5 Tips for Getting More Book Publicity

If you write only for yourself and those closest to you, you won’t need to worry about marketing. But if you’re a self-published author who wants to share your writing with the world, you must learn how to promote your book effectively.

Effective marketing requires you to be a few steps ahead, so be clear about your goals at the onset. Know your target audience and engage with them by telling them more about yourself and your book.

It really is as simple as it sounds, but it requires you to get moving. Today, we’ll share five tips for promoting your book that will help it become more visible to your target readers.

Ready to get more book publicity? Let’s begin!

Tip #1: Have a Blog or Website

Having a blog or a website helps potential readers find out more about you and your book before your book is even finished.

Make sure your blog is updated with posts that would surface in your target readers’ organic search results. Let’s say your book is about weight loss, cover topics like fad diets, exercise, and the right sleep habits, and punctuate them with insights from your book.

A good promotional strategy would be to post a review of a popular fiction book weekly for fiction books. You can talk about the plot, the character developments, and the things you liked and didn’t like about it.

As your book launch draws closer, you can build buzz around the event by holding online contests and book giveaways through your site.

Keep content high quality to draw people in and convince them to subscribe. Ideally, you want to get moving at least a year out from the launch date. That way, you’ll have enough time to level up your mailing list and site ranking.

Tip #2: Boost Online Presence to get The Word out About Your Book

You can boost your online presence in many ways. For instance, you can contribute to forums dedicated to your book niche, post articles on high-authority websites, or request blogs and sites to feature you in a guest post or interview.

The byline must include a link to your personal blog, your past work, and the book you are currently writing.

Tip #3: Learn From The Finest Books in Your Genre

What helps these books sell? Examine crucial elements such as the title, cover design, and typography to find out the best recipe for success in your genre.

When you read reviews of the most popular books in your genre, you find out the kind of words and phrases that connect best with your target audience. By incorporating these elements into your book’s metadata, you help your book become more discoverable by target readers.

As you work through this process, keep an eye out for unbiased and insightful reviews. You can then take note of the reviewers and request them to review your book as soon as it is ready.

Tip #4: Have Your Books Reviewed

A quick way to get your new book reviewed is to politely request the reviewers of any of your old books to review your new one in exchange for a copy.

If it’s your first time going about this process, do a quick search of Amazon or Goodreads’ top book reviewers and shortlist those who’ve reviewed a lot of books in your genre.

While reviews from pre-order books won’t get any support from Amazon, linking your unreleased ebook to a previously released paperback version of the book automatically carries over the paperback reviews to the ebook. In that way, your book will have the social proof it needs upon launching.

Promoting a pre-released book through a featured giveaway among Goodreads’ network of over 60 million members is also another great idea. It is worth noting that while Amazon owns Goodreads, reviews posted on either website do not carry over to the other.

Ideally, you should contact four times more reviewers as your goal number of reviews. Make sure to follow up on each of them at least once a week after the initial email.

Connect with popular writers in your genre, influential book bloggers, social media influencers, newspapers, and radio stations to see if they’d be willing to do a feature on you and your book.

Tip #5: Write a Book Blurb That Entices

This 100- to 150-word promotional piece can make a huge difference in how word about your book gets out. You have to make sure that whatever appears on your print book’s back cover and online sales pages leaves readers wanting more.

For a blurb to be effective, its opening line has to be written cleverly, convincing the readers to read more. You then need to follow that up with hints about the core concept for nonfiction books and the plot and characters for fiction books using powerful, compelling language.

Don’t forget to add any editorial reviews your book has received to the blurb.