9 Tricks to Successfully Promote Your New Book

You’ve come out with a new book and I hope it’ll sell tons of copies. But unless you’re already an established author with a rabid fan base, you need to know how to promote your newly published book if you hope it will make any money.

This is a lesser-known part of the job that many new authors aren’t aware of until they’ve published a few novels. You can get ahead of the curve and learn this lesson early by reading these tricks to promote your new book to an excellent effect successfully.

1. Create a Book/Author Website

Your first step when promoting any new book is creating a dedicated website. If you don’t already have one, consider bootstrapping an author website so that prospective readers can learn more about your book(s) and you as a person.

Your author website serves as an excellent promotional springboard and a place for people to buy your books from whatever online marketplace you sell them on. 

2. Social Media Announcements

Next, create a few social media profiles if you haven’t already and promote them. Social media platforms are great tools for:

• Announce new books or tell your audience when books should arrive.
• Provide writing updates so your readers know when to expect your next book.
• Announce special deals.
• And more.

If you sign on with a traditional publisher, they’ll likely require you to run a social media profile to spread the news about your new book launch.

3. Q&A Sessions

You can get together with other authors and answer questions about your book launch. Or you can make your own YouTube videos and do the same thing. Don’t be discouraged if you only get a few online listeners first!

As you build up a dedicated readership, more people will come to these Q&As. Then they’ll bring their friends – sooner than you think, you could have a dedicated fan base waiting for your next book launch!

4. Create a Customized Book Cover

If you haven’t quite finished publishing your book, or if you are going the self-publishing route, you can take charge of the final look of your book’s cover. Well-designed, stylish, customized book covers can do a lot to draw readers to your text, especially if your book is in a genre with specific conventions or aesthetic styles.

Many writers hesitate to take on this responsibility. After all, they’re artists with words, not images. Not to worry: you can use book cover designs and templates from free tools like PosterMyWall. Using these tools, you’ll create a great book cover for your new novel in no time.

5. Make Some Custom Bookmarks for In-Person Promos

Similarly, you can and should create custom bookmarks – showcasing characters in the novel or special symbols, for example – to hand out to people in person. This is doubly true if you have gone the traditional publishing route and your publisher wants you to meet with fans or hold a few book signings.

Custom bookmarks act as souvenirs for potential readers. Even better, if someone reading your book uses a custom-designed bookmark, someone else might see the bookmark, become intrigued, and look up your book later down the road. Once again, you can create your custom bookmarks using bookmark templates on PosterMyWall.

6. Get Some Early Book Reviews

It may also be wise to seek out positive or mostly positive book reviews ASAP. Why? The more reviews your new book has, the greater the likelihood that someone who’s never heard of you will pick it up and read it themselves.

There are two ways you can pursue early book reviews in the first days and weeks after release:

• Ask your friends and family members to read and review your book on Amazon, Goodreads, or some other site. Have them try to repeat what they liked about the book more than any minor quibbles or downsides.
• Reach out to professional or hobbyist book reviewers. They usually operate on platforms like Amazon and Goodreads. Research what the book reviewer likes to read, then offer them a free copy of your book if they agree to review it.

Most readers want to know what a new book is rated before buying. You can bet that getting some early book reviews under your belt will go a long way toward getting more readers in general.

7. Put the Book in Your Email Signature/Footer

One of the simplest ways to promote a newly published book is to simply include a link to the purchase page in your email signature or footer. Then, whenever you send an official email to friends, business acquaintances, or anyone else, they’ll have the opportunity to notice that you are both a published author and that they can buy your book if they’re curious about it!

8. Be a Guest on Podcasts

There are dozens of high-quality author-focused and writing podcasts these days. Try to be a guest on one!

Of course, you shouldn’t just promote your book on said podcasts. But most podcast hosts will allow you to plug your novel either in the middle or at the show’s end. Not only is this a great way to promote your newly published book, but it can also get you some long-term fans simultaneously.

9. Write Guest Posts or Blogs

Lastly, offer to write guest posts for others in the field or for fiction fans. Guest blog posts can be about anything you like, like the writing process, a discussion about the publishing industry, or something else. Again, you’ll likely be allowed to plug your book or link to it by the publisher.

There you have it – 9 easy ways to promote your newly published book and see tremendous success! If you use all of these methods in conjunction, you may find that your sales figures skyrocket faster than you can imagine.

Conclusion

Promoting a book successfully requires a multi-faceted approach, combining digital strategies with traditional marketing techniques. The key is to be persistent, creative, and willing to adapt your approach based on what resonates with your audience.

Remember, book promotion is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time to build momentum and see results. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see immediate success. Keep refining your approach, engaging with your readers, and creating valuable content.

Most importantly, stay true to yourself and your book throughout the promotion process. Your authenticity and passion for your work will shine through and connect with readers in a way that no marketing trick can replicate.