Book Blurbs: Formulas and Pitches

I’m generally a big fan of carving your own path and ditching conventions that don’t work for you, but when it comes to blurbs, that may make you lose your mind. Blurbs are so challenging for most writers there’s no point reinventing the wheel and doubling the work. Start with what is time tested and reliable, then adjust and adapt to make it suit your work.

A Formula That Works

Below is a general formula that will get you started with writing a well-structured blurb. Once you have the basic elements, change it up in whatever way best portrays your novel and compels a reader’s interest.

The first 1-2 sentences should state the purpose or central theme of the story or character journey. These few words should also briefly introduce the characters and initial situation. It is critical that the reader finds the characters interesting and likable, or they will not want to spend hours with them reading the book. Lastly, the first few lines should introduce the main problem or source of conflict.

The first paragraph should indicate the twist without giving too much away. Don’t spoil the ending in the blurb or give away important details that will take away from the story’s suspense when reading. Limit yourself to establishing the stakes of failure or of the relationship not working out.

The last paragraph should wrap up the story introduction and entice readers to find out more. The desire to know more relies heavily on a connection with the characters. If the reader doesn’t care about the character, he or she will not care about what happens to the character, either. End the blurb with a question or with a sentence that sets the overall mood of the story. Again, do NOT give away the ending!

A blurb is not a synopsis. It’s a tease meant to make the reader need to buy the book in order to know how the characters’ story will end.

Crafting a Sales Pitch

Convincing the reader they need to know the ending starts with developing a connect between the story and/or characters and the reader, but it’s also important to realize the blurb is a sales pitch and needs to be written like one.

The first sentence must grab the reader’s attention. Readers have very short attention spans and tend to skim when browsing online. You have minimal time to hook them and make them ask what will happen next?

Think of this first sentence (two at the most) as an elevator pitch. It should capture the most interesting part of the story. That may be the conflict, mystery, romance, etc. When writing this sentence, consider what element of the story will have the biggest draw for readers and focus on that aspect.

Whatever will most make readers want to check out your book, mention it in the first line. This first sentence often sits by itself on retailer sites before the bulk of the blurb, giving it a better chance to catch the reader’s attention.

The preview on most ebook retailer sites barely gives you more than a sentence or two before readers have to click “read more,” so make that first sentence count!

Even though blurbs are sales pitches, don’t make promises the book can’t keep. Punching up certain elements to make a story seem more appealing will backfire when disappointed readers leave negative reviews.

Book Blurbs: What and Why?

Condensing a full story into a few paragraphs takes concise wording, understanding the purpose of the story, and developing a great hook. This blog series will dive into defining and book summary/blurb and the techniques of effective book blurb writing.

What is a blurb?

A book summary, or blurb, is a short description of a book used for promotional purposes, including the book description listed on retailer websites and the book’s back cover. The term blurb is often used in place of book summary, and I’ll use it throughout this series because it’s a common term and easier to type.

Blurbs give the reader a brief idea of the book’s content. They are NOT a full synopsis of the book and should not contain any spoilers of major plot points, including the resolution. Blurbs are NOT a summary of the first chapter, which is an all too common trap authors fall into when writing blurbs. Focus on the bigger picture.

A blurb highlights the genre/subgenre, purpose, situation, conflict, and characters of the story. It should give the reader a clear idea of what kind of book they are looking at and set expectations for what the book will deliver.

A blurbs style and formatting varies slightly depending on genre, and can change over time depending on industry trends. It’s important to occasionally review and adjust blurbs to fit current reader interests and expectations.

Blurb Writing Challenges

It’s always a challenge to boil down an entire story into a few hundred words. You’ve put endless hours into writing and editing a story, only to be asked to summarize it in a few sentences. The task often seems impossible, but there are ways to survive such torture.

