There’s hardly a person out there who hasn’t heard of the Harry Potter series, even before the movies came out. Your book can get on the track to become famous, too, with these four tips.
Write on a new topic or take a new approach on a topic.
In order to break through the clutter and stand out from all of the other books out there and new ones hitting the market, you need to write about a new topic or address a topic in a new light. Just as with marketing a product, you need to find what makes your book unique, fresh and intriguing.
If you’re not sure about the topic you’ve selected, run it by some peers whose opinions you trust and value, almost like a mini focus group.
Create a community and following.
With the popularity of social media, you have an opportunity to create your own community with followers interested in your book’s topic or characters, as well as leverage existing communities to spread the word about your book. Use these communities to grow, engage and maintain a dialogue.
There needs to be a balance, though, in these communities so that it’s not just self promotion about your book or constant pushes to buy the book. This will drive people away and do the opposite of establishing a following. Instead, focus on common interests and building a rapport. Then, the promotion of the book will come naturally and organically and will be much better received. You can do this in a strategic way by keeping them apprised of the latest developments or progress on your book, releasing a sneak peek of the first chapter, etc.
Build anticipation and excitement with publicity.
Use publicity through the media, such as news coverage and exclusive author interviews, to build anticipation and excitement. Get your target audience—that is, those who you hope will buy or read your book—excited about the release of your book. Set and share milestones that they can expect, such as a countdown until the release of a special edition of the book or the availability of a poster. With a strategic public relations or publicity plan, you can gain news coverage and articles on these milestones that will help grow your book’s popularity.
Leverage the power of book reviews.
Just as you build anticipation and excitement with publicity, harness the power of book reviews with leading bloggers. Do some research to identify popular and relevant blogs that cover your genre and create a list of blogs to reach out to for book reviews. Build an outreach plan for contacting the list of bloggers and creating a pitch for the book review, including establishing a timeline. Ask the company you’re working with for book printing to see if you can get advance copies of your book to provide bloggers for their reviews. Make sure to track the pitches and monitor any articles or blog posts that are published with a review of your book.
These reviews are excellent articles to share with your community and followers, by engaging them and asking for their opinions, too.