Many self-pubbed authors have fallen prey to book marketing pitfalls due to either half-baked efforts or lack of research. Becoming an author is hard work, being a self-published author more so—you get the picture. You can, however, work smart.
American media strategist, marketer, and author Ryan Holiday offers tried and tested book marketing tips, being instrumental behind the literary accomplishments of authors Tucker Max and Robert Greene, among others. He has also given noteworthy marketing advice to multiplatinum, award-winning musicians.
Ryan’s debut bestselling book Trust Me I’m Lying has earned numerous praises and is now taught in colleges around the world. Published in 16 languages and with two more books to his name, his career portfolio definitely speaks for itself.
Marketing begins in writing
Ryan believes that the most important book marketing phase takes place in writing.
The most common error I see authors make is they think of marketing as a separate and distinct animal from writing. They go into a cave for two years and write their book and only begin to think about marketing when they emerge. You have to understand that as an author you’re competing for attention with so much other media, you can’t afford to just sit on your ass and pray. Book marketing is such an essential part of the process. Seth Godin—and this might be an extreme view, I understand—says you should start marketing your book THREE YEARS before it comes out.
Take time to write something good
Most good things take time. If you have created something worth reading, then you will be rewarded with the best marketing you can have—word of mouth.
Books take time. The single best marketing decision you will make is to take the time to write an amazing book. Don’t worry about beating someone to market—think about owning the market by creating an indispensable book. Like Paul Graham says, “Make something people want.”
Novelty is key
He cites his first tell-all book Trust Me I’m Lying, which he has peppered with controversy as he reveals today’s media system and his role in it. The title alone has a very clever hook.
Do yourself a favor and choose to write a book with a totally new and unexpected hook. This bakes marketing and word of mouth into the content and sets you up for a perennial seller. The first place to start is the thesis or overarching idea of your book. Especially for nonfiction books, your thesis has to be a simple, spreadable, articulable idea to generate word of mouth. If your thesis is confusing or unclear it makes it very difficult to market. An unclear thesis also makes it hard for your readers to talk about it and recommend it to other people, which is the main thing that drives book sales.
More tips from Ryan are revealed on the second part of this Xlibris Author Advice.
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