Does the mere mention of “Book Marketing” make you shudder? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

Trying to sell more books doesn’t have to be a dreaded activity, and today we’re going back to basics to see what marketing activities every nonfiction author can do with minimal effort. There are numerous ways to raise awareness of your writing without screaming “buy my book” on social media or becoming a public speaker hawking your book at events, and I’m going to show you how.

If you only have one book under your belt, it’s much better to focus your energies on writing another book in the same niche, rather than pour your heart and soul into marketing your one-and-only book.

Look at it from your reader’s perspective: they find your book, buy it and love it, and so now they return to find out what other books you’ve written—and you have nothing to offer.

With one book it’s best to get the basics right, and then focus on writing another book. Then as your library of books increases, so can your marketing efforts.

Marketing is different than Sales and Promotion

I run a regular author interview series for travel bloggers who have taken the leap into writing and self-publishing a nonfiction book and the #1 challenge they face is how to market their book.

They love writing, which is where their strong drive to become an author spawns from. They fumble their way through the book production process, but most of them balk at marketing their book because they’re afraid of coming across as a sleazy salesperson. But that’s where they’re going wrong.

Marketing isn’t sales.

Marketing isn’t a constant promotion of your books.

Marketing is the act of making sure people know you have a solution to their problem/challenge/goal.

As soon as authors switch their thinking from I have a book to sell to I have a solution my readers will love, suddenly you’re a savior and not a salesperson.

I found this quote by Melissa Ng, over on Copyblogger, and this sums up the mind-shift from “me” to “them”:

We can’t trust a self-centered writer. But we can trust a writer who listens first and offers solutions later. — 5 Ways an Introvert Can Build a Thriving Online Audience

When you make your marketing efforts about your audience, you shift the focus away from yourself, and it makes book marketing more achievable and enjoyable, especially for us introverts!

Don’t Get Overwhelmed

There are books, courses, websites, and articles galore about book marketing. Some are generic books and others focus on marketing a specific niche. They offer so many marketing ideas and solutions that it’s too easy to get overwhelmed.

So much so that you end up putting your head back under the covers rather than trying to figure out which path is best for you and your book. Don’t get lost in the mire, just focus on a few basic elements that are foundational for discoverability. Get this right, and you’re already one step ahead of many, many, authors out there vying for your reader’s attention.

Back To Basics – your author website

I did a tweeting gig recently for a literary festival, and I visited a whole bunch of author websites looking for social links and author bio pics. You’d be surprised how difficult some authors make it to connect with them—or maybe not, especially if you’ve ever tried to track down a new author you’ve discovered.

You don’t have to be a technical whizz to launch a basic author website, it’s as easy as A-B-C. Here are the basics of what you should include:

a) Author bio and headshot

You’ll need an author bio and headshot for your book anyway, so it’s no extra work to add it to your website. Yes I know you’re shy/introvert/reserved/bashful (many authors are) – but you have to put yourself out there, to give your potential readers an opportunity to see who you are and read about you.

b) Information about your book

Don’t make it difficult for readers to find out information about your book. Either feature it on your home page or include a link to it in your sidebar. Today’s online world is full of readers with a short attention span, if they can’t find what they’re looking for quickly, they’ll go somewhere else.

Make sure to include how your book will help its readers. Remember, your book is a solution to their problems and pain points. Any content you write about your nonfiction books should be with your target audience in mind. How are you and your book going to help them?

c) Links to your social network

I have scoured through lots of author websites where the social links were broken or pointed to an invalid link. I had to search around on some websites to try and find the social icons, and even more websites where social links were missing. You don’t have to be everywhere, but you should be active somewhere.

Give yourself permission to just choose one social network to be active on. It’s better to be the master of one network than a failure on five. Once you’ve made your choice, make sure that you feature your links on your website and in your books, and include them anywhere you’re featured. For example, if you write a guest post on another website, including your social and website links means your guest article isn’t a dead end, it’s a pathway to a connection.

That’s it. 3 essential elements for your author website. Yes, you can do so much more on your author platform. But we’re just focused on essentials here. And these three things establish a solid foundation to market your book. 

Back to Basics – Social Media for Introverts

If you check my Birds of a Feather Press Facebook page you won’t find a lot of posts about my books, instead, you’ll find posts about how you can self-publish your books, market your books, and get inspired by other authors who have already written and published a book. Yes my books are featured in my header image, but the content I post is aimed at helping you achieve your goals, not me achieve mine (of selling more books).

I use a Facebook page to market to my audience, but some authors use their profile pages.

Here’s what the author, Bob Tarte, had to say in an interview with Jane Friedman, about how he uses Faceback.

I think Facebook is a great way to maintain a presence and keep people interested in what I’m doing without hitting them over the head with a hard sell … I’ve noticed other authors on Facebook who have fan pages only or in other ways limit their accessibility to their readers, and that’s exactly the opposite of what I do. Readers enjoy having direct and friendly access to an author that they like, and I’ve made some good online friends. — “How One Introverted Author Successfully Markets His Works“

If you’re confused about what you can be sharing on your social network, here’s some inspiration:

• Joanna Penn – Book Marketing: Social Media Tips For Introvert Authors
• Frances Caballo – How to Crush It on Social Media as an Introvert

Create content that helps your reader and spreads your expertise.

Back To Basics – get an Amazon Author Page

Oh how I lament when I find a book on Amazon that piques my interest, and when I click on an author name to find out more about them, it doesn’t lead to an Amazon Author Page.

What a wasted opportunity.

Please don’t be one of those authors.

Take the time to create your free author page on one of our world’s biggest online retailers. Yes I know it’s a pain that you have to set up your page by Amazon territory, but if your target audience is English speaking, then you have just reduced the required effort immediately.

Here’s more information about your Author Central page: https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/help?topicID=200649520

You’ll need to upload your headshot and author bio, but that’s no problem because it could be as simple as copying what you’ve already featured on your author website and in your book.

The other step is to claim your books to be featured on your page, which is as simple as searching for your book title or author name.

Your Amazon page is an opportunity to passively market your books. Readers will find your page if they’re interested in your book and want to know what else you’ve written and to read your bio (and sneak a peek at what you look like).

Don’t forget to add your website URL at the end of your Author Page bio, so your bio isn’t a dead end.

And that’s the key. Don’t let your author website, your Amazon Author page or your social media presence be a dead end. Each one needs to lead somewhere else, so you create a cycle of discovery.

Don’t make your readers have to work too hard to find out more about you or connect with you.

So that’s it. In a nutshell. Your Back to Basics recipe for successful book marketing includes:

1. 1 headshot
2. 1 author bio
3. 1 book
4. 1 social media network
5. 1 simple author website
6. 2 Amazon Author pages (U.S. and U.K.—there’s no Amazon Author pages in Australia)

Simple eh?

There is so, so, so much more you could do to optimize your author website, Amazon author page, and social network activity, but then we’re nudging towards the edge of overwhelm.

So in the short term, just focus on these six ingredients to establish your online presence and make it easy for fans of your writing and book(s) to find you.

Once you have that foundation in place, then it could be time to roll out the fancy footwork. (I’d highly recommend you start blogging, and then link your blog to your U.S. Amazon Author page, and feature your blog posts on your social network … but I’m getting ahead of myself here, and I don’t want to spin your head).

KISS … Keep It Simple Scribe!