I’m an author. I haven’t published my own book, yet, but I have been published in a compilation book and online. Since I haven’t tried to get my own book sold, I wanted to know what I had in store when I finally do get that work finished and want to sell it. What I found out was to look at things not as an author, but as a reader. Because aren’t we all that first?

Publish It As An Ebook

The first reason it may not be selling is because you don’t offer it as an e-book.

Yes, you probably have it on Amazon, but in Kindle format? What about other sites such as Kobo, Bookbaby, Smashwords and others. Most people have an e-reader, an e-reader app on their phones or tablets and so on. To get it in the best format for publishing on multiple platforms, use a service such as Scrivener. It formats well for a bunch of them.

Cover Design

Another reason is probably your cover. Who designed it? Unless you are an artist or photographer professionally as well, don’t do it yourself. Face it, we do judge a book by its cover and unless that cover is amazing, most will go onto the next one.

Look at other covers in your genre. How do they look? What catches your eye? Think about the picture or art but also the font used. Not using a professional should not be an option. Use those e-book sites to your advantage, do your homework and then make sure you have the best cover going. Remember, think about it as a reader, not as the proud author.

Additional Resource: Why Having A Kick Butt Book Cover Matters So Much

Editing

More along the professional line, have you had your book professionally edited? Of course you’ve edited and edited and edited your book. You just can’t edit again. So let a pro take over and be sure you didn’t miss anything. This is important because after so many edits you are really very familiar with your story and will miss things. A new set of eyes won’t.

An editor won’t just be looking for spelling and grammar errors. They will also be an uninterested third party who can give you real input about the quality of your book. Don’t take the criticism personally. Not sure if you’re ready for an editor yet? Put the manuscript away and put some time between. Then re-read. You may find things that need to be changed, or not.

Category or Genre

Next, ask yourself if you put the book in the right category or genre? This is important because if you put it in a genre or a category and it doesn’t quite fit they’ll be disappointed and not buy, or worse, leave negative feedback.

So give a lot of consideration to deciding on the categories, tags and keywords associated with your book. It will give the reader something to set expectations about the book. It also means you could let them down if you miss-choose genre/categories.

Your Amazon Page

Want to be really sure no one buys your book? Make your Amazon sales page look worse than amateur. Use bad grammar, misspell words and leave typos. Oh, and don’t even think to include reviews of your book. Be sure to overprice the book too. In other words, make your Amazon sales page look great.

Marketing Your Book

Market the book. Use your own email list, be sure to be yourself in the emails sent. Don’t send spammy sounding emails. Build your email list and keep it up to date. You must do this because it is the only thing you have to market that is 100% yours.

There are plenty of ways to market, including book review sites, sites like Bookbub and Freebooksy to help sell them and giving free copies to those who can post reviews for you. Just be sure they know to say they got a free copy for the review, but are giving it honestly.

Just work at it. Don’t give up and you’ll see results.

The post What To Do When Your Books Just Won’t Sell appeared first on Non Fiction Marketing.

Your book is finished and final edits complete. While you are waiting for the final copy it would be a good time to get your marketing plan in place. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, you can make it wicked easy and successful!

So first things first…who is your audience?

You need to know who you are marketing to, meaning: define your audience. What is your niche? You can figure it out by starting with what you wrote about. That will tell you what the audience will be.

Basically it’s who you want to reach and how you can help them with your book. Here’s how it looks…

Your book is about corporate leadership. That will give you a very wide audience and that will make marketing it difficult. Narrowing the focus of your audience to something like women in corporate leadership or leadership in the training industry you will have an easier time finding and connecting with your audience.

The great thing is that there is no limit to the number of these “niche audiences” that you can target in your marketing!

One of the top selling books on Amazon today is the The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines. (promo link)

If you have not heard about them then you might not know that they have a hit HGTV design show and live in Waco TX. But their potential audience for marketing extends way beyond that little slice of the United States.

1. They are a Christian family who doesn’t mind talking about their faith so they could target that in their marketing.
2. They are a funny couple with 4 cute kids so they could target the Mommy groups and sites.
3. They do home design so all the decorating gals would be a great audience.
4. They love Baylor football so could hit some sports analogies easily.
5. She loves antiques and retro which is a huge audience in itself.

