Effective Marketing Ideas For Self-Published Authors

Written By: Dora Houston

Anyone can get a book published today through self-publishing and get exposure to a certain extent. The first and foremost principle in marketing of one’s own book is to figure out where the potential readers are going. The author has to stand in front of them. Depending on the content or topic of his book he also needs to check which are the websites the readers are seeing, which magazines or blogs they refer to, and what are the most popular sites for information sharing. Then, as a second step, the author should get involved with those venues. This is the beginning of marketing which authors should do in order to get exposure as a writer.

Practical steps authors should take while marketing their works:

• A feasible way to get the target audience for your book is doing some research and hard work. At the outset, the writer has to start checking out keywords and topics.
• The author should also do reviews on Amazon and Good Reads. He can get involved in Pinterest and Flickr. Online book marks can be created. Social networking sites like Face book and Twitter can also prove useful for this marketing purpose.  
• As a writer if you get endorsements for your manuscript it is worth to go ahead with it. It is indeed pleasant to hear a bestselling author or a celebrity talking nice things about your work. The point to note here is that an endorsement has to be by someone recognizable- a celebrity, speaker, author, recognized expert etc. It should not be given by a mere nobody.
• Writing for free in order to get exposure is a good idea. The social media and blogging are the post-modern forms of writing which most people like. Writing guest posts on a high-quality blog can provide the author with a new audience for his work and good-quality links too. For the social proof one can post on a blog for free. When a writer writes for a particular site his prominence and credibility increases. This is exactly the reason why bloggers write for major news outlet blogs though they are not paid much.

1. Writers can also send their books and write ups to various publishers and especially to peer-reviewed journals. If the publisher asks for one article you, as a writer, should be able to send two or three.  In the initial struggling phase of your writing career your goal should be to convert a small group of the publisher’s audience into your own. A repeated presence of an author will do that, but there is a chance of that audience dying out very soon. These are the parts of the initial phase in any writer’s career.
2. It is a very feasible option to write a blog or express your view points through a Twitter account. Regular users of social media will definitely have a glance at what you post. It will generate visibility to a certain extent.
3. An author can monetize his audience through advertisements and he can also promise the publishers that he brings the audience with him. Writing for exposure can be done by adopting various methods. But the writers who venture it should keep in mind the fact that it is a time consuming process. Overnight success is just impossible in this regard.

There are different types of writing which are determined based on the writer’s plans and interests. The four major types of writing are expository, descriptive, persuasive and narrative writing. A writer’s style is a reflection of his personality. His unique style, his voice, his approach towards his audience and readers will be represented in his writings. Gaining exposure is an utmost thing for all writers because they grow and get reputation only with exposure.

Author Bio: Dora Houston is currently working as a writing expert at movie review writing service, an online platform for dissertation help and other writing assistance. She also provides help to students on career possibilities and other academic success related topics. Besides, she enjoys writing about current trends and innovations in education, technology, motivation and traveling.