Authors understand that marketing is a critical part of their work, even though it’s not always their favorite thing to do when compared to writing.

This guide provides 10 great ideas to help authors with their marketing plans.

Reach out to other authors on Instagram

Yes, there are a lot of dubious pages that offer to promote your work for a fee. However, there are legitimate authors who would be willing to read and review your book, or even buy it. Reina Cruz, author of Weird Fiction, is a great example – she also happens to be an English teacher, so her feedback is always helpful and constructive. Visit her website.

Join a writing group

I once took a screenwriting class in California and some of the writers in that class still give me feedback. My teacher even helped write for the movie Jaw and although he was harsher with his critiques, I took them and used them to enhance my craft for novel writing.

Start up a blog

I have used Medium in the past and have created a blog that hosted my adventure articles and journalistic work (aliceinwords.org). Currently, I have my blog on my personal website which also functions as a landing page for my books. Wherever you post your blog, be consistent with it. I post an article every week on my website and promote it on Linkedin and my author page on Facebook. If you don’t want to write your own blog, try writing for other companies where you share the same interests. I like brands like We Are Women World.  

books on brown wooden shelf

Host book signings at organizations

For instance, if you wrote a book about startups, host a book signing at an accelerator center. They often look for events for founders and investors and it’s an amazing way to network. If you’re currently in Switzerland like me, look into Fongit and their Café+Croissant events.

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Have your work professionally examined

You can find reviews for a fee, usually around $60 to $400. Plus, there are free sites like BookLife and Readers’ Favorite.

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Generate a mailing list

I’m still trying to get mine up and running. I use Mailchimp, and Substack is another option, though it’s pricey over the long-term, and the image layouts are limited.

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Set up a website

A great way to show off your work, and it’ll also let readers find you more easily. Also, remember to connect your Google Analytics to understand where your visitors come from.

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Setup a CRM

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is a great tool to use instead of a mailing list. Most CRM systems require payment, but there are free ones like Odoo.

Attend writing conferences

I attended the Writers’ Digest Conference in New York City, where I pitched my story ideas to agents and publishers and collected their personal email addresses for follow-up messages about my work. That’s also where I met amazing writers like Reina Cruz.

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Leverage email marketing

An email campaign is an excellent way to reach potential readers and update them on your writing. However, you need to be an adept copywriter. An easy-to-follow book on copywriting I found was The Copywriting Playbook by Carlos Redlich-Galindo – it has plenty of good examples.

With the help of these 10 handy marketing strategies for authors, getting the word out about your work becomes much simpler and you will build a larger audience in no time.

For more tips and tricks, and help with your authorship visit my IG page @alicehlidkova

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