by Annette Young
Writing is hard work. We all know that but when you have toiled away for such a long time perfecting each word and are finally ready to burst upon the scene as a newly published author, it makes sense to avoid certain pitfalls. Book marketing is as important as the writing process. You can have the most wonderful attention – grabbing book but if no-one reads it, then your wonderful words are simply wasted.
The following tips are all simple but important steps if you are writing your book and looking to publish anytime soon:
- Don’t skimp on the cover. Think about the covers you see on traditional books. Aren’t you attracted by the cover in the first instance and the title too? These days, digital covers can be fairly affordable but it is certainly worth putting time and effort into this aspect of your book.
- Even in this digital publishing age where it is so easy to publish your book, do not skimp on any editing and proofreading, you will regret it if you do. I see a great many published books these days littered with errors and it reeks as being unprofessional plus, when you publish digitally, you may receive some horrible reviews that will impact future sales. Why waste a lot of time on book marketing if you have a poorly edited book?
- Authors need to have a website. It doesn’t have to be ultra technical, it just has to promote you. It’s important to start building your own platform transformation as soon as possible. Make it personal, make it interesting, reach out and connect through your site. Authors typically are not known for their networking ventures, many prefer to simply dig deep and pull out those compelling words that make readers want to immerse themselves into richly woven plots. These days however, authors have to be visible and have a website presence.
- Start a blog about your book. Let your readers share your everyday frustrations, give them snippets about your book, talk about your characters as if they are real. You can start this from the very first chapter.
- Utilise professional book marketing services if you are overwhelmed. Go to a well-known and trusted company and especially important, those who understand the needs of a new author.
If you want a list of our author services to start planning your book marketing campaign then click here, this should give you plenty of ideas, but it’s always a good idea to start your book marketing campaign long before your book is even finished as this enables you to build up plenty of followers first and followers equal sales.
“Image courtesy of [basketman] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net”.
