There must be 101 ways to market your business a course in miracles, and you don’t have to wait until you’ve finished it to start. Actually the earlier you begin to promote your book and tell people about it, the more motivated you will be to actually finish it!
There are too many people who wait until their publish date before they do any marketing. Then they wonder why they don’t have the right strategies in place to sell their book, and struggle to use it as an effective marketing tool to generate more clients and get more business.
- If you don’t have an effective sales funnel in place, if you do sell your book, it won’t lead anywhere.
- If you don’t have a community of people waiting for your book, then no-one is going to know that it exists.
- If you just let it sit on Amazon and hope, then writing it will simply be a waste of your time.
Let me give you an overview of some of the online strategies that you can take at various stages of your book’s launch to market it online.
Book pre-launch
1. Tell people you are writing your book before you’ve even started. In the online world, this will probably be via social media or your newsletter list. There’s nothing like someone asking you how your book is going to get you focused. It’s also a great way to tell people how you’re getting on and get feedback from those who are interested in your business topic.
2. Get input from those you tell. Do a survey or find people to interview to get clear about what they want from your book. Some of my clients have found this to be a great way to build their community and reach more people than they may have done without the promise of a book.
3. When you’re clear on your message and what you’re sharing, use social media to share snippets and nuggets from your book and your blog to give some of the key messages. Canva is a great tool to create graphics to promote your book. Just make sure you include your web address with any of your tips.
4. It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway!) that the message on your website needs to be congruent with the message in your book. But it’s also about building a community of people who love what you have to say. Make sure you have an effective lead magnet on your website that enables you to create a list of people interested in your services and your forthcoming book. This will help you to find people who are ready to buy from you. Ideally this lead magnet feeds into your book, thus creating a demand, or you could give away a chapter or two or your book, just like some of my clients.
5. Pre-sell your book via a squeezepage on your website. If you’re worried about generating income whilst writing the book, want to fund publishing, or want to create an immediate buzz, then sell your book now. This is a great way to bring in some income and it certainly gives you the incentive to get it finished.
Book launch
6. Once you’ve published your book, having an Amazon launch is a great way to create a frenzy. There are simple tricks that will help you to have the perfect launch. The secret is to get lots of people helping you to promote it on a particular day and give away great bonuses when people sign up. My first book reached #1 on Amazon by using the particular method that I share with my clients.
7. Even if you don’t do a full Amazon launch, you can tell your list how they can buy your book and a webinar is a great way to get people interested in your message. Sharing some of the key messages, stories and details will help them to buy into what you have to say.
8. Get some great online PR for your book. You can guest blog for complementary business owners, write an article for an online magazine, or share your story with the Huffington Post.
9. Who else do you know who can help you? Ask people or magazines to review your book for you and share with their readers, and also remember to request that people share these reviews on Amazon.
Book post-launch
10. The online marketing for your book is not finished once you’ve launched it. You can continue doing some of the strategies above and ongoing promotion might include webinars, interviews, podcasts, videos or masterclasses, commenting on forums where you can share your expertise, continuing to give great content to your list, and working with joint venture partners to get your message out to more people.
