You’ve written your book, had someone design a gorgeous cover, asked beta readers to be brutally honest, and maybe even had editors read through your manuscript. In short, you’ve made sure it’s the best book you could possibly write. But believe it or not, that’s not where the fun stops. Once your book is out there in the world, it’s time to have the world notice it. That’s right, you will need to start marketing your book. Fortunately for you, we live in the age of Digital Marketing. Through Digital Marketing for writers, you can potentially boost your sales manifold. But I will warn you: This sales-boost is only after continuous labour, and as such you should not consider Digital Marketing a quick fix. (We’ll delve into “quick fixes” at another point.) 

Why Digital Marketing?

It’s a fact that people are spending more and more time on social media, with this amount of time increasing every year. How much time? The research shows that we’ve spent a whopping 144 minutes per day on social media during 2018. That’s 2 hours and 24 minutes, for those of you keeping score at home. This is why Digital Marketing is an invaluable tool for writers. Your audience is already glued to their devices, ready to hear more about you and your book. 

Stay Front-Of-Mind With Digital Marketing

Most people won’t simply commit to a product or service right from the start. In fact, most people will only commit to a product or service when there’s a certain level of trust involved. I believe that anything that needs selling will go through something similar to the technology adoption life cycle. You will get those who buy your book with no reviews to go on. If these wonderful individuals review your book, they pave the way for others who don’t yet know you to give the book a try. More on this in an upcoming article. 

Through Digital Marketing, however, you can build trust. Research has shown that it can take as many as 6 – 8 “touchpoints” to get a potential customer to turn into an actual customer. “Touchpoints” is just a fancy marketing speak for “digital contact.” Imagine a person browsing Facebook and seeing an ad for a product they might need. They would go, “hmm, that’s interesting, it solves my one problem,” but then they continue to browse. But with as many as 6 of these ads, the person might feel more comfortable in taking the next step. A level of trust has been built. This is why it’s very important to think of Digital Marketing as a marathon. 

What If I Want To Publish Traditionally?

Full disclosure: I have no personal experience with traditional publishing. However, from my research on the subject, it appears that publishers are less willing to spend marketing money on relatively new authors. From an article on Copyblogger: 

“A first-time author rarely gets help from the publisher. Accept that you will be on your own when it comes to marketing — a fact I’ve discovered first-hand, the hard way.” 

This tidbit made me feel disheartened back when I was weighing traditional publishing up against self-publishing. The idea that a publishing house would only give a writer serious consideration if they had a massive existing fanbase seemed so counterintuitive. But it also makes sense in this day and age. A writer who already used their writing skills to build up a fanbase is more marketable than an unknown writer. So if you’re interested in being traditionally published, stick around anyway. I want to help all writers get their books noticed in the neverending ocean of published books.

Join me for future articles where we delve into tips, tricks, and all manner of hot insights into digital marketing for writers. If you’re interested in getting an email to keep in touch with all this info, fill in the form on this page so that I can add you to my list.