A Primer For Online Book Marketing

The prospect of book marketing is often both exciting and daunting for first-time authors. Writing is a process that takes time, effort, and resources; seeing the finished product in print and available to buy makes all of the mental exertion seem well worth it. In order for a book to sell well, an effective online marketing strategy is required if the author hopes to make the book stand out from the rest. The Internet has brought revolutionary changes to the ways books are published, marketed, and sold. Potential readers are no longer constrained by the requirement to purchase a hard copy at a brick-and-mortar store; experienced authors and publishers are continually coming up with new marketing tips to take advantage of this fact.

Traditional book publishers routinely receive large volumes of requests to consider new material for acceptance and publication. Many have policies in place for not considering unsolicited manuscripts, so it is still in the new author’s best interest to enlist the services of a literary agent. Once a book is accepted for publication, countless marketing solutions are available thanks to the Internet. Although self-publishing is becoming more prevalent, authors who want their books to be substantially profitable still seek the additional marketing resources of a good publicist.

A simple online search for author marketing ideas yields thousands of results. A newly published book can gain quite a bit of exposure by what is known as viral marketing. At its most basic level, this entails the author setting up a website, blog, and at least two social networking platforms promoting his or her book. A good place to begin is to find online sources of the same or related subject matter and connect with the creators of this content. Creating a brief but enticing ad to place on the author’s various online pages will bring substantial interest in a book in a relatively short time.

Authors with a freshly published book may feel overwhelmed by the number of options for book marketing online. The actual process is rather simple; the most challenging part is spending the time deciding which electronic platforms work best for a book’s particular subject matter. The only cost to the author is the time needed to create the content for the marketing campaign. Indeed, becoming a published writer in the Information Age has broadened the possibilities for marketing books on a scale not seen since the invention of the printing press.