Most writers hate this part of publishing. After developing so many details and intricacies to craft a well-written story, it’s a incredibly difficult to take all of those nuances and wonderful subplots back out of the story and convince readers to buy a book on only the highlights.

Boiling a full story down to a few paragraphs requires concise word choice, pinpointing the purpose of the story, and developing a great hook.

How to Write a Blurb

Traditionally, blurbs are written in third person present tense. This may feel odd at first, since few books are written this way, but it is one of those longstanding industry standards that remains despite so many other changes in publishing.

One of the few exceptions to this is contemporary, modern romance. For reasons that I’m not sure anyone really knows fully, contemporary romance blurbs are commonly (though not always) written in first person present tense. The most likely reason for this shift has to do with the recent popularity of writing in first person in popular fiction and the fact that many contemporary romance writers are independently published and have control over how their books are listed and portrayed on retailer sites.

Do you have to write your blurb in a particular tense or style? Not really. Consider what style matches the novel’s style and what format, tense, or styles will prepare readers for that point of view. It’s a good idea to study the top 100 blurbs in a genre or subgenre to decide which is best for a particular novel.

The Purpose of a Blurb

When considering how to craft your blurb, think about the book’s purpose. Readers want to know the main point or purpose of the book when reading a blurb. They want to know if a particular book is what they’re looking for and if it will fulfill their expectations.

When writing the blurb, focus on the main point or purpose of the story, first and foremost, the consider what need the book will fulfill for the reader. Readers often search for new books with search terms that describe what they are in the mood to read right in that moment. A blurb should tell a prospective reader if a book truly fits that need, such as escapism, sweet romance, excitement, suspense, etc.

Make the purpose of the book clear early in the blurb. This should be contained in the first one to two sentences. It should also be accurate and not misleading. Readers get very upset when they spend money on a book only to realize it was inaccurately portrayed.

An example of a clear and accurate blurb opener, consider White Rose, Black Forest by Eoin Dempsey: “In the shadows of World War II, trust becomes the greatest risk of all for two strangers.” The riskiness of trust during war times is the clear purpose of this story and is pointed out in the first line of this blurb.

Although condensing a story down to a few paragraphs is never easy, understanding what a blurb is and why you are writing one will help you craft a purpose-driven blurb that will entice readers.

New Release: Memory’s Edge 2

It’s taken me years longer (literally) than I planned to finish this book and get it published, but it’s finally available! The second part of the Memory’s Edge Duet completes the series!

Memory’s Edge Series

PART TWO

Most people only have one life-changing experience, but John and Gretchen are on round two of having their lives sent into utter chaos.

After a year of living with Gretchen after being attacked and left for dead with no memory of his former life, John’s memory returns when his wife and children find him. Leaving Gretchen weeks before their planned wedding breaks both their hearts. Being reunited with his family is a balm to that loss, but John quickly realizes the old adage that you can never go home again is even truer when you still don’t remember huge sections of your former life. A spotty memory compounds family infighting, a risk of financial ruin, and having no idea how to step back into a marriage that is complicated by his lingering love for Gretchen.

Even though Gretchen was the one to release John and step aside, going home to her friends and family and the curiosity and pity of an entire community quickly overwhelms her. Friend and neighbor Carl has been in love with Gretchen nearly since the day they met. She knows he would be more than willing to help her forget the pain of losing John, but diving into a new relationship is the last thing Gretchen needs. Feeling lost, broken, and confused leaves Gretchen floundering to figure out how to move on.

As they both face starting over, again, the pull to fall back into the familiarity of each other’s arms weighs heavily against facing the struggle to move forward.

Marketing Primer: In-Person Marketing and Events

Setting up in-person events takes making connections and planning in advance.

