Writing a book is hard work but marketing it effectively is even harder. Authors who have done the hard work of writing and honing their work down are often disappointed when sales don’t take off automatically. At Lucid Books, we believe that the author is the best marketer for their own book and that the only way for a book to succeed in the sales arena is for the author to be the driving force behind it (Read more about Partnership Publishing here).
One of the easiest, and most overlooked, methods to market your book is to build marketing tools into the text. Additional content besides the text will increase the value of your book and increase its reach. Below are a few of the tools that you can add to your manuscript that will help market your book.
* Study guides. Adding a study guide to your book may be the best thing you decide to do. Books that become bestsellers sell by the box, not by the book. If your book has a study guide built-in, the chances that a church group or a book study group recommend and use it are much higher.
* Appendices. Don’t forget to add appendices when you can. The extra material at the back of the book can be helpful, condensed information that makes your material easier to share with others. Appendices can include short how to articles, helpful questions, quizzes, and step-by-step action plans.
* Author interview. Consider including a Q&A in the back of the book. This will prompt others to call you for interviews and you can publicize it through your website.
* Bonus content. Include codes to bonus audio, video, or other website-related content. This increases the value of your book and you can also continue to add things for the reader this way.
* Recommended Reading. Lists of books to follow up on are always a good idea. This establishes your book as an entry point to a wide range of valuable information. It will also help link your book to others like it on Amazon and other websites, helping to drive more sales your way.
There are a ton of things you can add to the text of your book that will enable it to be used as a frequent reference, a study guide, and a tool to find more dynamic information. Don’t pass up the opportunity to build marketing tools into your book while you write it – its one of the best ways to increase your book sales in the long run, and it takes no extra work after its published.
