12 Proven Strategies Authors Can Use to Promote Their Books

Welcome to the best seller secrets podcast where business owners come to learn how to use a best selling book to grow their income and their impact. I’m your host, Rob Kosberg. And today I have a great episode for you. We’re going to talk about how to promote your book. And we’re going to talk about 12 proven strategies that we use at best seller publishing to launch our clients books to best seller on Amazon, even on the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and large list.So let’s talk through the details. I’m going to go through each of these quickly share a little bit of details about each one. First thing to understand is there are several steps to this process even before your book is ready to actually launch number one, always think about what the end in mind is for your best selling book. Are you trying to attract clients into your business? Are you trying to get speaking engagements Do you really want to niche down which is something we always suggest to our clients? Are you trying to go broad, maybe you’re making a pivot away from your current business, all that needs to be thought through so that you have a great hook, a great title, a great cover so that you attract your ideal person, let’s consider that all that is in place, there are a couple of steps that we do even before we do what we call the hard launch.That is we want to make sure that we have a great design, we have a great hook. And also we want to get some great Amazon verified reviews before the book is actually launched with paid advertising and the promotion strategies that I’m going to share on another training, I discussed the soft launch in great detail. But very easily the soft launch itself is where you’re going to go out and get Amazon verified reviews from your inner circle, you’re going to perhaps use a little bit of elbow grease, reach out to people directly, ask them to read a couple of chapters of your book, and then review it on Amazon so that you have a good foundation of excellent four and five star high quality reviews on Amazon. Remember, Amazon is your partner in this. And they want to know that your book is a good book, the way they’re going to know that is based on the reviews of your book. So let’s consider that we have a great design, let’s consider that we love the title and the cover and reaches the exact right person.We’ve already done the soft launch itself. And now what are we going to do we are going to start our promotion strategy. So promotion strategy number one,use PR and media coverage. Look,you can be the most famous person in the world. In fact,consider that some of the most famous people in the world that have recently launched books,Michelle Obama, comes to mind perhaps one of if not the most famous woman in the world, got a massive, massive book deal with her publisher. I think it was something like $50 million. What was the first thing she did,when she launched her book, she made all the rounds on all the media. So if Michelle Obama, one of the most famous people in the world is doing that, and guess what less famous people like you and I, we need to do it as well.So you want to think about media, like larger scale, media,television, radio, et cetera.And perhaps even more importantly, more niche down especially if your topic is niche down. Podcasts and blogs are terrific, especially and most importantly, if they’re in the very niche that you’re working with. So we like to have a broad base of different kinds of media for our clients,something that’s broad, like television, radio, and something like podcasts and blogs that are very, very focused. Number two speaking engagements. Speaking engagements are a great way to attract clients and to land clients because obviously,you’re standing on a pedestal.In fact, books are a great way for you to land speaking engagements. So it’s very synergistic. However, what a fantastic way to sell books than to do it from stage where you’re already lifted up on a pedestal,and people are there to hear you speak. So you may want to think about identifying the top 50stages or events that you would like to be on so that you can promote your book, promote your business, whatever it is that you’re selling beyond your book,as well. You can find event coordinators, you can find people that are in charge of conferences, associations,corporations that are always looking for an ideal speaker for their events. You send them a cover letter, you send them a copy of your free book that sets the table and frames the conversation properly for you to land those speaking engagements.Number three live events, live events are book signings,virtual tours mean a live event can be something that you’re actually in person with or something that you’re doing on social media. It could be a giveaway, it could be an author faire, that you’re going to it could be going to alone local bookstore, because you’re local in the community and you want to have a relationship, I had a client that traveled around and went to multiple different book signings and speaking engagements. And using her book to get these events and engagements, we had already launched it the best seller. And she also sold our coaching program and sold over 40,000hours of coaching at these free events. So you can kill two birds with one stone. At these free events. You can of course,sell your books and market them.But you can also sell your products and your services.Number four, advertise on other people’s platforms, I talk about this a lot. You may not have a big email list, you may not want to have a big social media following, but more than likely the topic that you’re writing on somebody. In fact, many people have probably already gathered10s of 1000s, maybe even hundreds of 1000s or millions of people around that topic. If you’ve written on paleo, guess what you don’t need a following.There are people that have millions of people in Facebook groups, or Twitter profiles,etc, that are already following those people because they love that subject matter. All you have to do is perhaps have a guest blog post, perhaps you do a podcast interview with them,some type of social media collaboration, advertising on other people’s platforms, even paid advertising is a fantastic way for you to get in front of your ideal audience. Number five, run high converting social media ads. Look, we run ads on Facebook and Instagram and YouTube every single day. Why do we do that? Because we’re losing money? Of course not. We do it.Because we’re making money,right, we’re getting a return on our ad spend. So look, there are lots of moving parts. To do it.Perhaps you want to create a book funnel, maybe you need to consider what the best platform is. If you’re very business related, then it may be LinkedIn, for example, if