How to market your book?

Last week I was bored to death after I finished up reading a great book. I have been pondering to write one on my own. Lost in thoughts, I contemplated to play bingo with no deposit just to kill time. So as I was playing in the bingo room, enjoying the lively banter I happened to meet someone really fascinating. We hit it off perfectly and I told him how I was thinking to write a book and get it published. I have a story line in head, but don’t know how to go about marketing the book. What he told me was quite intriguing and I couldn’t help but share with you all.

Let’s face it! Being a good writer isn’t good enough. If you want to be a writer, you need to be an  entrepreneur as well. Marketing is an art that requires a great deal of effort. Publishing a book is a financial risk. There are two things that can happen to you at the end of the day: either your book sells like crazy or it just lies in the bookstore shelf with nobody to buy it. Sure you wouldn’t want the latter.

First of all, when you are writing a book, understand who you are writing it for? Be clear of the community. Don’t think everybody in the world is keen on reading your book. Get over it and start writing for a niche audience. For instance, writing about African Diaspora to the U.S. may not fascinate someone say from England. At the end of the day, the rock bottom is to figure out who you are actually writing for.

Connect to communities who fancies the kind of things you are writing about and start getting the word out. Be active on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon and so forth. Get into an argument (not a heated one of course) and put your ideas across on various platforms: blogs, forums et cetera. You can also create a page on Facebook and ask your peeps to hit the ‘like’ button and spread the word around.

You can also do some form of sale. For instance with every Kindle purchased on Amazon, giveaway your book for free. With people reading your book, more and more people will get to know about it which will create a momentum and drive sale. The key is to keep the buzz going. Mostly after release of a book, interest of most readers wanes after a month or so. You need to come up with ideas to keep the book alive and fresh in people’s mind.

These were just few things my dear friend shared with me. I’m certain you’ll have plenty of other ideas. Don’t forget to leave your comments. Remember marketing is a slow process and not a sprint. Don’t keep your eyes peeled to reach the finish line. I hope if you too are planning on writing a book someday, you keep these pointers in mind. Your book will gradually find the audience it’s worthy of. Good luck!