the essential role in marketing in the rise of the authorpreneur.

Wherever we are in our writing career – whether just starting out or with a large back catalog of books – it is useful to remind ourselves of the essential role in marketing in the rise of the authorpreneur.

 

 

“I don’t know how, don’t have time, don’t have a budget and I don’t want to be salesy or spammy.”

I have heard all these excuses and more and they all mean the same thing:

“I don’t want to market my book.”

That’s a shame, because if you don’t do it, no one else is going to do it for you, and your book will remain invisible, meaning no one can buy it or read it.

It would almost make the effort of writing and publishing it a complete waste. I don’t want that for you.

4 Frequent Objections

So why is book marketing such a challenge?

Things that authors have told me include:

• resenting how much time marketing takes, particularly if they can’t see that it’s doing any good
• feeling overwhelmed by how many different things they need to do
• worrying about annoying people by banging on about their book
• being afraid of wasting money on ineffective marketing

All of these concerns really come down to not having a plan. Not knowing which tools to use when, how to use them or how often, or even why you’re using them.

How to Find your Marketing Mindset

Authors often struggle with book marketing because it requires a very different mindset to writing. If you choose to go the self-publishing route, you sign up to do everything yourself, including marketing. That means you’re not only the artist, but also a business person – an authorpreneur.

It’s important to recognise that spreading the word about your book is your duty.

You wrote the story you needed to tell – now you need to ensure the people who need to hear it have the opportunity to do so.

Fortunately there are just three simple steps to take to help you embrace book promotion.

3 Simple Steps to Better Book Marketing

Step One: Acceptance

The first step is to accept that marketing is necessary and requires hard work and commitment. How many times has someone said to you, “I’d love to write a book, I just don’t have the time?” Doesn’t that drive you mad? Because no one really has time to write a book, or train for a marathon or do anything else that requires dedication.

You made a choice to make writing a priority because it was something that mattered to you.

Well, now, marketing that book has to be a choice and be something that matters to you. And you will need to put in consistent effort for it to work.

Having control over the exposure of your book and therefore its sales can be a huge burden, but it can also be empowering. It’s up to you how much time you commit and what actions to take, but ultimately those choices will determine your book’s success, which can be incredibly exciting.

Step Two: Identify Your Goals

The second step is to identify your goals. Knowing what you want to achieve and how you’re going to achieve it can help reframe the way you think about marketing and motivate you to do the work, even when you don’t really fancy it or would prefer to spend your time doing something else.

Step Three: Create a Marketing Plan

The third step is to devise a marketing plan that maps out your goals and the steps you will take to reach them. It is essential that you plan into your schedule specific time for marketing so that you know you have time available for it and that you’re not borrowing ‘writing time’.

Now Share Your Passion

When you accept that marketing your book is part of your role as a self-publisher, when you engage with your readers, share your passion and make a plan for your book marketing, you’ll find that it can be both enjoyable and creative. So what are you waiting for?

So what are you waiting for?

OVER TO YOU Do you have a top tip that helped you learn to love marketing? Feel free to add it to Belinda's list via the comments box!

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