That is just the tip of the iceberg for audiences that this couple could start interacting and posting for!

Next, don’t forget your competition

There are a lot of reasons to do this. One, you can use some of their marketing ideas. Another is that looking at and reading four or five of your competitors books and marketing will be a huge help in figuring out how your book is different from the rest. That will give you a marketing edge over them.

If you want to get your book noticed setting it apart from the rest is really important. That said, their groups and followers could be a “ready made” target to start shooting for!

For example, say you have written a railroad history book. The first thing I would do is a quick search on Amazon for “railroads” and then sort by publication date. You want to find current authors and see what kinds of marketing they are doing!

So I found Michael Williams who is a writer of train stories on Amazon.

He did not have an author page so I went to google and typed in “michael williams railroad” and found that he had a Twitter account. He shares other railroad tweets and pictures of his family life.

Followers On Twitter

So now how do find people who might want to read your book? Check the followers of other authors like Michael on Twitter! Just a quick peek showed that 5 of 9 people have some relation to railroads and would be good people to connect with!

You can do this same thing for Pinterest followers, Instagram and Facebook business page followers.

Please note! Making connections doesn’t mean making sales!

You need to follow people, share things they will like, give them info about your topic, and generally make a connection and a relationship with them BEFORE they will buy your book!

Have great sales copy ready

Last but not least, make sure to have great sales copy ready for all of the places where you market your book. Having it ready to go will save you time and also save you from looking like you are disorganized.

Your copy should describe the book and how it will benefit your reader. What this means is how will that book help them solve problems in their lives, how will it make their lives improve?

In other words, how will your book help them?

A great way to figure this out is to add “so that” to the end of your chapter titles.

Heading back to Amazon, I found a book that I would never read, “Survival Medicine: Handbook to the Prepper’s Long Term Survival Guide“. I am not preparing for long-term destruction of civilization and also I tend to pack minutes before I walk out the door so my real life isn’t conducive to this planning anyways! BUT maybe I could be persuaded to take a peek with these benefits (I wrote them from the chapter titles!)

• A Preppers List of Over The Counter Medicine and Medical Supplies … so that you can easily find out what you need and get from local stores or online
• Wild Medicinal Plants A Prepper Can Use … so that you can use your gardening skills to save your family in case of emergency
• Tips A Prepper Can Use To Stay Calm … so that you can be the ones who survive and thrive in the new world

Each of these touch on a “why” of buying the book. Triggering fear or happiness, confusion or doubt will all help your potential reader pick your book out of all the other ones out there!

Edit your words into a short blurb, a medium blurb and a longer one. That gives you a version for every need you’ll have.

Use the brainstorming words as posts for social media and other times you need quick comments!

Marketing Ideas For Non Fiction Books Wrapup

Marketing your non fiction book doesn’t have to be horrible chore. You love your topic and finding people to buy your book should not be as hard as you might think!

Take a little time, put a little thought into how you will be positioning your book and the whole thing can feel a lot more like fun and a lot less like work!

The post 3 Steps To A Wicked Easy Non Fiction Marketing Plan appeared first on Non Fiction Marketing.

These days it seems that everyone has an e-reader or e-reader app on their phones. Books are not necessarily a thing of the past, but it seems that electronically reading is the in thing. I have my own e-reader, as well as a matching app on my phone. It makes reading easier, and lighter, since you don’t have to carry a bunch of books, just a piece of technology that weighs a few ounces.

Electronic readers

Given that many use electronic readers you might think that the cover for your book doesn’t matter as much. After all, it won’t be seen as much in a bookstore. Electronic sales are more important, right? Bad way to think! You still need a kick butt cover to get your book recognized and get attention. And don’t discount the physical book angle either. If your book gets published, there will be physical copies in a bookstore.

So what is the purpose of a book cover?

