Whether you’re a self-published author or an author at a publishing house, there’s a wide array of marketing tactics you can use to get a book more exposure and reach more readers. To spark inspiration and get those creative juices flowing, we put together 54 book marketing ideas.
Some of these ideas can help you directly increase book sales, while others may help ramp up an author’s platform, which can lead to future sales.
Not all of these ideas will be applicable all the time, but these can help you brainstorm when developing your own marketing plan!
1- Create an author website: Your site should be a marketing tool that serves as the hub of all your online activity, from blogging to selling books to emailing a newsletter to participating in social media. Use a platform like WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix to easily build a site.
2- Set up a blog on your site: Provide a “behind the scenes look” for readers by blogging once or twice a month. Fans will love the insight into your personality and writing process, and anything you post is fodder for your next email to subscribers.
3- Link to your published books: Create a site page linking to your books to make it easy for readers to discover all the titles you’ve written. Include cover images, brief elevator pitches, and links to multiple retailers so readers can purchase your books wherever they shop.
4- Brand your homepage with your newest release: Publicize your latest work on your website by updating the header or banners of your homepage so readers who visit will become aware of your new release. Consider including blurbs instead of a synopsis to intrigue visitors.
5- Build a mailing list on your site: Include a simple form on your homepage, your website pages, and/or your blog’s sidebar asking for visitors’ email addresses. Collecting email addresses lets you build relationships with people who want to hear from you.
6- Welcome new subscribers with an auto-response: When people subscribe to updates from you via your website, send them a welcome email including either a link to a permafree eBook, sample chapters, or some sort of freebie as a “thank you” for signing up.
7- Customize your Author Profile: Make sure your Amazon Author Profile is up-to date so fans and potential readers can learn more about you and your books.
8- Claim your social media profiles: Grab your username on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Even if you don’t have active profiles on each site, at least claim your name and direct people who visit to your most active social media profile instead.
9- Link to your website and Amazon Author profile: Once you’ve created a website and claimed your Amazon Author Profile, make sure that people can find these assets by linking to them on your email signature and bio sections on your social media profiles.
10- Hire a cover designer: A great cover design can have a major impact on your sales numbers. It’s usually worth hiring a professional to create a polished cover that appeals to readers in your genre. We recommend IndieGraphics for ebooks and paperback books Cover design.
11- Unify cover designs in a series: Create consistent branding between books in a series to make purchasing decisions easy for readers. A unified cover and title style created by a graphic designer like IndieGraphics often helps readers to recognize connected titles and encourages them to purchase subsequent books.
12- Re-Launch a book with a new cover: Redesigning a book cover can be a great way to reinvigorate book sales. It gives you the opportunity to “re-launch” your book according to the ever-evolving tastes of genre readers. With IndieGraphics you can get 5 new cover variations for your book, and then you can choose your favorite new book cover.
13- Make book samples end on a cliffhanger: For example, on Amazon, users can download the first 10% of a book for free or read it on-site via the “Look Inside” feature. This gives you the opportunity to score a sale if the reader wants to continue after the sample.
14- Cross-promote books in the back matter: Include a list of all your titles in each of your books’ back matter. Update this back matter whenever you launch a new release.
15- Include an excerpt in the back matter: Immediately after the acknowledgements, include the first chapter of the next book in the series, or one of your popular backlist books. Bookend this excerpt with links to purchase that book.
16- Link to your mailing list in the back matter: On your “About the Author” page, encourage readers to sign up for your mailing list. If they sign up, you’ll be able to contact them any time you want to promote your backlist titles, new releases, giveaways, price promotions, etc.
17- Include target keywords on book/product pages: Narrow down a list of 5-7 keywords your audience typically searches for, then incorporate these words into your description headline, description copy, and keyword sections on each of your book/product pages.
18- Choose relevant sub-categories for your book: By targeting the most relevant sub-genres for each of your books, you’ll increase your chances of being on the retailer bestseller charts for a specific category, which could drive higher sales volume. You’ll also avoid disappointing readers who were expecting something different.
19- Tie different versions of your book together: Different authors and platforms use different systems, but find a way to connect your print edition with your ebook, audiobook, and international editions. This ensures that visitors to your product page can easily purchase the format they prefer.
20- Make books available for pre-order: On the retailers that allow them like Amazon, you may want to get your future titles up for pre-order as soon as possible. This way you can include the cover of the next book in the back matter of your existing books with a link to the pre-order page.
21- Make books available internationally: With growing book sales and millions of readers, international markets can be attractive targets for authors and publishers looking to expand their potential readership. Optimize your cover design for each region and reach out to relevant local bloggers who can help spread the word.
22- Publish a multi-author anthology: Partner with other authors to create an anthology of novellas or short stories. If you promote the collection to your audiences, you can each increase your exposure by reaching the other authors’ audiences.
23- Write a killer elevator pitch: Write a concise, snappy elevator pitch that shows what the book is about, what kind of world readers will be immersed in, why readers should care, and what accolades the book and author have received. A strong elevator pitch will make your book more enticing to readers deciding whether or not to purchase.
24- Create images for teasers and quotes: You can easily turn your quotes into vibrant images with the help of a graphic designer like IndieGraphics. Publish these teasers to your website and social media accounts in the weeks and months prior to a book’s release.
25- Ask readers to review your book in your back matter: A high number of reviews makes a book more enticing to potential readers. We found that when a book has at least 150 five-star reviews on Amazon or Goodreads, including the number of five-star reviews in the copy increased clicks an average of 14.1%.
26- Run book giveaways: Book giveaways can take various forms, including blog tours or contests on your blog or Facebook page. Providing free copies to your most loyal fans in exchange for an honest review can help a new book get traction, plus it rewards them for their loyalty.