Types of Events

Book signing (new releases, special events)
Speaking engagements (author talk, informative lecture)
Community organization events (any event that allows vendors)
Writing groups (guest speaker)
Art collaborative events (art walks, art fairs/festivals)
Craft fairs (schools, senior center, maker markets)
Community festivals (seasonal, renaissance, kids)
School or library talks (information presentation, career day)
Informational presentations (conferences, comic cons, literature events)

Setting up a book signing

Book signings are not limited to book stores, but if you do want to hold a signing at a bookstore, focus on local and independent stores. Chain bookstores often don’t work with indie authors because of buyback restrictions and they may not take consignments either.

Local stores are more flexible and offer better royalty splits on books sold during a signing or on consignment books. A 60/40 split is common with many indie bookstores when books are excepted on consignment.

If you wat to branch out from bookstores, pitch libraries, restaurants/cafes, or a business related to the book’s theme. When working with a for-profit organization or an event center, you will likely need to rent the space or give a percentage of sales to the venue or owner.

Be sure to book your signing 1-2 months in advance. Venues or organizations who hold regular events need plenty of time to fit you into the schedule. It’s also important to give yourself enough time to make sure you will have books available.

Speaking engagements

You don’t have to wait for someone to ask you to speak to their group or organization. Prepare a presentation and pitch yourself to groups.

Author talks or informational presentations are great options when you don’t have a new release or something to celebrate but still want to stay active in the community. Pitch yourself to bookstores, libraries, charity events, schools, Comic Cons, writing conferences, or festivals.

Have a topic ready to pitch. Write out a 100-word synopsis of the content and have a sample ready for consideration. Don’t just talk about your book. Focus on the issues your book deals with or pick a writing or book related topic you feel comfortable speaking on.

Charge a speaking fee or ask to sell books in lieu of payment.

People do not buy goods and services. The buy relations, stories, and magic.
Seth Godin

While marketing can be intimidating and time consuming, the more you focus on building relationships with readers, the more success and satisfaction you’ll experience.

Marketing Primer: Long-Term Marketing

A solid long-term marketing plan is a big factor in determining success.

Daily Marketing Tasks

Social media posts should be going out daily, but that doesn’t mean you have to do it daily. Schedule a full week in advance to free up time by using services like Buffer, Hootsuite, TweetDeck, or Sprout Social. Which will work best will depend on which social media platforms you plant o use, how far in advance you want to schedule, and your budget.

Once you have your posts going out, make sure to engage! Respond to comments and messages, like and thank shares, and follow/friend as you see fit. Join conversations about books and publishing as well.

If you’re going to blog, always be on the look out for content ideas and plan your schedule. Even if you aren’t going to blog weekly, you should always be gathering topics and ideas.

Starting pinning on Pinterest and engaging with followers by liking/pinning their pins. Posting around 5 pins per day has been shown to help grow traffic on Pinterest.

Keep a running list of links, stories, pictures, etc. that you can share as content on social media. Also curate a list of posts that get good engagement and reshare them every so often.

Answer all messages and emails you receive, even if it’s just a quick thank you.

Review analytics of posts and ads daily so you know what’s working and what’s not.

Research new information and opportunities. Never stop learning because the marketing world never stops changing!

Weekly Marketing Tasks

If you are going to blog, blogging is a good way to keep fresh content rolling in and keeping your website relevant in search results.

Small focused promotions also work well on a weekly basis. These may include small giveaways ($5 gift card, ebook, bookmark, etc.), contests with small prizes, newsletters, questions posed to readers on social media, etc.

To break up your promotion submissions, send a few each week. Rotate through your books if you have more than one. Keep in mind any upcoming promotions you have as you submit and plan accordingly.

Review ad performance over the past week and make changes or turn off ads that aren’t performing well.

Cross promote with another author through newsletter or social media post swaps.

Send out relevant email blasts if you have news that wasn’t included in your last newsletter and can’t wait until the next schedule newsletter. Don’t overuse this!

Pick a day to sit down and schedule daily posts for the next week.

Monthly Marketing Tasks

Plan a medium-sized focused promotion, such as a giveaway with a slightly bigger prize ($10-$20 gift card, paperback book, etc.), offer a book for sale or make a special offer with purchase, or hold a contest.

