Whether you are a self published author or you have had your book published by a book publishing company, it's still up to you to market your book effectively to produce maximum sales.
So where do you start?
Well first of all you need to publicize your book at least 4 months before the date of publication. Book reviewers and book store managers like to know about its existence well in advance so that they can prepare for its launch date.
And remember that readers are swamped by books all the time. Hundreds of thousands of titles are published every year, which means there is a new book available every few minutes.
And not only does your book have to fight for attention with all the other new books, but it also faces stiff competition from movies, TV, magazines, the internet and computer games, just to name a few.
So your marketing efforts have to single out your book as the most beneficial thing for your readers in amongst the sea of other competing interests.
So you need to create name recognition for yourself and your book so that you both stand out from all the rest.
Great publicity has been known to create huge sales for even weak books. And lack of publicity has caused great books to be overlooked.
Marketing as widely and as often as possible helps you to reach the widest audience. You can market your book through several different mediums, the most obvious of which are the newspapers. Local newspapers are usually always short of news, so a local author bringing out a new book will always cause a buzz. But you can always approach state and national newspapers too.
You can also use both local and national radio for publicity. There are also plenty of internet radio stations always looking for celebrity guests (such as authors) to interview.
You can also help drive sales by helping with promotions at book stores and doing author appearances. And don't forget to alert the local media when you do.
And don't think that publicity through television is out of your reach either. There are plenty of local and national news programs looking for items to fill their time slots.
You can also use all these mediums, and more, for placing advertisements about your book.
And sell your book by stressing the benefits for the reader. If it's a novel state why it's better than all the rest and how it will scare/touch/marvel the reader.
Of course it's easier to sell the benefits of your book if its non-fiction. Just make sure you list all the benefits and the value a reader will receive from owning a copy of your book.
Remember your readers are buying the benefits of owning your book, not the physical book itself.
So sing it's praises as far and wide as you can and let your book be known well in advance of it's publishing date so that people will be queuing up to buy it.
