5 Book Marketing Strategies For Consistent Sales
Launching a new book may seem easy, but it is not - especially one that will generate consistent sales! That’s why authors must incorporate outstanding book marketing strategies. Today we’ll be covering five strategies that will get you consistent sales.
#1 Create A Book Launch Team
A great way to start marketing your book before it is published is to create a launch team (or street team).
What is a Launch Team?
A launch team is a dedicated and hand-selected group of supporters who voluntarily sign up to help you promote your book in various ways before, during, and after it is published.
Members of your launch team are fans of your book or brand. They will read it, review it, spread the word about it and so much more. They can even give you fun ideas to promote it. They genuinely want to help you succeed.
How To Create A Launch Team
Determine the size of your audience
If you have a small following, aim for a launch team of 10-50 members. If you have hundreds of followers, aim for a team of 100-250 members.
Make a list that include your email list subscribers, your colleagues, other authors, your family and friends, YouTubers, bloggers, readers, bookstagrammers, podcasters, etc. Anyone in your network or part of your network. You’d be surprise at who may be proud, inspired and/or willing to help.
Recruit Members For Your Team
Now that you have an ideal list you can contact them to see if they are interested in supporting you. This is where quality comes in at.
Create a questionnaire, including a description of your book and your expectations of the team. To sweeten the deal offer to give them a PDF copy or an advanced reader’s copy (ARC) of your book or inclusion in the acknowledgments section of your book.
Establish and Maintain Effective Communication
Communicate with your team regularly. It is important to communicate with them to keep them focused on weekly tasks, progress, and ideas.
Create a Facebook group specifically for your launch team. Use it to engage, share ideas, post tasks &/or challenges, post feedback, post do’s and don’ts, expectations, etc. Keep the tone focused, positive and fun.
Assign Tasks
The key to having a launch team is to utilize the members, right? I mean, they are there because they want to support your work. Just make sure that you ask nicely, of course!
Assign small weekly tasks that contribute to the promotion of your book:
Share content about your book on their social media
Post their reviews on Amazon and/or Goodreads
Record themselves giving a review about your book and post it on: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram Reels or Facebook Reels
Ask them to reach out to their network and recommend or share your book
Ask them to contact libraries &/or bookstores to request your book be listed
There’s so much more, but those are just a few.
Make sure you utilize your team members individual skills and strengths, as well as their network. A great way to do that is to make a post in your Launch Team Facebook Group asking, “If you have any special talents or skills (or anyone in your network that does) that you’d like to contribute towards my book launch, please comment below and let me know. I’m looking for unique ways to help spread awareness of my book to a wider audience.”
Have Fun and Be Grateful!
Make sure that you and your team have a fun and successful book launch experience. Make sure that each member of your team feels valued and appreciated for their efforts. Be sure to reward them with prizes after they complete a challenge.
They have committed weeks of their time, energy, resources and skill sets to support you, so be sure to thank each and every one of them.
And don’t forget to reward them with a free copy of your book (preferably before your book goes live so that they can leave a review the day it launches!)
#2 Reach Out To Influencers
Influencers can have an incredible impact on the success of your book marketing campaign.
They can be bloggers, podcasters, bookstagrammers, book clubs, readers, other authors with a huge following or email list, and so much more. Basically, they are anyone with an established platform that can get your book &/or brand noticed.
They have a lot of influence and reach. For example, an influencer can do any of the following to get your book/brand noticed by new readers.:
Mention of your book/brand to their email list
Mention of your book/brand on their blog
Mention of your book/brand on their podcast
Sharing on their social media accounts
Recommending your book as book of the month
Connect with influencers in your book’s niche and tell them who you are and ask if they can help you promote your latest book.
Of course, you’ll want to have an incentive for them to help you:
They may want a free copy to read and review - You can send them an ARC of your book, a free eBook, or a free signed paperback copy. Whichever method you use is totally up to you and needs to be agreed upon between both parties.
You can offer unique, creative & influencer-only book swag or merch - create very unique book swag or merch that’s only for your influencers. They’ll feel so special that they are the only ones to have this specific type of swag and merch from you.
You can also offer other support as a way of giving back. You can offer to share other authors work to your email list, share on social media, etc. You can ask your following to follow the other authors, bloggers, podcasters, bookstagrammers, etc.
And, so much more!
#3 Join BookBub
Bookbub is an amazing platform for authors to market and promote their books. It has a huge following and your book can be put into thousands of readers hands.
The best way to use Bookbub is to submit your book for promotion as FREE or 99 cents right after your book goes live. The cost isn’t cheap - it depends on your genre, category and price of your book, however, it is well worth it!
Visit BookBub today to check out their submission requirements, pricing and more!
#4 Land Interviews On Podcasts, Youtube, and Local Radio
Podcasts are booming right now and an interview on the right ones can introduce you to new readers and vice versa.
Research podcasts that offer interviews to authors. Be sure that their audience is a good fit for your book(s). Reach out to them and let them know a little about your book and why it may be interesting to their audience.
If you have a press release or one-sheet, feel free to send it to them to give them more information about your book. You first need to pique their interest to land the interview, so get creative.
Once you land the interview, be prepared to present a great story about your book to get their listeners excited to read it!
Your local radio stations and BookTube are also great platforms to market your book to new readers as well. Always do your research, and contact those platforms the same way.
#5 Reach Out To Book Clubs
Book clubs are like hitting the lottery for authors! You already know that there are readers within this network that loves to read books!
Start off by researching for local book clubs in your area that may be interested in your book(s) and connect with theses groups. Don’t forget to join them!
Once you’ve tackled your local book clubs, venture out to statewide book clubs and then out-of-state book clubs that would be interested in your book(s).
And, don’t sleep on online/virtual book clubs! Their range and influence are huge in the literary industry! Be sure to research and reach out to theses book clubs as well - search for them in Facebook groups or pages, on bookstagram and on book twitter.
Offer to attend meet-and-greets, hosts virtual or in-person readings, and book discussions. Think of other creative and out-of-the-box ideas to do with book clubs.
Remember, always do your research to make sure that the book clubs are a good fit for your book(s).
Which one (if not all) of these book marketing strategies are you going to use for your next book launch? Have you ever used any of these strategies before? Let us know in the comments. We’d love to hear your thoughts!
