Getting your book published and seeing it stacked on the ‘Bestsellers’ section of a bookstore are two completely different goals. For an author to launch his/her book successfully, a comprehensive book marketing can be a boon.
The primary role of a book marketer is to help an author define, reach, and convince the target audience, and ultimately sell books. You need to plan an elaborate book marketing campaign using a combination of tactics to reach the readers. It cannot be solely focusing on social media or events to generate publicity. Your approach needs online and offline components that are cohesive.
Read on to know the five qualities that you will find in a successful book marketer:
1. Being A Good Listener
To become an effective book marketer, you need to be open to ideas and suggestions from all sources. When you welcome new perspectives, you can enjoy marketing wisdom that is unique and relevant. Pay close attention to the latest developments in the marketing world. At the same time, you need to be vigilant about the book publishing industry. Draw inspiration from previous book marketing campaigns that have been successful.
Other resources that can provide insightful information for marketing plans include, comments section of posts on social media platforms, opinion articles by domain/genre experts, book reviews by critics, trade magazines focusing on the publishing industry, and advice from book marketing service providers.
2. Being Good at Identifying the Target Audience
The key to popularizing books before their launch isn’t about linking them with the hottest trending topic. This idea may yield short-lived results, but it is more likely to fizzle out soon. While flamboyant marketing tools can be helpful, if a book doesn’t appeal to the readers, then even with the best marketing plan, you won’t be able to convince prospect readers to buy.
Readers are looking for books that are based on topics they are interested in. A smart book marketer will know how to convince the reader that the book is written specifically for them. This is the most important aspect of book marketing by far. A comprehensive understanding about the people you’ll be selling your book to. As a book marketer, you need to know who are these people, and what compels them to buy a literary work.
For book publicists, an avid reader of motivational books is completely different from a typical horror fan. An intelligent marketer won’t be selling romance novels, sci-fi and non-fiction, or any other combination of genres to such an audience.
Successful book marketers can define profiles from the target audience, based on the demographics, interests, habits, concerns, and inhibitions. This exercise requires thorough understanding of behavioral patterns and reading preferences of the readers. With existing data and plenty of research, he/she can gather information on the typical readers of different genres.
3. Being Good at Managing Finances
A marketing campaign should always be in your publishing budget. Consider this as the golden rule of book marketing, and a smart marketer will know what to spend and where to spend it. These decisions need to be taken depending on what you’re trying to accomplish. This is especially true when it comes to using paid advertising as a publicity channel. Your paid advertising costs need to be allocated based on the estimated market size that you are attempting to reach.
Traditional marketing managers often make the mistake of allocating budget in terms of product launches and promotional activities. A good book marketer will know that these are important aspects of marketing, but the funds need to be appropriately utilized over market research and message testing.
If you are working with a tight budget, a proficient book marketer will know how to efficiently use inexpensive or free options like social media or blogging.
4. Can Explore Creative Options
Avid readers are extremely curious souls. Catering to such a target audience requires book marketers to craft creative ways to promote the book. Make it a habit to know your reader, what do they think of things, what they like and dislike. A skillful marketer will always be ready with questions for the audience, note the reactions in different scenarios, and incorporate learning from these activities into marketing campaigns.
Ideas for creative publicity tactics aren’t from the outer space. In fact, you can plan a book marketing plan based on its theme, location, or the era described in the book. These elements can be great sources of inspiration for marketing connections.
For instance, for the launch of a book with its protagonist performing martial arts, you can organize an event for people who learn Tai Chi, Judo, Karate or Taekwondo. The character’s occupation, lifestyle and interests can be helpful in developing promotional strategies.
5. Is Responsible and Follows Professionalism
Smart book marketers are multi-talented in every aspect. They are endowed with excellent professional skills, agile thinking, and market expertise. They like to stay on top of their games and have the wisdom of an industry expert.
Even though the responsibilities of marketing a book lie predominantly with publishers, the involvement of the author is also essential to marketing and advertising books. A marketer ensures that the book can benefit from the tactics used to promote the author’s personality to the audience as a combined entity.
The decisive qualities of a successful book marketer also include knowing how to get the limelight on the book promotional activities. He/she needs to identify the right tools using the many marketing options that are available. It is important to avoid wasting time on implementing futile and cumbersome practices that do not yield profitable sales income.
Conclusion
Books hold an unspoken responsibility of spreading knowledge. Failing to inform prospect readers might mean that they lose the opportunity to benefit from these books. Therefore, the role of a book marketer can be considered as a noble service to the reading community. To achieve this goal, marketers require expertise in analyzing the book, empathizing with the audience, inspiring the audience, and finally, converting leads into sale. Knowing these principles of effective book marketing can help you launch and promote books.
This post is contributed by Nicola Reynor. Connect with her on Google+ and Twitter.