Marketing expert and author Jennifer Lancaster wants authors to go beyond baby steps when marketing their books. She said promotion was like “stepping out to the light”. You had to be confident that you had something unique and special. And you had to be consistent in your marketing: be prepared to spend about two years publicising your book if it’s non-fiction, and maybe longer for fiction.
Publicity involved a lot of different digital platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, writing useful information on WordPress blogs, generating discussion of your book on forums. But it was more about consistency. You had to keep at it, and couldn’t just do a bit of publicity for your book.
She said you had to have a very specific audience in mind for your book. Start with a target audience and narrow it to a specific niche. It couldn’t just be aimed simply at fans of the fantasy genre, for example. It had to be something like: fantasy readers who like quest books about young women with magical powers. Being specific saved advertising money and time.
Ms Lancaster said you had to have a professional looking cover for your book. Otherwise, you’d put readers off at the first stage. The same went for the writing itself: you had to have it edited by a professional. If there were grammatical and other errors, it put off reviewers and readers.
Authors should develop their confidence and do some public speaking about their books. They should start small and maybe do a talk at a Rotary Club or another venue, like a library.
Try to become a guest on a podcast, if your topic is relevant to a podcast. You could even make your own podcast. You don’t need a specific voice for it.
There are thousands of podcasts in the world, for fiction and non fiction. You can ask them if they want a giveaway copy of your book or an interview with you.
There is a website called wearepodcast.com with a facebook page and twitter. They give advice on starting your own podcast which can promote your book.

-continued next page
-copyright readersvoice.com.