Marketing, in today’s industry is one of the most
important aspect of ensuring the success of your work. Along with a loyal
audience, solid content, cover design and book reviews are key in ensuring
survivability of your work. If one is to google the word "marketing"
you can easily find over 2,350,000,000 sites that are linked to this one word
alone.
One can only wonder how it is
possible to cover such a broad area, and create an effective plan from
overwhelming data. There are webinars, marketing analysts, conferences, books,
ebooks, and the list goes on and on, about the ways to market your work. To
keep this simple, I am going to share with you, a few areas that you should
focus on, as a novice author. By doing this, you can save time, discover your
niche in the world of marketing, and employ the most effective techniques to
your plan.
Not every method to market a
product will work for what you have. Only you can know your audience best. They
are a vast array of people from places around the world with a multitude of
thoughts and opinions. They are the people who love, support, and believe in
what you are doing. This brings me to my first step; get to know your audience.
You do not want a so-called
"fan-base." This term has little meaning, and holds no real value.
How does one determine a fan? By the number of copies sold? No. By the amount
of people who click "like" on your post on twitter or Facebook? No.
There is no real method to determine a fan-base. However, one thing that I
would like you, as an author, to focus on is the term I have been referring to
throughout this post thus far; Audience.
Your audience is the group of
people who make up the support network for your work. They are the ones that
use the most valuable form of marketing, which is also the most priceless.
Figured it out yet? Its word of mouth. Your mother, tells your cousin about
your latest book. They buy it and they continue to buy your work because they
know you and love what you do. This example of mother to cousin information
distribution can be used in all circles. People will talk about stuff they like
and things they don't to just about anyone. This is because, as humans, we are
selfish by nature and we always end up referring to our likes or dislikes in
some manner. Capitalize on this! Get word of mouth going through your audience!
How does one do this? Simple,
be proactive with your audience. Answer their emails, Facebook messages, or
what have you. Write a simple thank you note to the first person who leaves a
positive remark about your book on Amazon. Stay active within your community
and your audience will build.
Do not underestimate the power
of social media. Google the company "Lujure" and look what they have
to offer. They can take your average social media page and turn it into a place
where you can track, do business, sell your book, reach out to more people.
They are amazing and if you are an author, and have yet to open a Facebook or
twitter account, stop reading this and go do so immediately.
If you are an author, you will
encounter negativity and criticism at some point. You should know that at all
times, if someone criticizes you, use the negative in a positive way. Maybe
something negative is said and you can turn that comment into something really
positive.
Finally, do what I am doing right
now, BLOG! Even if you are not good at it. Blog twice a week and keep doing it.
Build your audience and stay in contact with other bloggers. It is said that
the moment you start writing the first word in your book is the time to start
marketing your work.
Anthony Farina
https://www.facebook.com/anthony.farina.526?ref=tn_tnmn
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