Book Season is Here

• September 18, 2022
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Book Season is Here!

by Susan Violante, Managing Editor, Reader Views
(Partially published as an infographic in First Chapter Plus September Issue)

Yes, book season is here! If you’re like me, as a reader you are getting ready for fall and new books! But as an indie author, that excitement is about getting busy as “book season” means the promotional season begins. If we did our homework during the summer, we have all our ducks in a row. We have scheduled book events, online tours, social media campaigns are in place to be launched and you are on top of your game! This may not be the case for some of us, but don’t worry, here are some tips to get your promotional efforts going quickly this season.

Prepare Promotional Content

Take one day to write content for your blog. Schedule the brief articles or essays to post monthly on the first week of October, November, and December. (Make them about topics that interests your audience and relate to your book).

Create Visuals – Graphics/Assets

Extract quotes from the content you produced and create visual graphics like memes with programs like canva.com and schedule on your social media platforms through a scheduler like buffer.com.

Don’t Forget the Sway

Invest in swag—bookmarks, mouse pads or other giveaways featuring your book cover and information about your book and website. Offer these as giveaways online through bloggers, “bookstagramers” or your own Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts to grow your audience and email list while promoting your book at the same time.

Advertising

Invest in Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon ads as your budget allows, and schedule them to run during different time periods. We cannot count on just organic publicity if we want to get our book noticed. Online Ads are the most affordable way to advertise, and in my opinion the most effective as we can monitor clicks for budgeting and reach. However, it’s a tool to be used wisely to maximize results.

Think Local

Focus on promoting locally by contacting your local bookstores, libraries, and gift shops to schedule a book signing (bringing your books and giveaways). Let them know that you can advertise the event through social media and community calendars. Many will agree if it gives them traffic and sales percentage on books sold. Offer bookmarks to your local Barnes and Noble and indie bookstores or other stores to display at the register for customers to take free. You can also make yourself available to do a book signing or a hold a book giveaway.

Creating all the above promotional opportunities will only take a few days, but the reach will be 3 months. Happy book season!