Self-Publishing: What About Marketing?

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I have self-published 6 books in the last 2 years, had 25 clients publish in the last year, and helped over 850 others start their books. One of the biggest questions I get all of the time is “What about marketing?’'. 

I have an easy answer for you! You are in charge of your marketing! Traditional publishers are only going to market a limited amount of books each year, and odds are that your book isn’t going to be one of those books! This can be a great realization for someone who was thinking that they would find a publisher and the work would be over.

You are in complete control of your book when you self-publish! You get to chose the cover. You get to chose the title. You get to chose everything. You even get to chose how your marketing is done. In the next few paragraphs I’ll give you some simple steps to marketing your book. 
I would like to add a disclaimer that all of my books and the majority of my client’s books are on Amazon. 

Step 1
Always publish a paperback and a kindle (Ebook) version on Amazon. Publishing a kindle version allows you to run a free promotion and push your book to #1 New Release with the write steps. Do this. Make sure you have picked the best category of for your book! Set the price for your kindle at $1.99 or below. Tell everyone who wants to support you to buy your book. After one week set your price at $9.99 for a couple of days before running your free promotion. This starts a “bat” signal for bloggers and reading sites to send out to their email lists about books that have had a major reduced price and are now free. Set your book to free.

Step 2
Let the press know about your book. You can schedule a press release on www.webwire.com for $37. The first book I listed on Webwire was seen by over 176,000 people. Webwire is easy to work with, and they show you exactly how to do the release. They also have other, more expensive options to reach your audience.

Step 3
Be social! Use your personal social media to promote, promote, promote your book. Post about it. Share it in your stories. Do videos and talk about your book! Great a public group for your audience. 

Step 4
Interviews. Use your new tool to get on podcasts, radio, and television to promote your book. There are probably millions of podcasts at this point, and many of those podcasts need guests. Getting an author can be a great addition to a podcast. They will talk about you and your book. They will make you look like the expert you are! You will most likely get to leave a link and mention your book so their audience can find you!


Step 5
Give it away! Give your book to people around your town. Send copies to influencers! Send copies to anyone and everyone who it could serve. Give books to people and highlight the parts that will best serve them!

No matter who publishes your book, it is ALWAYS your responsibility to make sure it is successful.

Please reach out to me if I can ever help you with your book!

Watch this video to get a little more info on book marketing! It was made for physical therapists in mind, but will work for anyone!