You are publishing a book and are working on a marketing plan to ensure your book reaches readers. As you develop your marketing plan, you might wonder if digital marketing is a smart choice for you. Amanda Hocking is an example of someone who has done it well. She self-published her Trylle series and engaged heavily with her readers online. The result? The New York Times reported this series earned over a million dollars in sales.
Whether you publish traditionally or independently and regardless of your genre of writing all authors can be helped by digital marketing. However, some genres will benefit more than others. Which ones? The answer is based on the readership. There are some questions to ask yourself as you consider digital marketing plans. Do your potential readers adopt new technology early on? Do your fans participate in social networks, and which ones. Are they Twitterers, Facebookers or part of the LinkedIn crowd? Perhaps your readers have a thriving blogging community or they may like to participate in forums and e-mail groups. Would your potential readers like thoughtful blogs or short micro blogs? Your digital marketing efforts will be greatly helped by understanding the habits of your readers. Hocking leveraged her fan base, an active blogging community, by reaching out to them through her blog at AmandaHocking, Hocking knew her readers were participating in digital platforms in a big way, but she also knew what they like to read. With the success of Stephanie Meyer’s juggernaut series Twilight, Hocking saw a strong demand for urban fantasy stories. She had a deep understanding of the desires of her fan base. You must have an extensive understanding of your fan base to be successful with digital marketing. This understanding will be the cornerstone of your digital marketing campaign.
Another successful self-published author is J. A. Konrath. An author of thrillers, he was first published traditionally in 2003, but he wanted to move forward with a backlog of unpublished work. His blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, will help new authors navigate the waters of the self-publishing journey. Konrath encourages authors to jump into self-publishing. Why? E-book sales are rising. E-reader sales are sky rocketing. The digital marketplace is the future of books. Traditional publishers are moving very slowly toward these new platforms. Innovators are taking the lead. Every author must take lessons from these pioneers make their books successful.
Should you invest time and effort in digital marketing? Use the following tests: Take time to identify your readers’ habits. Learn what they want. Also, be aware of rapid changes in the publishing market. With these things in mind, you can assess the advantages of using digital marketing to publicize your book.