Send out your regular monthly newsletter (if that is the schedule you choose), and include all relevant updates from the previous month and news about what is coming up in the next month.

Seek out reviews from fans, bloggers, services, etc. Set a realistic goal for how amny reviews you want to get each month through direct interaction.

Focus on one book or series each month. Plan your social media posts, review offers, free books, Pinterest board activity, character interviews, etc. around the book or series you are featuring that month.

Incorporate any holidays or events into your posts and promotions. If you want to include listing sites or ads, plan these well in advance if it’s around a holiday.

Plan the next months ads and create the graphics you will need so you aren’t wasting time later trying to create or purchase them at the last minute. Review monthly analytics and make adjustments as needed.

Yearly Marketing Tasks

Schedule 2-4 big marketing pushes for the year. These may be centered around a new release, holiday, event, birthday, etc. If you can plan a few outside of times when everyone else is engaging in marketing pushes (holidays), you’re likely to get more interest.

Be as creative as possible with events, posts, and prizes. Try new tactics and evaluate whether or not they worked.

Plan your release schedule for future books and, if possible, spread them out evenly throughout the year. Be realistic, though!

Set goals for the next year for growth and plan for how to reach those goals.

Marketing Primer: Marketing a Book Launch

Launching a new book typically takes extra marketing and a specific plan in order to make it a success. In this post we’ll discuss what extra tactics you can take to launch in each of the three phases of planning a book launch: pre-release, release-day, and post-launch marketing.

Pre-Release Marketing Planning

Start as early as possible with your pre-release marketing! Plan out what promotional materials (physical or digital) you plan to use and have them prepared as early as you can so you can start sharing them.

Gather reviews for release day by recruiting book bloggers, beta readers, or review services. Remember that you should NEVER pay for reviews. Keep track of everyone who agrees to provide an honest review and follow up with them on release day. Ask them to send you a link to their review so you can share it. Thank reviewers who follow through and keep a list of those who don’t so you can decide who to send review copies to for your next releases.

Another pre-release marketing option is to make a book trailer. This can be posted on YouTube for long-term availability and shared on social media in marketing posts. Video consistently get more interaction on social media than pictures and text.

Setting up your book as a pre-order is another marketing option. This requires you to have your book files and cover ready further in advance, but it gives you a link to use in your marketing as well. It allows readers to buy your book when they are interested instead of hoping they will remember to purchase it after it releases.

Blog tours are not as popular as they once were, but they can still be useful for boosting visibility. They are not typically helpful for revenue producing, so evaluate where your budget can be best spent before paying for a blog tour.

If you plan to host any in-person events, set these up several months in advance and make sure your book files will be ready early enough to be able to order copies of your book in time for the events.

Release-Day Marketing Plan

Release day (week/month) sales within the first 30 days are important for rankings retailer sites. This is a prime time to focus on ads, promos, and social media marketing. Watch ads closely to see which are working best and turn off or adjust those that aren’t in order to keep your marketing as effective and efficient as possible.

Send out an email newsletter blast to your subscribers on release day, and then a few days to a week later as a reminder or only to those who didn’t open the first email. It’s a good idea to also ask readers to post an honest review when they finish reading as a way to help you reach more readers who might like your book. It often helps to mention that a review doesn’t need to be more a few sentences so readers don’t feel intimidated.

Host a release party (virtual or in-person) to celebrate the release. Digital options include Facebook parties, livestreaming a reading or Q&A session, Twitter chats, live YouTube video, or utilizing TikTok or Instagram. In-person options include a book signing, author reading, or party with friends and readers.

You can also schedule (or have a PR company set up) blog features, radio or podcast interviews, or media appearances. Traditional media is less effective for launch marketing than avenues such as podcast interviews and live social media appearances.

