How To Market Your Book Before You Finish Writing It

You’ve probably heard me say that marketing your book begins the minute you start writing. 

But how do you actually do that? 

When we think of marketing we think about promoting or encouraging people to buy our book. 

But effective modern marketing is so much more than that. It’s about connecting with people who are interested in the same things as you. 

Modern marketing is all about building relationships. This simple mindset adjustment makes it a lot less intimidating, don’t you think? 

I wanted to provide you with some actionable steps to get you put into practice today to set your new book up for success. 

I’ve talked about the three phases of book promotion: attraction, promotion, and follow-up. This fits into the attraction phase, which will mostly deal with your social media outlets. 

Think About Your Ideal Reader

As you begin to write your book, take a minute to think about the person that you’re writing for.  Sometimes your ideal reader is made up of a friend, a fan that you’ve gotten to know, or clients. Think about what they’re like, their personality, why they will like your book, and start writing down traits that come to mind. 

Jot your thoughts down as you go. If you’re having a hard time getting started, you can be your ideal reader. The idea is to step outside of yourself and look at your book and connecting with others from a different perspective. 

To learn more about identifying your ideal reader, sign up for our free Book Marketing Blueprint to help you get started.

Hobbies and Interests

Here’s the thing about marketing your book - you don’t need to keep your conversations exclusive to your books and writing. In fact, if you only talk about that with your readers it becomes very difficult to continue to create interesting and engaging topics to talk about. 

And, let’s be honest, it can get pretty boring. 

What I encourage you to do is to write down some of your hobbies and interests, and start weaving those into your social media posts and conversations. 

For example, an author that we’ve worked with recently wrote a memoir but she’s also interested in minimalism. So she incorporated posts, articles, and her experiences with minimizing their waste, and more into her social media posts. 

Another author we work with is very interested in health and wellness. He shares what he’s learning from his trainer, how he’s attempting to go vegan, and other health-related tips. 

His books have nothing to do with health and wellness, but his posts have opened up his reach and he’s connected to even more people who have become fans of his books and writing, who might not have otherwise. 

Put Yourself in Their Shoes

Here’s the truth about social media - it’s not about you, it’s about your readers. When a reader visits your social media pages, they are asking themselves, “What will I gain from this page?” So take off your writer’s hat and think like a reader. 

What do you respond to when you visit other social media pages? Why do you follow the people that you do? 

Look through the pages that you follow - and not just of other authors. Jot down what you respond to. Is it the images that they use? How they make you feel? What kind of content are they sharing? 

Write down your responses and think about how you can incorporate that into your own posts and marketing.

When you become aware and approach your social media from a different perspective, it opens up things up in a new way for you to really connect with your readers. 

Take Readers on the Journey With You 

Whether you’re researching topics, conducting interviews, or gathering information for your book, take your readers on the journey with you! You don’t have to divulge everything that you’re doing, but making your readers involved in the process creates anticipation and interest. 

And be sure to ask for their feedback. Maybe have a survey on a character’s name, ask what they think about a certain setting or situation. It’s a great way to test out your material and get a dialog rolling with your connections. 

When you apply this approach to your social media and marketing very early on in your writing process, you’ll find conversations develop easier, connections build, and when it’s time to release your book, it’s not a mad scramble to get the word out. 

Set aside 5-10 minutes a day to apply this and you’ll start to see results. 

If you want to go a step further and get all of the tools, resources, and help that you need to market your book, grow on social media, and sell more books - join The Author Circle membership!