not,perhaps already on Facebook or Instagram, there are people with your audiences, there’s a lot of steps to it. Certainly we don’t have the time to go into it all.But just understand running paid advertising on social media is something that we do every single day for my book Publish Promote Profit, which became a Wall Street Journal bestseller,and continues to sell 1000s of copies every month. Number six,offer free value within your book, the very first page of my book, I offer a free course which we have sold at different times for as much as $1,000. Why do I do that, because I want to attract that person to come into my world to have a two way conversation, I want to begin talking to them on email, and begin building that relationship. So they can buy other products, courses, and even are done for you services.So offer some type of free value to get them onto your email list and begin building a better relationship with them. Number seven, take advantage of your email and your mailing list. If you’re not building an email list now, then you need to start okay, you need to think about what it is that you’re trying to accomplish long term. And I promise you with whatever long term goal that you have,building a following, and building a list that you can communicate directly to is going to be a very, very important aspect of it. If you’re selling books, let’s say that you’re just writing multiple books to sell multiple books. Well, guess what someone who bought your first book and is now on your email list is likely to buy your second and your third and your fourth, if they’ve enjoyed your content. The same is true if you’re a company like mine,where you have done for you services, or maybe you’re a coach or consultant, those people that love your content,and that are a good fit for you.They want to have a relationship with you. And your mailing list allows that to happen. So please make sure you have an email list number eight, create an Amazon strategy number one I already shared about how it’s important to have four and five star reviews, right? So make sure that you have a review strategy number one right out of the gate, but an ongoing strategy also helps. Number two, you can use paid advertising on Amazon,we do every single month. We’re not trying to make money actually all we’re trying to do is break even why do we want to break even because it enables us to move as many books as possible. That’s really what we’re trying to do because again, it’s not through the royalties that the real opportunity is for us. It is by building that relationship,getting the customer and then seeing how we can serve that customer in additional ways. So make sure you have an Amazon strategy and that entails reviews and that also entails some type of paid advertising with Amazon. Number nine offer some type of merchandise options. What else are you selling right? There always has to be something else. I hope as a business owner, it is directly related to what your business does coaching consulting, some type of done for you services.But even if it’s not, it can be some type of merchandise, right,you can have a workbook that you add to your book itself, you should have an audio book that also people can upgrade to maybe there’s a course or there’s something that is attached to your book. This is all merch, if you will not standard T shirts and, and jeans and that sort of thing, but it is for a business owner. And it’s important to have different opportunities for people to take advantage of that you’re selling. Number 10. Use various blogs like medium, for example, medium is a free way to promote your book, they have over 100 million users, if you like to write if you like to answer questions, then medium is a great way for you to build a relationship. Yes, it’s elbow grease. And yes, it’s direct work that you’re doing to do that. But if you already enjoy writing, then you certainly should have your own blog. And if you don’t want to do that you can post on Medium and build relationships there. Number 11.And I really love this one is referral network, you know, you know people right now. And in fact, it could be your current customers, your past clients,etc. As well as your sphere of influence. And people that know you like you trust you that would love to help you to promote your book, send a couple of copies to them, ask them to perhaps pass an additional copy on to somebody else. Yes, I know that you’re paying for that you’re paying to have them printed. But think of it this way, you’re spreading your message. And you’re giving people a greater opportunity to get to know you, like you trust you and perhaps use you in whatever business manner it is that you are writing about. This is something that we do at best seller publishing. And our referral network is very large,because we use my books and even my clients books by offering them as gifts. So build a great referral network and continue to offer them something of value number 12. And finally,something that I do every single day. And that is create what we call a free plus shipping book funnel. Right now on Amazon, you can buy my book for between 1595and 9095. But I am actually in competition with Amazon. Yes, I want them selling my book. But I want the customer Amazon doesn’t give me any customer information. So how can I get customer information? Well, I offer my book for free, I simply ask people to pay for the shipping of it. So yes, it costs me money to advertise my book and to sell it. And then in essence, I am giving it away for free, except for the shipping charge itself. Why am I doing that, so that I can build a relationship with that customer,the customer itself is much more valuable for you to have their information, their email their address, so you can build that relationship, then the royalties itself. So we’re glad to give the book away for free. As long as people pay a small shipping charge, we actually advertise my book in a free plus shipping book funnel every single day on Facebook, and Instagram. We’ve tested LinkedIn at different times. It hasn’t worked, but I’ve been told that it works again. And in fact, if you would like to see what it looks like go to publishpromoteprofit.com You can get a free copy of my book right there as well. And you can see what our funnel looks like and what we are sending people to every single day. Awesome. So those are 12promotion strategies that you can employ to sell your book.You don’t have to use all of them. We do at best seller publishing because remember,we’re a service that actually guarantees that our clients are going to hit Amazon Best Seller and in some cases, even Wall Street Journal and the larger list. So hopefully this will help you to get your book sold and to make the kind of impact and income that you desire to with your own best selling book.