It’s to catch the attention of the reader. In a store full of books it takes a great cover to catch that attention. Think about the last time you were in a bookstore. What caught your attention? A plain cover? How about the cover that was colorful or eye catching? Not rocket science, it was the eye catching cover. But again, since most sales are electronic, what’s the big deal? The big deal is that those covers are also used on the electronic book sites. Go look at Amazon and their Kindle® books. Are they just lists of names of books and authors. Nope. It’s pictures of books and their covers.

Covers that either grab the reader or get ignored. Which do you want yours to be?

Obviously not ignored. You don’t make any sales if people ignore your book cover. It could be the Sistine Chapel of books but with a boring cover, hardly anyone will read it. Now add a great, kick butt cover that grabs the attention of your target audience, and maybe others, and your sales will soar! Or at least they won’t flop.

So don’t cheap out on your book cover. Get one made that captures the essence of your book and grabs your prospective readers by the collar and demands they buy!

Some sources of book covers

So where can you get a really great book cover? Here are some ideas for how to find a great book cover designer!

1. If you have author friends who have a great book cover then ask who designed it for them (maybe the best way!)
2. 99 Designs… because some big self publishing podcasts recommend them, the designers there have done a fair amount of covers
3. Fiverr… if you are limited in your budget, using Fiverr.com is a great place to start
4. DIY… if you are not a designer, this is the riskiest way to go, but sometimes you have to get started somewhere! Canva.com is a great resource for easy Graphic Design.

Hopefully this post will help you to get going on this super important resource!

Additional Resources

• How Much Does A Good Ebook Cover Matter?
• How To Decide On A Non Fiction Book Cover Design

The post Why Having A Kick Butt Book Cover Matters So Much appeared first on Non Fiction Marketing.

In this day and age of e-books does a good ebook cover really matter? It does! Your cover tells a prospective reader a lot of things. Make sure they are good things, not bad.

Does this author care?

The first thing a cover tells the reader is does this author care enough to make their cover quality? Your book cover tells readers that you are, or are not, a professional. They will be able to tell if you cared enough to make it look good, not cheap.

It will tell them that you are smart enough to make your cover compelling and what they can expect to find inside the book. Cheesy covers scream to readers that what is inside may not be worth their while. Whether you have access to the graphic resources of a big publishing company or not, it’s a question of presentation. Ebooks still need a cover thumbnail for Amazon or whatever publisher you choose to use. It matters.

Book covers catch the eye of readers

Book covers catch the eye of readers and engage them. It’s the aesthetic that attracts them to pick it up and take a closer look. Without that, it doesn’t matter what is inside. Your cover is there to do a few important things. It is there to market your book. It’s there to convince people to buy your book. It should say something about what’s inside, but in a professional looking, yet eye catching way.

Think about that big sales page that is on most sites. And then think about what will make your cover stand out from the crowd! Here are screen captures of the top and bottom 5 pictures of covers.

I KNOW… they are really tiny! But remember, people looking on Amazon or other sites only get to see really tiny pictures. It is also very clear that the top 5 have great covers and the bottom 5 have thrown together covers that are not professionally done!

Genre, subject matter and tone

It should tell people what the genre your book falls under, and give them an idea of subject matter and tone.

What does that mean? Well, if it’s a historical fiction romance, it shouldn’t look like a science fiction novel. It should show something that gives the reader an idea of time period, that it’s a romance and in a way that draws them to pick up (or click on) the book.

Tone comes in with the emotion of the story. Is it happy, sad, dark, hopeful? Try to convey that in the colors you choose.

What genre do you think this cover comes from?

YES! It is a cozy mystery. I love these kinds of books! They are super character driven, have a fun story and someone dies. Now, many people don’t like them, but those of us who do think that they are the bomb.

Some things that make a cozy mystery cover eye catching are funky fonts, bold colors and interesting graphics that match the title of the book.

Killer Cupcakes by Leighann Dobbs

How about this one?

Not so fun, right? A little dark, sort of creepy and perfect for a book that is about aliens and scary things happening!

Some things that make science fiction covers pop are illustrations of things that aren’t real (spaceships, out of this world mechanical bits, etc.) and a more somber color.