You can also off incentives for readers to buy your book, such as giving them a free gift like a bonus short story or signed bookplate or digital authorgraph. Be sure you check Terms of Service on retailers regarding incentives, especially in relations to asking for reviews. Amazon is very strict about this.

It’s also important to update all of your social media and website with links and graphics, including cover art if that hasn’t been updated already. Update your social media bios with a link to your book. You may only do this temporarily if your regular link is to your author website or something specific you are promoting.

Post-Release/Launch Marketing Plan

The goal of post-launch marketing is to continue the momentum you’ve built in the previous two phases. This takes consistent marketing for several months that is focused on your new release, but not as robust as during the launch period.

In the months after a release, make use of free social media group posts and paid ads as your time and budget allow. Schedule newsletter spots with companies that permit new releases. Once a month, remind your newsletter that you new release is now available to catch anyone who hasn’t opened your newsletter recently but might be interested in your new book.

Share positive reviews, blog posts, and pertinent links you cultivated during the previous two phases. Continue to seek out reviewers and build your reviews up on retailer sites. Utilize your street team members to share and post about your new release, what they liked about it, or to recommend it to likeminded readers.

The key of post-release marketing is to keep the book fresh in readers’ minds by incorporating it into what you’re already doing with your others books. If this is your first book, blend in updates on your next project while still promoting your book to keep readers excited for more!

Marketing Primer: Non-Social Media Advertising

Social media advertising is not the only option available to authors to market their books. Here are a few other avenues to consider.

Listing Sites

Listing sites offer spots in their newsletter for authors to advertise new releases, special pricing, or free books. Newsletter ads provide short term results and benefits, with a period of additional sales at a higher price or sell-through on other books in a series. This period after the initial promotion is where most of the revenue is made. These types of ads range from inexpensive to very expensive depending on the size of the service’s list. Big lists like BookBub can be very effective and produce a longer period of additional sales.

Banner Ads

Banner Ads are advertisements put in a prominent stop (usually the top of the page or sidebar) on a website. It’s important to check a site’s monthly or daily traffic before purchasing an ad. It’s almost important to make sure the price is promportional to the amount of traffic. These types of ads are moderately expensive, but also generally effective. The results are largely short term.

Review Services

Reviews effect buyer confidence, so it is important to seek out reviews for your books. Amazon Terms of Service prohibit paying for reviews or exchanging products in return for reviews, with the exception of providing a free book in exchange for an honest review.

Paying to have your book included in a review service listing is a viable way to increase your reviews and does not violate Amazon’s TOS. These services can be rather expensive, depending on the service. Service with large reader bases will cost more than smaller services. These types of services can be very effective at increasing reviews and provide long term results.

Marketing Primer: Paid Advertising

Paid advertising doesn’t have to be expensive. Many authors start with very small budgets and increase as they become more adept at using their marketing dollars.

First, let’s learn some of the lingo and basic concepts…

Social Media Advertising can be done on a small or large budget. It is effective for reaching a targeted audience. There is a learning curve (steeper on some platforms than others), but there are a lot of resources available to help authors learn how to maximize the budget and effectiveness.

Influencer Marketing involves an industry expert or celebrity recommending your book or other product to their followers in exchang for a fee.

Banner Ads are the clickable graphics at the top of many websites. They are one of the most effective ways to advertise because they often grab the visitors attention right away. These can be more expensive than other types of ads, but they tend to be worth the money on bigger book-related sites.

Affiliate marketing involves becoming an affiliate with a retailer or organization and hosting referral links on your website or in social media posts. You get paid per click, but you do have to tell visitors/followers that it is an affiliate link.

Ad Retargeting is basically a reminder for customers to check out a product. even after they leave your page or a page you’re advertising on. It is most effective for high traffic websites, but work well with banner ads as well.

A Call-to-Action (CTA) tells customers what you want them to do (buy, sign up, join, etc.). It’s important to have a strong CTA in ads so the customer isn’t left wondering what the next step is.

