POINTERS ON PUBLISHING Five reasons you should invest in marketing
YOU ARE mistaken if you think marketing is not essential to taking you to the next level. Maybe you are thinking that it’s not worth the time, money and effort because no one will want your book anyway. Maybe you’re thinking that the returns wouldn’t be in your favour given the cost to expend, or maybe it would take too long to see the returns. Either way, you are trying to convince yourself not to do it. the real question to ask is why did you write the book in the first place and what did you really expect to happen?
It all starts with your expectation, or as Simon Sinek says in the title of his book, Start With Why
I have listed below with some brief explanations why you should invest in marketing. A strategic approach to getting the word out, building awareness and educating your market on why your book would add value to them and their lives. 1. How would your market know you exist?
I have mentioned this time and time again. Just because your book is published and listed on Amazon doesn’t mean your audience knows you are there, unless of course, you have mentioned it to the few friends, colleagues and family members or posted it on your Facebook page. Outside of this close circle, you want to generate sales because if you were to wait for your inner circle to support you, the moon would turn blue!
Extensive marketing is necessary to reach your market specifically catered for what you have to offer. That would mean market segmentation and knowing the socio-demographics of your target market. 2. How would you attract potential investors, agents, reviews or even contracts?
Let’s say you don’t generate sales, boo-hoo. Think of the bigger picture and long-term rewards. There is always the possibility that someone may come across your book and may want to invest in it, or an agent may be interested in offering you a publishing contract. A movie deal may even be offered to you! You just never know.
I have one client who this is happening to. She has been approached to turn her book into a movie, as well as to do readings at book clubs and other events. Reviews are critical to getting even more sales for your work. When someone checks out your book and see what others have said, this bolsters the confidence of the buyer. 3. What else can you use as leverage to build your credibility and power to negotiate?
So you don’t market your work at all. You got nada! Nothing to work with to even start a discussion or leverage to build credibility. When I did my first book, I tested the marketing and was No. 2 on Amazon’s Bestseller List in the category I was in, and I entered a book competition that allowed me to win. Just highlighting one of the ways you can also approach your marketing that will allow you to have something to talk about when you’re networking in your groups or even if your asked to speak at an event. You need to have something in hand to negotiate with should you be approached or the opportunity presents itself. 4. How else can you build relationships with your audience?
While you may have done your research and decided on the marketing approaches you should use to get the word out, you will soon realise that once you implement those approaches, you get to learn even more about your audience. Marketing is dynamic and the environment is evolving in just the same way, your target audience is evolving. So to keep up, you need to stay close to the pulse to know what’s going on where, when and with whom, that is, the influencers in your market. These are the trending people who everything happens around and impacts the responses of the rest of your market. Building relationships can be an exciting journey with marketing as you see where you were compared to where you are now and where you are going and with whom.
Your network and inner circle will change over time, and you will start to see growth and development not only within yourself but also the business behind your book or service that you are offering. 5. What other approach offers a myriad of tools that can be customised to suit your needs?
Marketing today offers you a multiplicity of methods to reach your target audience; especially given the Internet and social media. No longer is there one way to do things. The adage, “there is more than one way to skin a cat” applies here. The cool thing is testing new ways can lead to positively unexpected results. Forest Gump, said it right,” Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.”
The thing is there are no guarantees with marketing, only that you will get some sort of results which you can now work with and tweak to improve the results you want to get. Have fun with marketing. It’s worth it.
I Wildnerness monique.murray@ gleanerjm.com.
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