Invasion by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant

Making sure your genre matches your book will mean that someone who loves that genre is half sold before they even drill down to see if they would like your story!

What catches your eye

Think about how the cover of your last favorite read looked. Picture what caught your eye. It was probably a professional looking cover that told you what you wanted to know in a few seconds so you’d check it out further to see if you wanted to buy it!

I am not sure that there is a more important step in your ebook marketing than having a great cover that catches your perfect reader’s eye!

The post How Much Does A Good Ebook Cover Matter? | Author Marketing Tips appeared first on Non Fiction Marketing.

You’re selling fiction and are writing a new book, or thinking about a plot and characters for a new one, and worry about choosing a genre for your book.

Worse yet, your ideas for your storyline aren’t staying in one specific genre and the mental gymnastics you are going through to reign it in are making you crazy. Should you be worrying about genre now as you write or plan your new book?

Probably not. Here’s why.

Creative Thoughts … Why limits?

The first thing you should be asking yourself when wondering about genre is why limit yourself to one? When you do that, you limit your imagination and your storyline. Why put those kinds of constraints on a job that can already be challenging?

Let your story take you where it will and genre or genres will take care of it or themselves.

More and more authors are letting their stories determine themselves and not letting genre determine their story. Called writing across genres, it’s becoming more and more popular as writers do things like write stories about time traveling historians who fall in love, or science fiction stories that involve fantasy or mystery.

Writing across genre creates stories that provide readers with more types of plot lines and plot twists to follow. It expands their minds and imaginations. Writing across genre also provides the author with a much wider audience. For instance, a historical fiction author who adds romance and mystery into their stories can branch out and attract readers of mysteries or romance, instead of just history buffs. The science fiction author can attract mystery, romance or fantasy reader when they expand their story line to include one or more of those genres in their stories as well. When selling fiction you always want more customers so writing across genres is cool.

If you take the idea that you can only write in a specific genre, you limit where your talent and imagination can take you. You limit your earning potential and you limit your audience.

Cross Genre Selling Marketing Perspective

Okay, so now your book is finished, how to you make sure your mixed up little gem is going to be seen (and bought) by the correct readers. This can really be a challenge…for example, say you did write that mystery science fiction story, who would buy it and how would you position it?

Amazon

In Amazon’s Categories you can pick two so use one to get you in the mystery fiction category and then one to get you in science fiction. Next check out the keywords that you using and split those too. For example, here is the list of keywords that you should use in the mystery category to get that “paranormal” subcategory.

This list can be found here, but there are tons of different ways you can go about this. Do the mystery to paranormal and then the science fiction to mystery keywords too!

Pictures and Sales Banners

One thing that is super easy for you to control is how you are presenting and marketing your book to the world.

Much as the cover design will need to be great, you can make amazing banners that will be used on social media. Just by changing the looks of banners you can appeal to different portions of your audience.

Your fantasy readers will notice the advertising you create around your book at the top and the mystery buffs who love your books will read the bottom.

Positioning your book to appeal to one group or another is not weird, it is a way to optimize sales to each of your different genres.

Targeted Paid Ads

One last thing… having multiple niches in the same book allows you to target your paid advertising better. Say you do have a little a bit of fantasy mystery, then target fans of Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas series. Or if you are doing historical drama, target fans of Michael Crichton’s Timeline.

It might take a little bit of research to find out other “popular” books that you use as your target audience for the paid ads, but it is definitely worth the time!

Selling Fiction Wrapup

One of the reasons “common lore” says to stick to genres and drive between the lines was that the big publishers did not want you to write a book that would fit in science fiction and cooking at the same time. Those were hard to sell because they wouldn’t know which department to put them in at the store.

But now that things are digital, bookstores are limitless and the only thing that would stop you from selling fiction is your lack of imagination. Keyword target your books, use the categories and make your marketing banners appeal to your target customers.

All super easy and affordable to do!

The post Selling Fiction – Why You Shouldn’t Worry About Picking A Genre appeared first on Non Fiction Marketing.

