Ok, it’s Monday, are you ready for the work week? Me, not so much, but got to get moving. I’ve been asked so much lately about my advertising strategy that I’m writing the post to get the word out. So here goes:
When I first started publishing my books, I had no clue about marketing my book. Four years later I’m starting to get the hang of it. I even have a website where authors can advertise their books for a minimal fee and I use what I’ve learned on that site.
This is what I’ve learned that works, it really works:
1: Use a service such as Hootsuite to make many posts, even while you’re sleeping. I especially like to use this service when I have a new release coming out soon. I usually set up several posts and have them go through my WordPress, Twitter, and Facebook pages. I do different posts for each time slot, that way I’m not overusing the same thing.
2: Twitter is a really cool marketing tool. I actually see a bump in sales when I do Tweets during the day. Make sure to be creative with the 140 characters. I use my buy link and a savvy, short piece from the book. It really works people, but you have to actually do it for it to work 😉
3: Facebook Ads: This I love and see lots of results. Facebook has made it easier to set up. One thing I love about this is you don’t inundate your friends and family with book ads. These ads go to where you want them too and go to people that aren’t friends on Facebook. I’ve gained many new fans from a simple Facebook ad. You can set up any price you want to and even the length of time you run the ad is up to you.
4: Website: Every author needs a website. There are so many places you can set up a website now, it’s amazing. but if you don’t want to go to all the trouble of setting up a professional author website, then get in touch with me, my company Horseshoe Publishing does this.
5: Blogs: This is very important to authors. It gives you the chance to talk about anything, but I suggest leaving off political topics, only for the reason of making someone angry. Blog about your life giving readers a look at what you do other than writing. It’s amazing the response you’ll get.
So, these are only a part of my marketing agenda, but I’m short on my word count this morning, so I have to get back to writing. My assistant gives me the evil eye if I get too far behind on my schedule.
One last reminder before I go, if you don’t have the time or drive to do any of these and want help, check out my new advertising site www.freshfromthebook.com and for a minimal fee, we’ll get the word out for you.
As always, good writing and May God Bless You…
Stephanie Hurt - Romance Author 
This was a fantastic piece Steph. Really gave me some direction. Unfortunately I’m running on absolutely zero funds so my advertising is severely limited. All I can do is advertise through my blog (Which I just did 15 minutes ago.) Regardless, an especially useful guide and will be bookmarking for the future! 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it. I try to help authors any way I can. There’s a lot out there where you can market your book for free. Don’t forget to do some tweeting along with the blog. 🙂
Glad those social media sites work for you. For me, neither FB ads nor Twitter have resulted in sales. Maybe I’m doing something wrong! 🙂
I went through that too! Then I started changing things up and jazzing up the wording of my posts, using excerpts and character bios within my posts. Try different things and make notes of what seems to work and what doesn’t. See how it goes. Good luck Linda!