SPA Girls Podcast SPA Girls Podcast – EP299 – Book Marketing On A Shoestring
Get Results Spending $100/month (or less!)
Marketing doesn’t have to mean Big Bucks spent on advertising. In fact, some of the best marketing you can do is free or low cost.
If you’re just starting out there probably isn’t much left in the budget for paid marketing. We’ve been there!
In this episode, we’ve dug deep to find all the tools we used instead of heavy investments—and some we still do.
One thing to note, you’ll need to invest something in your marketing—if it’s not money, it’s your time.
This episode we’ll cover:
* Revising keywords
* Tweaking your blurbs
* Reach out to other authors for Facebook group intro / newsletter swaps / social media interviews
* Writing another series “lead in” as a giveaway on bookfunnel
* Revise your Goodreads strategy (see our interview with Alessandra Torres for ideas – https://spagirls.libsyn.com/spa-girls-ep235-interview-with-alessandra-torre)
* Run some social media giveaways using ebook / bookfunnel
* Review your author bio
* Refresh your website and social media graphics with canva
* Create quotes from your books and book review quotes for social media on canva (for example)
* Join another social media platform and have fun – try Tik Tok – front facing videos “raw” are very popular and effective when done well. Free advertising!
* Set up a free store on a merchandise site like Cafe Press, create some “reader focussed” designs yourself in canva (eg quotes if you’re not artistic) and use them as giveaways and for sale
* Run a newsletter subscriber – specific poll or competition to encourage sharing of your social media posts
* If in KU, use your 5 day free runs on Bk1s and run as many ads as you can afford on Day 1 with smaller advertiser lists like book vixens, book sends, book gorilla etc.
* Paid per click ads like bookbub ads, Facebook ads and AMS ads generally cost more than $100/month so we’re focusing on lower priced ad lists with free book, concentrated over the 5 days, to give you a sales boost on back list
* Box set your existing series books to create another product
* Research the top 100 of your genre every day for the next 90 days – see who’s on top, who’s upcoming, what covers and what blurbs are selling. There’ll be things you can learn in there.
*Not selling? Get honest feedback on whether you’re hitting the market tropes / reader expectations / cover expectations from other authors before you invest more time and energy into writing something off market
*Goal is to make more money so you can invest back into your business. The key is investing in Great Product though, so all the effort you put in now into understanding your market and your readers will pay off big time in the future
-write a bonus epilogue that readers must sign up for your email newsletter to download.
Try doing it in public – start a blog about your journey into publishing and try to engage with fans right from the start.
Create a journey for your readers on social media – plan out a campaign that takes them from being not interested, to being engaged. How do you do that? People love to talk about themselves, ask them engaging questions.
Know your brand/readers really well. Look for the places where they’ll be. Think outside the box in terms of finding readers. If you have a book that is set on a boat, look for boating magazines that might be interested in featuring you.
Go live. Remember people don’t want perfect.
Be vulnerable. Don’t be afraid to be who you really are. People want authenticity over perfection. We hate feeling like something is too slick.
Approach local media outlets. HARO.
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More resource links mentioned:
If This Then That https://ifttt.com
Cafe Press https://www.cafepress.com
Society Six https://society6.com
SPA Girls Episode with Lucy Score http://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/spa-girls-podcast-ep284-lucy-score-talks-reader-groups-releases-and-relationships/
Kindletrends http://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/spa-girls-podcast-ep281-kindletrends-with-nat-connors/
SPA Girls Episode with Kaye Kennedy http://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/spa-girls-podcast-ep283-interview-with-kaye-kennedy/
SPA Girls Episode with Danielle Romero http://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/spa-girls-podcast-ep260-interview-with-danielle-annett/
Help A Reporter Out : https://www.helpareporter.com
Facebook Group: 20BooksTo50K https://www.facebook.com/groups/20Booksto50k
Amazon Decoded by David Gaughran: https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Decoded-Marketing-Kindle-Publishing-ebook/dp/B08F7ZXZ78