Define your core message

First, define and develop your core message. Your platform is about you, your voice and your work. It’s not about annoying people by being “rah rah” and self-promoting, but it is about softly promoting yourself. Your core message should be what you want to inform others about, and it should be part of every piece of content you produce.

Create content with value

Next, create content with value that you are willing to give to others for free. Giving away valuable things for free?? Yes. Your readers need to feel valued by your gift to them of an article, eBook, audio file or whatever you come up with. Generosity will be recognized and rewarded by the referrals the beneficiaries provide for you.

Connect and interact with your readers

Also, connect and interact with your readers. This is really important. If your readers don’t feel that you care enough to interact with them, they won’t come back. Social media is the best way to accomplish this. There is a plethora of social media platforms out there, but the best known and most used are Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest. The important difference about using this in your platform is that you aren’t using it to establish your audience, but to interact with your current audience and build from there.

Build your list

Fourth, keep building your list! Keeping your list growing is vital to any author’s success. It’s the best place, besides your social media, to share news. Use your email list to share updates, newsletters, blog posts, and news about your next book. Growing a list of interested subscribers is the best thing that could happen for any author. Link your opt in place on your social media, on your website and on your blog.

Share content

Lastly, share content. Why share? Because it increases your credibility. It grows your platform and lists. It makes you a leading authority in your niche. It attracts media attention, which can lead to speaking opportunities and more credibility. It develops you as a brand and spreads your message.

The post Authority Marketing – 5 Steps To Building An Author Platform appeared first on Non Fiction Marketing.

Walk around any bookstore and you’ll see all kinds of genre of fiction. Genres, sub genres, all sorts of different types of stories. Authors have a multitude of genres to write and sell in fiction. So how do they choose? Well, often it’s due to their favorite type of fiction to read, or where their imaginations take them. So what are the top 10 fiction genres?

Let’s start with mystery

Who doesn’t like a good mystery? Mystery fiction deals with solving a situation that puzzles people. It could be a good old fashioned “who dunnit” that involves finding out who committed a crime, Agatha Christie is a well known mystery writer. Others involve unraveling secrets on a more lighthearted note like Sneaky Pie Brown, a mystery solving cat, or the Death on Demand series by Caroline Hart.

Thriller or suspense is next

This genre can be found in other genres as well, but generally they are stories that puts the reader on the edge of his or her seat. Dan Brown and his mysteries involving religious symbolism and the like are a great example of thrillers as they are fast paced, “page turners” that combine solving a mystery AND evading capture. Suspense doesn’t have to mean scary as we see in Dean Koontz‘s novel, The Face, which is scary meets Hollywood and is one of my favorite all time titles.

Romance

One of the truly best known genres of fiction is romance. Who doesn’t love a good story where the hero saves the heroine after convincing her he is the love of her life? This genre can have parts of other genres, such as historical romance, or science fiction romance. What sets it apart from other genres and makes it romance is that the story of the couple is the central part of the book, and the details surrounding it that make it “historical” or “thriller” are less important. One note if you are writing romance, there is an implied promise in the romance genre that everything WILL come out right in the end.

Fantasy

Fantasy includes the Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling or Lord of the Rings. In this genre there is generally a fictional world that may or may not connect with our “real” world. The fun thing about this genre is that readers often take the story and want to extend it on, like the amazing Pottermore site that allows Harry’s fans to gather and talk about the world of Hogwarts.

Adventure

Adventure is a broad genre that may have elements of other genres, but is all about the journey and what happens along the way. Think Treasure Island or more recently the Hunger Games books by Suzanne Collins.

Humor. Who doesn’t want to laugh?

Humor doesn’t have to mean silly or slapstick when it comes to fiction. Two of my favorite humorous protagonists are strong women who are downright smart AND funny. The first is Lucky O’Toole, by Deborah Coonts. Her series set in Las Vegas is downright fun reading. The second is the Stephanie Plum mysteries by Janet Evanovich. These are rip-roaring fun and feature a lot of humor (some of it pretty dark!)

Historical fiction

Historical fiction tells a story using fictional characters but talks about an historical setting or event. A great example of historical fiction is The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George. The story tells of King Henry VIII of England and involves characters who existed, but makes up details that couldn’t be historically verified.