27- Add a free eBook sampler to retailer sites: Upload the sampler as its own eBook with a separate product page and make it clear in the title and description that this is just a sample — the first chapter or first few chapters of your book — to avoid disappointing readers. On the last page, include a link to purchase the full copy.
28- Upload a PDF sample to your website: Once people download it, it’s okay if the PDF is distributed outside of your control since it’s just a sample. In fact, you should hope it gets as many eyeballs on it as possible! On the last page, include a link to purchase the full copy.
29- Create and distribute swag: If you can be creative and unique, swag can be an effective marketing tool, especially if it ties into your story in some way. Remember: everyone gives away bookmarks and bookplates. Consider your target audience, and think about what they would have a real use for that relates to your book.
30- Submit your book as an award contender: Find relevant or genre-specific awards and submit your book for consideration. Try for recognizable awards.
31- Temporarily discount a backlist book to drive sales: Choose as low a price as possible to drive the highest volume of sales. 95% of bargain readers have purchased a book from an author unknown to them because of an eBook price promotion.
32- Promote a full-priced book in the discounted book’s back matter: Authors see a 3x higher increase in sales of other books in their series if links are included in the back matter of the discounted book.
33- Discount the first book in your series: Hook new readers into a series by pricing low. 77% of bargain readers buy full-priced eBooks, so getting them hooked on a series via a discount often leads to full-priced sales later.
34- Create a permafree gateway book: For example, the first book in a series can be permafree as a gateway to the rest of your series — Amazon readers are 10x more likely to click on a book that’s offered for free than a discounted book.
35- Run a price promo when you launch a new release: If you’re promoting a new release, running a price promotion for one of your backlist books can help drive sales for your new book.
36- Email your mailing list when your book launches: Reach out to fans who have opted in to receive communication from you. You can also reach out to them and let them know about an imminent release. Use an exclusive look at the first chapter to get them excited.
37- Later, email the ones who clicked: The people who opened or clicked on the book launch email are the most engaged people on your list. They will be most likely to make the purchase or even write a review of the book. Reach out and ask if they’ve read it yet. Let them know you value their opinion and would sincerely appreciate an honest review.
38- Promote your book on relevant blogs: Compile a list of book bloggers and reviewers who regularly review books, interview authors, or feature guest posts from authors in your genre. Coordinate with them to promote giveaways or publish reviews or author interviews.
39- Partner with other authors to run themed promotions: For example, if your publishing imprint or group of friends has three fantasy books featuring fae, coordinate price promotions, themed blog posts, and social media parties. Packaging these books promotionally helps each book gain exposure across the other authors’ platforms.
40- Answer relevant questions on Quora: If you’ve written a nonfiction book or have become a subject-matter expert via research you’ve done for your fiction book, follow relevant topics on Quora and answer questions as you see fit. Include the link to your book in your Quora bio.
41- Time your campaigns with current events: If you can strategically promote a book during specific seasons, an annual event, or when something pops in the media, take advantage of that opportunity and be a part of the conversation.
42- Link to your newest release: Find a high-visibility place to link to your book. Examples many authors choose include your personal email signature, Twitter bio, Facebook page bio, and LinkedIn bio. Update these assets whenever you release a new book.
43- Contribute guest blog posts related to your book: Reach out to blogs focused on your genre with recent posts, lively comments, and an active social media presence. If they’d like to accept a post from you, create valuable and original content, and carefully edit each of your posts to make sure you’re delivering polished content.
44- Participate in relevant interviews: Agree to participate in interviews that would effectively reach your target audience. Interviews can be a great way to share your perspectives without needing to write much original content. Take advantage of these opportunities to increase awareness of your author brand and your books.
45- Run targeted social media Ads: Sites like Facebook and Twitter let you target ads to a fine-tuned audience based on preferences users have expressed on those social platforms. This lets you advertise the discount to people interested in similar books or genres.
46- Brand your Facebook cover photo: 69% of readers use Facebook to find information about their favorite author, and 88% of readers follow their favorite author on Facebook. Update your cover photo with branding for your latest book to make sure everybody who comes to the page knows about it.
47- Make your blog posts easy to share: Make it easy for fans to share your book news and other blog posts by optimizing each post for social sharing. Use tools like AddThis or ShareThis to add social sharing buttons alongside each post, and ClickToTweet to create clickable tweets.
48- Make each social media post visual: Tweets with images get 150% more retweets, and Facebook posts with images account for 87% of total interactions. Instead of text-only updates, include an image photo of the book’s cover or a teaser quote. This will encourage fans to click, share, or like. Graphic designer like IndieGraphics can help.
49- Pin important updates: You can pin important announcements about new releases, sales, or contests to the top of your Facebook page and Twitter profile. You only need to post the content once, then you can simply pin it for higher visibility!
50- Hold book signings at bookstores & conferences: Signings can help drive word-of-mouth exposure and reviews. Don’t feel obligated to give away your books for free. Many authors sell books during their signings.
51- Print business cards to hand out at events: Always carry around something to hand out to potential readers who want to buy your book later. You can create postcard-sized handouts or business cards people can stick in their wallets, with a URL to visit your website and purchase your books.
52- Pitch your book as a holiday gift: Depending on the type of book you’re promoting, the giftable nature of a physical book may help boost print book sales especially around the holidays. Consider timing your price promotions and ad campaigns around holiday or special, relevant events to boost sales and visibility.
53- Donate books to people who can spread the word: If you write middle grade books, consider donating a few copies of your book to a summer camp, children’s hospital, or school libraries. If you write books that appeal to an older demographic, donate to retirement homes, hospitals, and community centers. This can help spark future word-of-mouth sales.
54- Continue publishing new books: Nothing sells backlist like frontlist! Continually publishing new books will help you garner a wider audience that will be interested in your other books.