We’ve compiled a list of book marketing ideas that will connect you to readers, build your brand, and sell your book. If you feel stuck with your book, this guide has the idea that will get you unstuck.
The goal of this guide is to help get your creative juices flowing. If an idea strikes your interest, click the link and it will take you to an article about that idea. Each of those articles are also podcast episodes you can listen to in the Novel Marketing Podcast.
The ideas you know the least about are the ones that will likely help you the most. So feel free to explore and have fun!
This is not a to–do list! No author uses every idea on this list. Think of this as a cookbook. Find the idea that’s most interesting to you and start there.
My hope is that these ideas will help you supercharge your marketing.
General Book Marketing Tactics
These general tactics are a great place to get started.
- Start Following the Book Marketing Commandments
- Develop Book Marketing Assets
- Start Tracking Your Book Promotion To See What Works and What Doesn’t
- Create a Marketing Funnel
- Become More Confident
- Find Your Timothy
- Become Tech Savvy
Learn to Sell Your Book
Sales is the art of making your book appealing.
- Convince Readers to Read *Your* Book Next
- Create a Value Proposition for Your Book
- Create Multiple Pitches for Your Book and Then Test Them
- Craft a Compelling Elevator Pitch for Your Book
- Rework Your Book’s Pitch
Launch Your Book
The first 30 days of a book’s life are often the most important for sales.
- Build Hype for Your Novel Using the Milacci Method
- Create a Written Book Launch Plan
- Launch Your Book on a Budget
- Relaunch Your Book
Optimize Your Book For Maximum Appeal
Good marketing can’t fix a bad book. The better the book, the easier the marketing.
- Pick a Strong Book Title
- Get a Good Book Cover
- Create a Design Brief for Your Book Cover
- Optimize Your Book’s Back Matter to Sell More Books
Increase Your Web Presence
Your website is the hub connecting all your marketing. Authors without good websites are at the mercy of faceless organizations like Amazon.
- Build an Author Website
- Search Engine Optimization Your Author Website
- Start a Blog
- Start a Podcast
- Try Content Marketing
- Create a Landing Page for Your Book
- Install MyBookTable on Your Website
- Speed Up Your Author Website
- Make Your About Page More Interesting
- Track Your Website Statistics
Grow Your Email List
Nothing triggers sales like email. Nothing.
- Write Short Stories
- Create a Reader Magnet
- Use QR Codes to Boost Book Sales & Grow Your Email List
- Write Emails Readers Want to Read
- Grow Your Email List with a Reader Quiz
- Create an Email Drip Marketing Campaign
- Grow Your List Using AuthorsXP
- Grow Your Email List With Book Sweeps
Increase Your Amazon Sales
Love it or hate it, most sales happen on Amazon. Good Amazon optimization is critical to sales.
- Employ a Pre-Order Strategy
- Get More 5-Star Reviews With Beta Readers, Editors, and Launch Teams
- Get on Kindle Unlimited
- Rework Your Book’s Metadata
- Craft Compelling Amazon Pages
- Optimize Your Amazon Categories with K-Lytics
- Optimize Your Book to Rank in Amazon Search Results
Book Marketing Psychology
In our technological world, it’s easy to forget our readers are fellow humans. The authors who can connect to the human psychology of their readers find marketing easier and more profitable.
- Psychologically Optimize Your Marketing
- Start Getting Reader’s Attention by Shocking Broca
- Use Social Proof to Make Your Books More Popular
- Leverage Reciprocity to Get Strangers to Want to Buy Your Book
- Use Scarcity & Ubiquity to Make Your Book Irresistible
- Create Urgency to Buy Your Book
- Make Loss Aversion Work for You
- Use Marketing Psychology to Grow Your Authority And Notoriety
Build Your Brand Offline
Sometimes, the most profitable places to promote your book are in the real world.
- Adapt Your Novel Into a Screenplay
- Develop Your Author Brand
- Promote Your Book With Bookmarks and Business Cards
- Get Book Clubs to Pick YOUR Book
- Work With Brick and Mortar Bookstores To Boost Sales
- Use Public Speaking to Connect With Readers
- Get Libraries to Buy Your Indie Book
Networking
Success is not just about what you know, it’s also who you know.
- Attend a Book Marketing Conference
- Start a Local Writers Group
- Get Better Endorsements
- Reach Influencers with Advanced Reader Copies
- Work With Fellow Authors To Sell More Books
- Start a Mastermind Group
- Find Mentorship for Your Publishing Career
- Sign Up for AuthorMedia.social To Connect With Authors
Reach New Readers
Eventually you will run out of friends to sell books to. Each stranger who starts reading your book brings a new social circle of friends who might become readers too.
- Promote Your Book on GoodReads
- Publish Your Book as an Audiobook
- Go Wide
- Make Word of Mouth Work for You
Advertising
Paying money to put your book in front of strangers can be a good investment if you know how to do it profitably.
- Learn the Fundamentals of Advertising
- Split Test Your Book Title Ideas With Facebook Ads
- Advertise Your Book on Podcasts
- Use Bookbub to Sell More Books
- Advertise on Facebook
Book Publicity
Getting in front of strangers for free is better than paying for ads once you learn the trick of it.
- Go on a Media Tour
- Guest on Podcasts
- Create a Press Release
- Create an Author Press Kit with Susan Neal
- Prepare for Hostile Interviews
Make Some Extra Money
More money means more options to promote your book. It often takes money to make money.
- Sell Directly to Readers on Your Website
- Crowdfund Your Next Book
- Try Affiliate Marketing
- Sell In Person
- Work as an Author’s Assistant
- Adapt Your Book Into an Online Course
- Become an Amazon Affiliate
Cultivate Community
True community is not you connecting with your readers. True community is you connecting readers with each other.
- Host a Webinar for Your Readers
- Use Your Research to Market Your Novel
- Create an Online Community
- Write Book Reviews Readers Will Want to Read
- Start a Substack
Increase Your Productivity
Learn to work smarter and marketing gets a lot easier.
- Learn to Say No
- Prune Ineffective Marketing Efforts
- Try Brandon Sanderson’s Crop Rotation Method for Restful Rapid Writing
- Write More Productively With W.A.G.S Organization
- Use The Tortoise Release Method To Write More Books
- Learn to Write 5,000 Words an Hour
- Make Your Phone Less Addictive
Download the 101 Book Marketing Ideas PDF
