5 Marketing Strategies for Writers Who Hate Promoting Their Own Work

5 Marketing Strategies for Writers Who Hate Promoting Their Own Work.

I’ll admit it… I’m an introvert. As such the promoting aspect of my book is something I have slacked on. I just feel a little awkward about the whole thing. I do have my blog, a Facebook Page. Twitter and even Tumblr so I have the social media set up to do it. I found this article useful for someone like me that needs some steps in the right direction when it comes to this.

 

Here are what the article suggests (check out the whole article above as I condensed this a bit and there is more before this section):

1. Create realistic self-promotion goals…

• Add 100 Twitter followers in a week

• Increase sales 4 percent in a month

• Build and promote a Facebook fan page and get 50 likes per day

…

• Tweet your book/article/reviews twice per day

• Submit your book to three review sites per week

Once you achieve these goals, set the bar higher for the next round. Achieving modest goals gives us the confidence to attempt harder ones while avoiding the burnout we feel when our goals are overwhelming. (Click to tweet this idea.)

2. Keep what’s working, drop what’s not

Most social media platforms allow you to measure your engagement with your audience. Marketing and social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk writes in his book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook,….

Whatever the case, concentrating on the platforms that work for you is not only smart, but will keep you motivated as you reach more and more readers.

3. Don’t reinvent the wheel

Chances are your social media feeds are full of people giving great advice about self-promotion, so you don’t have to come up with a plan from scratch. Research how the experts are doing it, then use their tried and true techniques to jump-start your own marketing efforts.

4. Use available tools to your advantage

It’s strange, but sending a tweet or posting a Facebook update about my work in real time is intimidating. It’s much simpler to write my promotional tweets and set them to go out in advance.

To do this, I use Tweetdeck and Buffer. In addition to being solutions for my real-time phobia, they save time, as I can set my tweets and updates and forget them.

5. Shift your focus…

Because I treat what I do like the business that it is. My career, as important as it is, isn’t held as close to my heart as my writing.

Shifting your focus to seeing your books as commodities to be sold as opposed to the work you hold so near and dear to your heart may help to remove the personal aspect from the equation, thus making promotion easier.

How do you feel about self-promotion? What strategies work for you?

The post 5 Marketing Strategies for Writers Who Hate Promoting Their Own Work appeared first on The Write Life. (5 Marketing Strategies for Writers Who Hate Promoting Their Own Work.)

Maybe I should be promoting a book I currently have since the sequel will be out as soon as I finish the last draft and work on a cover. Hmmm. Maybe do some promotion on free coupons or something.