This is a common question I’m asked by authors-in-the-making, “When should I start marketing my book?”
My answer is, “Optimally, before you even write the first word.”
That’s right, the biggest mistake I see authors make is not considering their marketing from the inception.
A lot of people are shocked when I say that. Probably because they’re scared to start marketing something they haven’t even begun writing yet. What if they aren’t able to do it? What if they say they’ve got a book coming and they can’t get it done? What if they look like a fool in the process?
You don’t have to actually announce that you’re writing the book to start marketing. What you want to do is start marketing the concepts of the book and building a platform around it. This does several things:
- It helps you get to know your audience BEFORE you write the book. Books that change lives are written FOR an audience you know, love and care about.
- It helps your audience get to know you and build anticipation for the forthcoming book.
- When you’re ready to launch your book, your tribe will help you create an instant best-seller.
- You create more than a book, you create a MOVEMENT that has the potential to catch fire and create impact and leave a legacy.
Here are 6 ways to create excitement about your book now.
Write Blogs on the Subject of the Book
Blogs are a great way to actually start writing your book. I’ve written over 25 books and most of the non-fiction ones started out as a series of articles or blog posts. Blogging about your subject helps you flesh out your thoughts and get reader feedback. You learn what’s important to people, what’s catchy, what’s going to go viral.
Start Facebook Discussions Around Your Book Topic
Facebook posts and discussions are one of THE best ways to research a book and see how in-demand your subject will be. It can help you in how you word what your book is about. It can help you hone the way you speak to your audience. Try a series of short 40-60 character posts that ask Yes/No questions about your topic. This will get people talking and you will get ideas for chapter subjects and content angles. You’ll have your finger on the pulse of your market.
Create a Facebook Community on Your Book Subject
My Light the World: How Your Brilliance Can Shift the Planet was a barn-raising effort of a hand-picked Facebook group. The material and the concepts were mine, but the group contributed at least 11 stories that illustrated my points. They helped me find the front cover graphic, edit the book, and gave me feedback and direction. By using previous articles and blogs I’d written and the input from the group, I wrote and published that book in only 30 days! By the way, I show you how I did this in my Create A WOW Book Program.
Create a Virtual Summit on the Book Subject
I’m currently working on a marriage book for entrepreneurial women. I interviewed 19 successful, happily married women entrepreneurs and recorded those interviews. They became the basis for a 2-week virtual summit and these interviews are going into the content of the book. In the process of doing a summit, I built a list around my upcoming book subject. Which is my next suggestion…
Build a Mailing List on Your Book Topic
Whether you use the virtual summit model I used or whether you come up with an informative freemium (free gift to subscribers) on your subject, you can start building a list long before you write the first word. Your freemium could be an informative video series, special report, audio/PDF combination, etc.
Speak on the Subject of the Book
I created a women’s retreat and conducted several free speaking events before I even thought to write my Light the World book. I began creating a community of individuals who believed in the concept of lighting the world. I built my tribe years before the book came into being. Perhaps that’s why it only took 30 days to write. It was being written “in the background” of my mind all along and the momentum of the tribe propelled it forward.
To learn more about how to create a platform and even a movement around your book, click here.
About Marnie Pehrson Kuhns
Marnie Pehrson Kuhns is a Certified SimplyAlign Practitioner™ who uses music and creativity to mentor you past barriers, fears and doubts to discover, create, align with, and deliver your soul’s song (the mission, message or purpose you are on this earth to live). Marnie is a best-selling author with 31 fiction and nonfiction titles. If you'd like Marnie and her husband Dave to work with you personally on Your Great Reinvention, get a FREE 20-minute strategy session with Marnie here.
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