3 Practical Book Promotion Strategies For Your New Book

You have probably read about many different book promotion strategies. But three elements are always practical and effective for a new book.

You will spend a lot of time and effort promoting your new book after publishing.

But unless you get the foundations right before you publish, you might waste a lot of time, effort, and money.

The most effective strategy is to plan carefully and start your book promotion well before publishing your book.

Book promotion strategies that work

The most worthwhile ways to market and promote your new book should be in place well ahead of your book launch.

One of the biggest mistakes new authors can make is starting to think about book promotion after publishing a book.

Yes, you always need to spend time promoting a new book.

But without a plan and a solid foundation, you can waste so much of your time.

You will spend all your days on social media and writing lots of new blog posts.

It is usually ineffective because your reach is very limited.

You only have so many social contacts and blog readers.

However, three essential strategies for promoting your book are always practical and effective.

You want to make sure your book has plenty of pre-publishing reviews. It also needs to be discoverable by user search and appear regularly on social media and your website.

Let’s look at each element in more detail.

1. Get your book reviews ready before day one

Book reviews are the best social proof you can have for a new book.

But getting reviews is hard work and one of the toughest tasks for any author.

You have to beg, cajole, and pester as many people as you possibly can for reviews.

Waiting for reviews to appear organically for your book is painfully slow.

You need to have your book reviewers ready to post on day one or even before.

If you look at books coming soon on Amazon, you will see some already have reviews.

I’m sure you can guess which of these three self-published books has the best chance of success.

Another aspect is that your book can have two types of reviews: customer reviews and editorial reviews.

Yes, it’s challenging work getting customer reviews. But it’s very easy for you to add your editorial reviews.

If possible, try to aim for at least ten people who will be ready to post customer reviews for your new book before you publish.

Also, add five or six editorial reviews to your book page. You can do this when you have your book on pre-order.

If you don’t use pre-orders, you can add them on the day your book is published.

Book reviews are absolutely essential. So make sure you plan well in advance to secure them.

2. Make your book discoverable for search

When you publish a new book, you need to select three categories (genres) and seven search keywords.

Some self-publishing services allow up to ten keywords.

One trap is to think of these keywords as one or two words. But in fact, you can use up to 50 characters for each search keyword.

Another trap is to think that you can simply select and add these vital elements when you publish your book.

It takes a long time to research and carefully select your categories and search keywords.

There are many free and premium keyword tools to help with your research.

But if you want to be able to analyze the frequency, profitability, and sales potential of keywords, you need the right software.

The most popular choice for authors is Publisher Rocket.

Sure, it’s not free. However, it is a one-time payment, so you won’t have to pay annual subscription renewals.

But with it, you will have access to real-time sales data from Amazon.

There is so much data that it will take you some time to make the best selections and decisions.

Whichever tool you use, allow yourself plenty of time to do your research and select the best and potentially most profitable keywords and categories for your new book.

Making your book as discoverable as possible for book buyers is one of the most powerful book promotion strategies you can use.

Don’t make the mistake of leaving it all to the last minute.

Take your time, do your research, and have your selections ready before you publish.

3. Spread the word about your new book

There is no doubt that you need to tell people about your new book.

Social media and blogging are the methods that come to mind immediately.

But if you go it alone, you are extremely limited in how many people you can reach. You only have so many social contacts and regular readers of your blog.

It will become very tiresome if you are constantly trying to promote your book to this small group of people.

A better way is to use book promotion services that have a far wider reach.

You have plenty of choices if you do a Google search for these providers.

Your choice will depend on what you want. Do you want a one-day blast, blog tours, or social posting?

You might choose one or more book promotion services.

But make sure you arrange your promotion to coincide with the launch of your new book and not after.

Summary

You need to get these three strategies in place well before publishing your new book.

With them, you will give your book the best chance of success.

On top of that, you will save yourself so much time after your book launch.

Yes, you should keep the buzz going and use as many book promotion ideas as you can.

But you won’t need to work at it 24/7 because you have the right foundations in place that will keep working for you.

With ten or fifteen customer reviews and your editorial reviews, your book has enough social proof to encourage new book buyers and attract new reviews.

Your search keywords will deliver lots of potential book buyers to your sales page if you select well.

Lastly, using a book promotion service will extend your reach and save you time and energy.

Get these three things right, and you will be ahead of the competition.

Related reading: Amazon Book Promotion Tools Available On Your KDP Dashboard