Return On Investment (ROI) is the ratio of net profit and cost of investment. You want to evaluate ads you run while they are running and after they are completed to see if they were worth the investment. An ROI of 1-2% on Facebook is considered good.

Cost-Per Click (CPC)/Pay-Per-Click (PPC) breaks down you ad spend to see what each interaction is costing you. Ads are usually about twice as effective at getting clicks as organic posts. An average CPC/PPC is $0.25-0.30 average on Facebook in U.S.

Click-Through-Rate (CTR) is the percentage of customers who click through to the next step. Having a clear CTA improves CTR. A CTR of 2-5% on Facebook is considered good.

Now lets look at what advertising option work well for authors

Amazon: Ads on Amazon are set up through your KDP dashboard. You can target similar books or authors. Amazon ads are very effective for most authors, but there is a steep a learning curve. Sign up for an Amazon Ads class to learn how to best utilize this platform.

Facebook: Paid ads have a wider range than boosted ads, which mainly targets followers. In order to serve paid ads, you need to set up your Business Center account with Facebook and be approved.

Pinterest: Advertising on Pinterest allows you to promote pins, create campaigns, and aadvertise stories. Pinterest is effective for advertising because pinners are ready to buy and its user base in constantly growing.

Instagram: Instragram ads can be setup up directly on the app or through a connected Facebook Business Center. You can promote images, videos, stories, and collections. Instagram has high interaction, which makes it an effective advertising option. It can be pricier than other platforms for high engagement industries.

Twitter: The type of ad that tends to work best for authors are objective-based campaigns. These enable you to promote tweets, accounts, trends, or moments. Some readers have very good results advertising on Twitter and others don’t. Consider the strenth of your platform on Twitter before advertising.

Goodreads: This is a reader/book lover focused platform. It can be an effective advertising option, but mainly for those who have cultivated a strong presense there. There are two advertising options on Goodreads: Giveaways of Kindle or print books, which cost $119, and digital ads, which must be set up through a rep. There is no self-serve option. Advertising on Goodreads tends to be quite pricey and less effective than other platforms.

Marketing Primer: Getting Started with Promotions

Maintaining a consistent schedule of promotions helps authors remain in the forefront of readers’ mind.

Before you start scheduling promotions, make sure you make quality promotional graphics ready!

Preparing Promotional Materials

Give readers something to remember you and you book both in-person and online. This starts with high quality graphics and professional design. This doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot of money. Using graphic editing software like Canva or Book Brush allows anyone to create eye-catching graphics for print or online use for a reasonable monthly fee. There are also design services that are very affordable (many are authors running side businesses).

Physical materials you may need for in-person events and sending or selling to readers may include: paper bookmarks, business cards, post cards, book plates to sign and mail, banners and posters, and flyers.

Virtual materials for social media promotion and digital advertising may include: teasers, quotes, digital autographs, posts to save/share, videos, book trailers, social media banners, 3D cover art, or logos.

Unique promotional materials can make you stand out. Consider options such as book-themed jewelry, ribbon bookmarks, book plates, mugs, t-shirts, pens, etc.

Personal materials you want to have prepared include: live reading selections, Q&As, chat sessions, etc.

Setting up Cross Promotions

Cross promotions are all about help other authors while expanding your readership. Here area few ideas to consider getting involved with:

Newsletter Swaps: You agree to feature another author’s book in your email newsletter and they share yours in their newsletter. The author with the smaller newsletter gets the most benefit, but both authors are exposed to new readers. This works best with the features books are in similar genres.

Combined marketing pushes: These are especially common and effective around themes or holidays. All authors promote a group of books, usually with a single landing page. This can work for free or paid books.

Guest post/Interview trades: Share guest posts, promos, or interviews on each others blogs/websites. This increases your general exposure and opens you up to new readers as well.

