How to promote your book without being salesy
Authors love to avoid talking about our books. After all, no one wants to be that pushy Tupperware-salesperson-type that shoves their product in your face whenever you see them. You know the type - the ones you see in the supermarket and quickly duck behind a display of discount toilet paper to hide from.
But you AREN’T selling Tupperware, or candles, or CBD products, or lipsticks. You’re creating STORIES, the most wonderful thing on Earth (don’t tell my human children) - and you aren’t pushing them on your friends and family - you’re sharing them with people who have come across your profile, website, and newsletter and are genuinely interested in finding out more.
Promoting your book doesn’t have to be cheesy, pushy, or blatant. There are lots of …
HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS IN A NON-SALESY WAY
Here are some easy and natural ideas of ways to promote your book. These can be posted on social media, blog posts, or used in email updates to readers.
Share the story of how you came up with this book idea. Think about it - wouldn’t you love to know how George RR Martin came up with Game of Thrones?
Celebrate a great review. Don’t think of this as bragging - think of it as being gracious and grateful to a reader who took the time to leave a review. These sort of posts often remind and convince readers to leave their own review.
Post a fun fact about the book. Readers love this! A fun fact could be that the book originally had an alternative ending, or was set in a different locale, or that Character Emily was originally named Candace.
Share your favorite scene. You can share a screenshot of a page, or cut/paste the scene into a post. This can be done as a ‘sneak peek’ - but you can also give it a short intro where you describe why this is your favorite scene or where the inspiration came from.
Reveal your ideal casting choices for the main characters. You could do these one at a time, as a character highlight, and tease the reader with a description of the characters and their story, and/or a short excerpt that highlights that character.
Celebrate something! This could be a sales milestone, anniversary date, number of reviews, or something else.
Give a peek into the development of the story. This could be a story of research that you did, a glimpse of early cover sketches, a photo of the first paperback, etc.
I hope these ideas help you feel more comfortable with the idea of posting about your book. All of these ideas can alert readers to a book’s existence and paint your book in an interesting and unique light.
When you create your posts, be sure to give the readers everything they need to purchase your book. There are crucial elements necessary in each and every book post. Click here to read about those elements.
