I hear this a lot at book events I attend, authors wondering how to promote their book before it’s published and I love this kind of brainstorming – mostly because it means the author is really trying to plan ahead for their success.

The key is timing. Yes, there’s no reason you can’t learn all you can about book marketing and plan far in advance, but you really want to find the sweet spot between building buzz for your release, and starting so early you lose steam or your potential buyers lose interest while waiting.

So, if you’re a go-getter author looking to build early buzz, wondering how to promote your book before it’s published, here are 10 easy, yet smart ways to make that happen:

1. Put it Up on Your Website

Obviously I encourage authors to have a website, even if it’s a simple, one-page site to call home base. These are really easy to create now, and customize, and it takes your brand up quite a few notches.

Be sure your book is prominently featured on the home page with the release date. It can live somewhere else after it’s been out awhile, like a dedicated book page, but give it the credit it deserves by making it the focal point leading up to the release.

2. Create a Blog Entry About it

If you have a website, you should have a blog page where you can create content, include keywords, and improve your SEO. And of course, I want to see you do a blog post or a few about your upcoming book.

Simple but fun ideas include “behind the curtain” posts that tell potential readers about your research, your inspiration, your connection to your topic or genre, your favorite books from the genre you wrote in – there are so many creative, interesting ways to talk about your book without selling your book – and that’s the goal.

3. Post About it on Social.

You should have at least one social account for your author brand. I always say, don’t worry about being everywhere, but be where it matters.

So, consider who your target buyer market is, and where they like to hang out on social. Is your crowd more the Twitter type or the Instagram type?

You should know this, and you should be there.

And here’s where the smart marketing comes in, use the ideas you’ve brainstormed for your blog, and convert those into social posts. Work smarter, not harder.

Give potential readers an insider look into your process and who you are as a person, because that personal connection will sell more books than any display ad ever will!

4. Tap Into Your Network

Ask friends to share your book, shamelessly! Create an email they can forward.

Create great images for your book they can share on social. Your people want to support you, now is not the time to be shy or humble with them!

5. Create a Fun Video

Video is the best way to support your brand because it’s incredibly personal – no one can compete with your authenticity on video – and that’s marketing and branding gold.

Video is also a great way to break up posting written content to promote your book, which can get repetitive. People will start to scroll by if you’re always posting the same “check out my book” content, but video will re-engage them in a valuable way.

Video doesn’t have to be long, 30 seconds is plenty, and here we go again – tap into the ideas you brainstormed for your blog, that I encouraged you to turn into social posts, and now I’m encouraging you to use those same ideas to come up with video topics. Repurposing good ideas is smart marketing and a great way to beef up your content.

6. Create Promotions to Give out Advance Copies

When figuring out how to promote your book before it’s published you always want to work in opportunities to get books in hands early. Advance copies also help generate reviews on Amazon sooner.

Tap into your network, your social media connections, and let them know you’re giving away 20 advance copies to readers who are willing to post an honest review on Amazon when the book comes out. Those who contact you should also go on your newsletter list!

And sure, you could worry that a couple people might flake on you and forget to post on time, but do your follow ups, and focus on the majority of the people who will come through for you and how amazing those early reviews

7. Be Sure to do a Countdown

In the last 12 days before your release, do a countdown. If you’re really creative you can come up with 12 fun things to post about that relate to your book, your genre, your brand etc.

Post 1 thing each day leading up to your release. If you’re a hyper fan of your genre, you could recommend a book a day for 12 days leading up to your release – it’s a great way to network with other authors, it’s really helpful content for your fans and followers, AND you get to talk up your book too.

If your book has historical elements, do some cool facts every day. If you write mystery novels, share a bit of insight into your research process each day and what you uncovered.

If you write non-fiction share really helpful, and practical tips related to your book topic that people can run with.

Get creative. Have fun. But more than anything else, take a page out of the Nike playbook- Just Do It!!!


To Your Success

MG

We often mix up those ideas, simple and easy. But really they’re two completely different things. You hear this confusion sometimes after a successful strategy is revealed to be incredibly simple, when people respond by saying, “it can’t be that easy.” It’s not easy, it’s simple.

For example, imagine if I told you that in order to create a popular blog or podcast or youtube channel, 80% of your success comes down to the simple strategy of publishing consistently and frequently. This strategy is simple, but it’s not easy by any means. In fact, this strategy is so difficult to pull off that only a tiny fraction of people who attempt it will succeed. I mean I will be honest creating a simple blog post each week gets to be difficult for me. But I’ve committed to it, so every week in order to have something interesting and worthwhile to share I have to make it easy on myself to make it happen.

This is true of so many things we want to achieve. We know what needs to be done. The strategy part is almost laughably simple. But the execution… the execution phase is the graveyard of good intentions. And you know what I say about good intentions. You have to give them some attention. If you don’t have the book, get it. It’ll help you.

Showing up day after day after day, to do repeatedly do something, requires incredible self-discipline and focus. Most of us would rather give in to the part of our brain that prefers a quick hit of dopamine from the nearest Tiktok video or shiny new project.

But stay the course, simple can be easy if you try these 3 tips:

1. Start. It doesn’t matter what it is starting a YouTube channel or writing a book. The key is to start. Start well by thinking of a title. Decide on a goal the reader should get from reading it. Then, give titles to the first 5 chapters. You’ll be amazed at just how much momentum will follow a good start.

2. Minimize to Maximize.  Make the minimum thing you need to accomplish to consider your attempt successful as small as possible. Don’t require a perfect blog post every time, just require that you publish something. Whew! How simple is that? You’d be surprised at how counterintuitive it is to have a low expectation give you really high results.

3. Don’t confuse simple and easy. The greatest strategies are incredibly simple to describe, but exceedingly difficult to pull off. It’s up to you to set your bar in a way that’s easy to clear every time you commit to showing up. This enables you to be sure your “simple and easy strategy” doesn’t take a dive on the one inevitable day when you just don’t have the energy to go big ‘all in’.

To Your Success,
​
MG