Science Fiction

Science Fiction is a genre that deals with content such as futuristic settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, time travel, faster than light travel, parallel universes and extraterrestrial life. Old science fiction has been known to be either silly in what people thought our time would be like, or eerily similar to the technology we now have. Science fiction often deals with the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations. Two of my favorite science fiction writers are Orson Scott Card, who wrote the Ender’s Game series, and James P. Hogan who wrote Inherit The Stars in 1978.

While I mostly write about marketing books, I am reader of great fiction too and so hope that if you are a new author you find your favorite genre and run with it!

The post Selling Fiction – The Top 8 Fiction Genres To Write For appeared first on Non Fiction Marketing.

Watch people in a bookstore

Have you ever watched people in a book store? They look over the titles on the shelf, considering each. If that title was well crafted and catches their eye they will pull that book from the shelf. That book will get flipped over so they can read the back, or opened to read the inside flap. What ends up there better be compelling, or that book gets put back on the shelf. That back or inside flap write up is your product description and it better be persuasive.

Your book title is the first important part of marketing your book. Face it, without that grabbing the reader it doesn’t matter what the product description may be. However, your book will quickly hit that shelf again if the product description doesn’t keep that initial interest. So your writing isn’t done yet. You need to come up with about 100-150 word description that will grab them by the shirt collar and make them keep your book in their hands.

Not sure what to write or how they should look?

Try this. Go into a bookstore and look through the books. Find a shelf of books that may or may not grab your attention and start looking at all of them. Look particularly at the ones that have descriptions that make you want to buy them. What it is about them that captured your attention? How are they worded?

Work on writing your own

Use descriptive words that evoke positive feelings in those people who read your genre. And don’t forget hyperbole! Making your content sound exciting to anyone, but especially those who are looking for a book in your genre. So now GO, work on your description!

Remember, you don’t get points for your book being looked at in the bookstore, it only counts if they BUY it!

My favorite free resource for writing amazing descriptions that help sell books!

You know, it’s funny… as authors we know how to write books in our respective genres, but when it comes to writing the most important part of our book (the sales copy) we lack the ability to really knock it out of the park and hook the reader enough to buy our books.

Check out Sell More Books with AWESOME Amazon Descriptions

The post Why Having A Great Product Description Is So Important | Non Fiction Marketing appeared first on Non Fiction Marketing.

The title creates an impression

The title of your book creates an impression. As with all first impressions, one that doesn’t grab the reader won’t sell the book. A great first impression will mean higher sales, for sure. In order to do that, you need to have a strong title. Here’s what you need to know to come up with a fantastic title.

Know the genre

First, and it may sound silly, but know the genre of your book. Without a defined genre you can’t really set a tone to convey within your title. So if you book is a self-help book, please don’t choose a title that makes it sound like a dry, historical tome. Your title must communicate your genre very clearly.

Look at books selling in your genre

Next, look to other books selling in your genre for some ideas. No, you can’t steal them, but you can get an idea of what is working. Go to Amazon and search books by genre, then look at the titles. Will you like them all? Of course not, but look at what catches your eye and think about why. Make some notes about that and then set it aside. Obviously, you want to have your own personality in the title as well, so now it’s time to brainstorm.

Listing words associated with your book

Now start listing words you associate with your non fiction book. List them by type of word: nouns, verbs and adjectives. Be sure to list words that capture what you want your reader to think, feel or do after reading it. Think of your call to action, but also think about words that describe what your book is about. Don’t limit yourself, write down everything. Use visual words, emotional words, words that evoke a sensation, a question or a call to action. Try to get at least 100 words.

If any jump out immediately as words that do all that in a single word, jump on them. If not, then start putting them together in different word combinations: adjective-noun, verb-noun. Use a thesaurus! It is your friend! Also try and come up with at least 15 to 20 title combinations. Then walk away. Time to let them sink into your brain and simmer like a stew.

Come back to your list

Once you come back to it later, add anything you might have thought of in between, then narrow your list. Cross off those that don’t tickle your fancy right away and whittle the list to about 5 title possibilities. Walk away again. Now go back to the Amazon list and see if your title list would fit in, without being a duplicate.