Multi-author events: Join other authors in celebrating a theme, holiday, or just to have fun. Consider hosting Facebook parties, Twitter chats, a group sale, an author panel Q&A.

Box Sets: In a box set, each author contributes a book and all the books are sold as one unit in an ebook format. All authors MUST agree to promote and share any advertising costs. Be sure to vet the other authors involved before signing a contract.

Free Marketing Avenues

Next week I’ll discuss paid marketing options, but don’t forget about the many free avenues available for marketing a book. Free marketing opportunities are often time consuming, but can be very effective. Here are a few ideas to consider:

Facebook: Join some of the many marketing groups and share links to your books. Post to your author page on a regular basis. Make sure to keep promotional posts to 25%. Run a giveaway on your author page for an ebook or signed paperback. Host a Facebook party to celebrate a new release, book anniversary, your birthday, etc.

Twitter: Use the Pinned Tweet feature to highlight a buy link or promotion. Tweet daily with interesting content and occasional promotions. Follow readers and authors and start book-related conversations.

eBook Submission Sites: There are a wide variety of submission sites, many genre specific. While many do charge a fee, there are some that are free to submit to. It can be time consuming to submit individually, but can gain you new readers and sales.

Cross-promote: Team up with other authors to share each others posts, tweets, pins, or links. Some author groups do this regularly, such as ChickLitChatHQ on Fridays.

Free ebook offer: Offer readers a free ebook, novella, excerpt, etc. on a permanent or temporary basis. Many authors use a free product as a reader magnet to increase newsletter subscriptions.

Video and Audio: Make use of YouTube for Vlogging, book trailers, author readings, or a weekly check-in or chat. Start a radio show or podcast to talk about books, writing, or whatever you’re interested in.

Creative Marketing

The more creative your marketing efforts are, the more memorable they will be. Try to match marketing to the theme or a unique feature of your book(s).

A great example of this was the launch of “The Girl on the Train.” On release day, the publisher deployed dozens or more employees onto subway trains with copies of the book. They rode around on trains for several hours reading copies of the book and engaging in conversations about it.

Other examples include “The Liar Society” authors and promoters wearing pink wigs to match the hair of the main character, a photography-themed book author ran a camera giveaway and Pinterest contest, an author/musician offered a free digital music album with purchase of his book.

Don’t be afraid to try new ideas!

Marketing Primer: Creating a Marketing Plan

Marketing plans can be general or detailed, but you NEED a plan in order to effectively market your book.

Marketing Plan Basics

Word of Mouth is still the best way to sell any product. It requires high quality product.

A website is single source for all buy links and information.

Social Media provides the opportunity to post regularly and build a community of interested readers. It also provides an avenue of free advertising, such as in Facebook groups, posting on author pages, and setting up Pinterest boards.

It is also important to utilize newsletter swaps, blogging, and adding your books to book sites like My Book Cave and Goodreads.

Paid advertising is an integral part of marketing. Popular options for authors include social media ads on Facebook and Pinterest, Amazon ads, newsletters spots, print ads, sponsorships, and takeovers/parties.

Marketing Plan Components

The first components to consider are your available Time, Money and Effort. How much of each one can you contribute toward marketing each day? Be realistic about this or your plan will end up falling apart.

Next, determine your Audience, Avenues, Goals and Competition. Knowing who to market to and how to reach them are key to being effective. Have realistic goals and know what is already working for others through marketing research, following other authors, and developing unique tactics.

Big Picture Planning

Look at both paid and free advertising options. Plan out daily, weekly, and monthly tasks that fit into your schedule.

Submit your book deals to newsletters for features well in advance of any planned promotional pushes. Paid spots will get better visibility, but free spots can be useful as well.

Be consistent with interaction on social media. Share updates, sales, promos, questions, giveaways, and limited personal details such as hobbies or books you are reading. Start a Street Team, a reader group who shares your posts, reviews, and builds a community.