Writing a book can be one of the best ways to share your ideas with the world. It showcases your expertise and can serve as a credibility tool for your business.
In a recent livestream, Zoetica Media founder Kami Huyse shared the approach she’s using for the launch of The Most Amazing Marketing Book Ever, a book featuring insights from 35 top marketing experts from across the world.
Standing Out in the Crowd by Caring About Your Audience
“One of the biggest problems with book launching in general is that there are so many books being launched,” she says. “Publishing a book is not news. It’s not really interesting [to people unless they can see] what's in it for them.”
To make your book a success, what happens after it’s written therefore matters just as much as the writing itself. “You have to do as much work after you write it as you did writing it,” she explains, and always keep in mind that “the only way to get people to care about your book is to care about the people.”
Selling Your Book on Amazon
While not without its detractors, there’s no question Amazon is a powerful retailer of books – arguably even the most powerful. That’s why most authors choose to sell on the platform.
Amazon requires a specific process to be followed. “They will make [the] Kindle book available first and once [that’s done] you can then ask for the Audible book to be put on,” she says. After that, “all of the other pieces come maybe about a month later.”
This split time frame requires you to segment your marketing, focusing on the eBook and audiobook versions first before transitioning to the promotion of your physical book.
Marketing Framework
A big proponent of frameworks and standardized processes, Kami pushed for “a framework to make sure that we were moving towards [our] goals.”
She suggested the following:
- Assembling a team
- Planning key events such as virtual book signings and author Q&A sessions
- Designing captivating landing pages that convert curious visitors into loyal readers
- Creating a social media drip plan, and choosing and using a memorable hashtag
“You cannot launch your book all by yourself. You need some kind of team. You need somebody to help you run ads, or you just need a few people around you, whether it's a contractor or a friend or a group of people willing to help you,” she advises.
Furthermore, “you need some kind of event, you need some kind of happening in order for people to care about what you're doing.” This could be a webinar where people learn how to directly apply the information covered in the book or an event where people receive supplemental material in exchange for attending.
Ideally the event will coincide with the release of your Kindle book. “You want people to buy the book and then review it,” Kami explains. That’s why “it's critical that you get those reviews in that first week or two. You need a couple of reviews because that is going to tell the search engine in Amazon that your book is something that people want and that they're buying.”
Don’t skip the creation of a dedicated landing page for your book. “You want to have that landing page so that people can kind of coalesce around your book. On that landing page you want to get people to sign up for an email [to receive a reminder when the book is available],” she says..
The way you can get people to sign up for the email is by offering them something valuable in return. In the case of The Most Amazing Marketing Book Ever, it’s access to live interviews with all of the authors being held over a 24-hour period. Email registrants will have access to these interviews even after the livestreams are completed.
Fandom
Fandom entails “building the [community of] people who are ready to receive the book [when it’s completed], and that’s one of the things I think most authors don’t really do enough of,” Kami points out.
Here is the approach Kami used for The Most Amazing Marketing Book Ever:
- Including the readers in the making of the book
- Inviting potential readers to your email list
- Creating a book review squad that generates buzz and credibility for your work
- Considering the use of traditional mail or “snail mail”
Including people in the creation of the book is invaluable, Kami feels. “You're bringing [them] into your world.”
The next thing you want to do is help them become part of your community. Some people create a dedicated Facebook group for this, but Kami recommends focusing on email. “A lot of people just don't see that stuff, so I would back that up with an email list even if you use a Facebook group or a LinkedIn group or whatever… I think it's really, really critical.”
Book reviews are such an important part of a book’s success that Kami suggests creating a dedicated squad for this purpose. Reach out to them with an email and say, “I would love it if you would review the book for me. Let me know if you are willing to be one of my book reviewers.”
Firestorm
The firestorm is the time period between when the Kindle version of the book is released all the way through when the audiobook and the paperback come out. “We need to keep on the heat as far as people knowing this book is there so that people will buy the book, people will review the book… people won’t just forget about it,” Kami says.
She recommends:
- Securing podcast interview slots and collaborating with influencers to amplify your book’s reach
- Using targeted advertising on platforms like Amazon and LinkedInto boost visibility and drive sales
- Creating key assets to share with your team
Keep in mind that when being interviewed on a podcast or similar, you shouldn’t ask people to buy your book. Instead, talk about the content and share it in a way that’s relevant and valuable to listeners so they will want to buy your book on their own.
Creating assets is an additional way to support the promotion of your book. “If you go on to a podcast they're going to want to have your bio, they're going to want to have a summary of the book, they may want some discussion questions, they [may] want to have like some graphics about the book that they can share in their own social media and marketing,” Kami points out.
”Think about ways that you can create assets that people will use or share…. maybe some memes of your book or some small takeaways from your book… or really important quotes.”
Keep the Momentum Going
The main marketing push will occur just before and in the two months after the release of the book, Kami says. But promotion of the book should continue beyond that as well.
“Get that book moving on its own and then of course maintain it [with] little bonfires,” she recommends. “You want to really kind of push it over that first whole year in little doses so that way the book keeps its momentum.”
Kami goes deeper into all of these areas in her livestream, which you can watch in full replay.