Marketing is More Than Social Media

When I first self-published, I set the book to pre-order and grew more excited as the release date grew closer. I think I sold about 2 or 3 copies in the first month It was a bit of a let-down. I underestimated how much marketing I needed to do. I knew I needed to market it, but Facebook and Twitter were a far as I went. I didn’t know what else to do. Asking students on my Creative Writing course for advice, resulted in one person suggesting I shouldn’t release my book, if I didn’t have confidence it was good enough to sell. It was my marketing skills I didn’t feel confident in though. You can write an amazing book, but if people aren’t aware it exists, they can’t buy it.

Social media is okay, but not as the only way of book marketing. It still needs to be used in the right way though. Posting “buy my book” links doesn’t work. I rarely buy books that way myself. I say rarely, because occasionally I come across a “buy my book” link on social media and I love the sound of it and buy it.

I find that using social media to share free content and giveaways is more successful, but still not to the point where the time and money I spend pays off.

With my first book with a publisher coming out soon, I’ve had time to come up with ways to market it, while waiting for publication

I prepared press releases to send to local radio stations and press, as well as to any organisations I feel might share a theme with my book. I will be trying to get interviews and run giveaways with radio…