Niche Marketing is important for authors because you’ll need to get your message out – and not only to sell books. You likely want to make a difference; entertain, educate, or inspire others. The only way to do that properly is to reach a niche market and promote your book, so read these marketing tips.
A lot of marketers say it’s easy, but it’s easier still to procrastinate. So first, you’ll need to put yourself on a ‘social media diet’. More on that soon.
Let’s get into the Niche Marketing Tips!
To niche, you need to set a theme and research a target reader, or avatar. To know this group really well, find out:
- What words do they use? We can use similar language in promotions
- What books do they usually read… eBooks or print or audio?
- Age, occupation, location?
- What pain points do they have?
Us humans want to move away from pain – and towards pleasure. This is something you need to think about when marketing. We like funny, we like entertaining, and also inspiring, ‘wow’ facts, and personal revelations.
Take the Good from Facebook
Try to look at your Facebook feeds in a new light. Put yourself on a social media diet… that is, only absorb learnings about promotional ideas, rather than just view or comment randomly. Some of the better ideas you can note down to later put into action.
What have you tried for promoting your books? I’ve tried raffles via Facebook groups, but that did not seem to use the niche audience idea. I’ve also tried listings on BookLife (review), Scribd, Goodreads and a BookBub author profile.
If you want traction with these, you either have to build relationships or pay-to-play. And it’s easy to commit money to advertising that doesn’t result in net sales or influence. Hence, the free niche marketing tips included here.
Press Releases, Story Pitches, or Article Writing
WHEN PROMOTING: Put your news media hat on and think of news topics or charitable days that tie in with your book. Get a story pitch ready for the topic or day (see p.12 in my Niche Marketing guide) – and get ready to write or talk!
If that’s not for you, there’s several other ways you can use your skills to put the word out. If it’s a fiction book, you might try writing a story for one of the writer’s magazines. There are a dozen or more listed at Australian Writers Marketplace online. ($25 subscription). Another place to get in the spotlight is a magazine like Coaching Life.
Need a hand with writing an article or press release? Power of Words is equipped to handle this, with ten years’ experience in copywriting of all kinds.
Book Promotions to a Niche
It’s a big mistake to WAIT to promote your book when you launch it. If you wait, you’ll have less time for momentum to build. You can start promoting when you’ve got the book outline and readership analysis done. Even before that, start building your Social Media presence and Blog. Here’s three ways:
- Seek an endorsement – a way to get in touch with lost contacts or make new ones.
- Similar authors may welcome a guest post on their blog. It’s all in how you pitch it to them.
- Blog on relevant sub-topics and use a social media scheduler to keep promoting those posts every month.
You can use a paid scheduler or just copy/paste this week’s clever insights and pictures into Facebook posts, using its built-in Scheduler. One per day is ideal.
One tool I particularly like is Zoho Social, which can be free (if upgrading to SmartScheduler it’s $16 – 22 p.m.)
Why have a Niche Author Blog?
An author website will help the media find you and potential readers read about your book and your reason for being. (Read how to set up an author blog). My blog helps readers find my books and understand the value I provide as an editor/producer.
Giving talks, personal networking, and asking for author interviews also helped book sales. But I regret I didn’t have launch parties and missed out on the fun of that. Or tried podcasting—but it’s never too late for being a guest on relevant podcasts.
Try to use every tool in your own wheelhouse, but make your topics relevant to what you sell.
Sum up: ‘Niche Marketing Tips’
You can choose to do a little – like posting themed articles to a blog and to your social media, with witticisms. Or do a lot – full force with a news media campaign, book video trailer, author website, launch event, and unique quotes for Instagram.
Whatever you do, tie it back to whatever your target reader is interested in, in your niche.