book promotion Whether you’re in the midst of writing your masterpiece or whether you’re already a published author, I’m sure you’ve been wondering how to promote your book. Here are 4 great book promotion techniques you can use to establish your own public brand, straight from one of own team, Tammy Martin of Martin Marketing.

Skip the Publicist

If you’re on a tight budget, I’ll let you in on a little secret about publicists. They charge thousands of dollars for something you can do yourself if you have the time and persistence.

What they do, in part, is reach out to bloggers and book reviewers and provide them with a copy of your book. These people blog about related topics to what you’ve written about and can easily be found online through a simple Google search.  Be creative with your pitch so you can stand out against other people trying to do the same thing. It’s also important to research the blogger first, so you can align yourself with reputable, like-minded individuals—and also personalize your pitch.

You could even offer to write a guest blog post on their site for free as long as they allow you to put a link to purchasing your book or your website within the article. The article should be relevant to your book and somehow tie back to it through enticing the reader to want more information on your topic.

Author’s Website

Assuming that you’re going to continue authoring more books, it’s a good idea to create a website under your own name or perhaps the topic of your book(s), assuming they would all be related. Creating a website enables you to blog regularly (preferably weekly) about the topic you’re passionate about and draws in an audience of people that are seeking help in that area on the Internet.

You can also do this through your business website if your book is related to your work. Either way, consistency in blogging and sharing of quality content is paramount to your success.

Email Database

As a part of your website, it’s important to allow visitors the opportunity to sign-up for your newsletter so you can send them excerpts from your blog and let them know if you’ve published any new books. You can use inexpensive software like Mail Chimp or Constant Contact to send out these emails and provide a sign-up form on your website. After all, what good is an audience if you don’t know how to reach out to them when you have relevant information or new products to promote?

Be Social

Pick a couple of social media platforms and concentrate on them. This way you can avoid spreading yourself too thin across multiple networks. If your target audience is over 35, I would recommend Facebook. Twitter attracts a younger audience, and if they’re really young, in fact, they don’t even use email anymore. If your book is business related, LinkedIn is a great fit because this is where the majority of successful and affluent business people reside. Since you’re a writer, sharing great content will be a snap for you.

When you’re on a social network, focus on helping others, not selling. Conveying your expertise through thought provoking articles linked from your blog, wise quotes and excerpts from your book are all great ways to showcase your expertise and naturally whet their appetite to learn more about what you have to offer.

Tammy Martin is a marketing consultant in Newmarket, Ontario. She has been marketing independent professional services for over ten years and enjoys reaping the opportunities that the Internet has to offer for her clients. We’re happy to have Tammy as part of the I C Publishing team.

Should you have any questions for Tammy or I, please feel free to leave us a comment here or email us directly at info@icpublishing.ca. Don’t forget to leave a link back to your own blog too via the commentluv feature you’ll find right here on the site.

Until next time,

Sheri