Hard-Core Tactics for Authors Developing Audience
My previous post was a pre-answer to the following question (which appeared in the comments of this other post): Thank you for the webinar, which gave me some ideas where…
My previous post was a pre-answer to the following question (which appeared in the comments of this other post):
Thank you for the webinar, which gave me some ideas where to begin to increase my visibility and improve my website. I have published two history/biography books. I get comments from publishers saying "a valuable book that should be published, but we cannot sell enough to justify taking it." I think I now have some tools and directions to take to increase interest in my books. Do you have any more specific suggestions for this type of book?
Questions like these are tough to answer. It's really about:
- Where is your target audience/readership active?
- Are you active in those same places and do you have the credibility/authority with that audience today—or how do you get there?
- How can you provide value/benefit to this audience beyond just your book?
Authors can sometimes get fixated on how to market and promote a book (once they have one), which of course is necessary if you're trying to make a living off your writing, but it's tough (and counterproductive) to be constantly selling. It's better to be constantly serving, which leads to genuine interest in you as an expert/authority, and interest in your work.
Fortunately, for nonfiction authors, there can be literally thousands of approaches or ways to twist your idea, depending on time of year, current events, evergreen questions/dilemmas, or serendipitous exchanges.
Check out some of the links below to help you get started.
- Always start with the best, Seth Godin: First, ten
- How to Succeed at Content Marketing (even if your content skills suck) over at Copyblogger
- How to Get Involved in Online Book Promotion (Book Publicity Blog)
- Author Lofts and Pyramids of Values (Future Perfect Publishing)
- Target, Serve, and Adapt (Tools of Change for Publishing), check out the links on this post, too
- 50 Ways to Take Your Blog to the Next Level (Chris Brogan)
- 5 Ways to Use Social Media to Reach People Who Don't Use Social Media (ReadWriteWeb)
- 20 Free eBooks About Social Media (Chris Brogan)
Time to get busy reading!
Jane Friedman is a full-time entrepreneur (since 2014) and has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. She is the co-founder of The Hot Sheet, the essential publishing industry newsletter for authors, and is the former publisher of Writer’s Digest. In addition to being a columnist with Publishers Weekly and a professor with The Great Courses, Jane maintains an award-winning blog for writers at JaneFriedman.com. Jane’s newest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press, 2018).