Last few things

Ask yourself do the last few titles you have on your list match the tone of your book? Do any attract attention? If the book were on a shelf and no one could see the cover would the title stand out? Will a reader have any idea what the book is about just from the title?

Found the one where each answer is “yes?” then you have your title!

Next Step >> Now that you have  a great title, you need a powerful description to convert buyers. Check out this FREE Ebook on “How To Sell More Books With Awesome Amazon Descriptions”

You know, it’s funny… as authors we know how to write books in our respective genres, but when it comes to writing the most important part of our book (the sales copy) we lack the ability to really knock it out of the park and hook the reader enough to buy our books.

The post Book Marketing : Make Sure Your Title Helps To Sell Your Non Fiction Book appeared first on Non Fiction Marketing.

You worked hard on that book. Hours of writing, editing and worrying and it’s finally finished. Now you need to help market that book, that labor of love of yours. Pinterest is a great way to market it, and here are the top 5 tips to make your book sales soar!

What is Pinterest?

If you haven’t heard about Pinterest, it’s a social media site that acts like a virtual bulletin board. You “pin” image files to it: photos, memes, recipes and the like, to share with those who follow your Pinterest account and/or the general public. As with any other social media it’s social, meaning you follow others and they follow you. You establish relationships with them, etc. It’s important to remember this because if you just start spamming people with “BUY MY BOOK” pins without having interactions with them, they will 1) not share it and 2) stop following you.

Start by making boards

Start by making some boards and pinning things that interest you, that have to do with your business, but are engaging. Once you’ve established a good, solid network, then promote your own things. Make sure to check out other boards to see how people are pinning things, you will get some good ideas from that.

Market yourself as an author

One of the things you have to keep in mind is that you aren’t just marketing your book, but yourself as an author as well. Is the message you want to send about yourself that you are a pushy super aggressive jerk? Of course not! Pinterest also isn’t the place where you should expect a lot of back and forth in words. So you have to send the message you want to send about not only your book, but about yourself as well, through images. The marketing is indirect, but it has been proven to drive a lot of traffic.

Did you know that more than 80% of pins are re-pins? A re-pin means someone pins something someone else pinned first. So if 80% are re-pins, that means that 20% of pinners are sharing original content. If you pin things that are remarkable, the rest will do the work for you. So look for ways do a few things: teach, entertain and inspire. Make people think. If you do that, when it finally comes time to market your book, they will do it for you, no problem.

Start with an interesting profile

To market yourself, you have to start with an interesting profile. Pinterest has different terms of service for personal accounts than they do business accounts, and since you are planning to use it to further your writing career, a business account is probably best. In all your social media and marketing use your name, not your book title, and a professional photo. That way your brand, you, is consistent. In your “About” section use your talents and write a compelling description about you and your life. Be sure to hashtag (“#”) key words so those searching can find you. Also be sure to link your Twitter and Facebook pages, and your website. Also be sure the privacy settings are set so “Search Privacy” is marked no. That way you appear in search engines.

Add a Pin Button to your browser

Be sure to go to the Pinterest Goodies page and follow the instructions to add a Pin It button to your browser’s toolbar. That means that when you find a blog post, a video or image you want to add to your board, all you have to do is click the Pin It button and it will be added automatically. Oh, and add the “Pin It” button to your website so people can automatically pin content from your website too!

Create different interesting boards

Also be sure to create different boards on your profile. Be creative. Start with 8-10 boards and put no less than 5 pins on each, making sure to hashtag relevant keywords and add short but catchy board titles so people can find them. Also add a description for each board that clearly let people know what pins they’ll find.

Once you are set up, start pinning, interacting and building your followers!

Suzanne Reisig Olden is an author and paralegal. She works for a international sales and management training/coaching franchise in the legal department of their home office. It has taught her much about sales, marketing and generally being a successful person. She also copywrites for Marketing Artfully and has a weekly column on clashdaily.com. She lives in Maryland and is the married mother of 2.

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