One of the most important facets of being an author is marketing. No one is going to buy your book if they don’t know it exists. And although some people don’t think you should worry about your name, I would beg to differ. So, when should you start marketing yourself?
The short answer is immediately.
The sooner you start building an audience and sharing yourself, the greater the following once you publish your book. Of course, this is true regarding anything you plan on creating that is in the public eye.
You’ll find that your strongest supporters are often the ones who have been with you throughout the journey. They are the ones who will inspire you to keep going and the ones who are often the first in line to buy your next book.
So, even if you haven’t finished your first draft, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there to share your journey.
How Serious Are You About Being an Author?
Perhaps the first question you should ask yourself before committing to marketing is how serious you are to become an author. There are a lot of folks out there who think they want to write but change their minds once they find out the work it entails.
This is especially true for self-published indie authors. We essentially have to work hard to gain any headway when it comes to selling our books.
Don’t get sucked into the glitz and glamour of being an author. It’s hard work, stressful nights, and a lot of self-promotion to build momentum. The last thing you want to do is dump a lot of time and money into something you’re not willing to do over the long term.
It could be years before you hit your stride. Then again, it could happen much sooner depending on your audience and the types of books you write. Just keep in mind that there are no guarantees of success, especially as an author.
Creating a Community Through Progression
There is a reason why the rags-to-riches trope is popular. A lot of folks like to see the progression of someone. That is as long as you’re actually progressing. You don’t want to sit and spin your wheels.
This is in addition to the way people feel when they’re on the ground floor of something that promises to be huge. It connects them on a deeper emotional level than merely following someone who is already a celebrity.
As I’ve pointed out earlier, this community is often full of the ones who’ll propel your career forward through inspiration and action.
Sure, it’ll be difficult to attract a lot of followers or subscribers at first. But that’s only because people don’t truly know who you are or what you’re going to offer. It’ll take some time to build momentum, but I’ve found it’s worth every moment.
Free Outlets to Practice
There are all kinds of places you can practice writing online to start building an audience. And in many cases, fans of those platforms will follow you to others and are more likely to consider buying books you publish.
The best part is that some of those platforms may even pay you to write, depending on whether you can attract readership.
I’m a huge supporter of practicing as often as possible. A free outlet like Wattpad, Inkitt, or Archive of Our Own lets you dive into all kinds of things for your future writing career.
Maybe you’re thinking about trying a different genre. Or, perhaps you want to explore fan fiction without getting sued. Whatever your reasoning, online platforms like these can help you build a fan base before your more serious works are published.
Your Author Blog and Marketing
Never underestimate the power of a blog, especially if the URL is your author or pen name. Use the author blog as a base of operations, connecting all of your social accounts and books into one location.
When you Google your name, what shows on the results page? When you Google mine, it’s the MichaelBrockbank.com website as well as all of the others that I’m tied to.
I have to admit that I put a lot of effort into getting my name in as many places as an author as I could. The goal was to kick all of the other Michael Brockbanks off of the first page of Google.
In any case, your author blog has great potential to help promote yourself as a marketing tool. Depending on the content, you can even connect with people who have no interest in buying a book but will read all of your content. This can translate to ad revenue and possible affiliate sales later on.
To be honest, I really don’t see why some authors choose not to have a blog or website. They focus on merely what Linktree can do for them, which pales in comparison to an actual website.
Video Marketing and the Author
Did you know that about 92% of all people on the Internet watch videos every week? This is just one of many stats that demonstrate the effectiveness of video marketing. This includes content you make on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram Reels, and even Facebook.
Although I haven’t truly dove into the TikTok trend, I do have an active YouTube channel as an author, blogger, and freelancer. In that case, though, I am more focused on teaching others how to do what I do for a living.
Still, I promote myself quite often on the channel as an author, and it has led me to some awesome experiences.
The point is that videos of you progressing and sharing your talents connect readers to you on a personal level. This is especially true as people feel more connected to video personalities than just merely through text.
Selling Books to Your Audience
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons to start marketing yourself today as a serious author is the potential of selling books to your audience. When I published A Freelaner’s Tale while having a small following, I sold six books within the first 30 minutes of it going live.
I know, that’s not a lot compared to some authors. But for someone who was relatively new to self-publishing and it being the first book I ever published, six copies is quite an achievement.
It’s a mixture of those who want to support your efforts and those who are curious about the process. You’ll accumulate a variety of individuals who want to see how you progress and are often willing to fork over a bit to help support your efforts.
It may be a small amount in the very beginning. But then all kinds of opportunities develop as time marches on.
For example, I pull in a bit of cash from ad revenue for both this blog and YouTube channel. That’s not including the freebies companies have given me or the sponsored posts I’ve published on the blog from paying brands.
The bottom line is that I’m diversifying how I generate income from simply promoting myself as an author, blogger, and freelance writer.
It Costs Nothing to Get Started
Although I am a proponent of having an author blog, you can get started today without having a monetary investment. It doesn’t cost anything to set up your social accounts, create a YouTube channel, or get onto TikTok.
Since most social sites and video platforms are manageable from your phone, you can literally get started right now. Create some Shorts, throw up a video on TikTok, or start posting some content on Threads, Facebook, or a number of other social outlets.
Eventually, you’ll want to put a bit of money into marketing yourself as an author. Free methods are only going to get you so far. But until you get some momentum built, all it takes is a bit of time to get started.
You can even use the free version of Buffer to update social accounts without actually logging into them. It’s how I started, and then I upgraded to the premium service once I had a bit of extra money saved up.
Don’t know what to post? Take a look at some of the larger author accounts and see how frequently they post and the type of content that they share with their audiences. You don’t have to outright copy someone, but they can give you an idea of where to begin.
Marketing Works to Get Your Name Out There as an Author
Yes, your books need a fair amount of marketing if you want to sell more copies. However, your name is your brand as an author. You need to market yourself just as often if not more so.
Googling your name should yield results of where people can find your works. If you’re out in public or chatting online, people are going to search for you. The easier it is for them to find your books, the better.
How long it takes before Google indexes your name depends on the extent of your reach and the amount of content you create. When you Google my name, you’ll see my profile for my main blog, the work I do for GreenGeeks, Vocal, Threads, and many other locations. I did this on purpose.
This way, people can find me on their preferred platforms. My next task is to see what I have to do to get “Author” to show up during a search. But that is a blog post for another time.
No matter how you slice it, though, it’s never too early to start marketing yourself as an author.
Are You Actively Promoting Yourself?
The moment I became a full-time writer in 2013, I spent a great deal of time getting my name on the Internet in a variety of ways. From freelancing work to blogging, I’ve created quite a bit of content with my name on it.
The funny part is that I still need to do more marketing so that I can sell more books. For the most part, I rely purely on SEO, which isn’t always the best course of action. Don’t get me wrong, SEO is important for helping Google recognize your name. But there is so much marketing available outside of SEO available online.
So, get started promoting yourself today. It’s free and you could pique the interest of your next greatest fan. You never know who will come across your profiles.
You have a gift to share with the world. Why wait to promote that gift?
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