One Tried-and-True Book Marketing Strategy That Still Works
This is the social media age, right? No one mails anything anymore, right?
WRONG.
If I could go back in time, I would have found 25-30 key influencers in my genre and popped a book in the mail to them, along with a personal note. A personal touch goes such a long way in marketing—especially in the book selling business!
Authors are always asking us what are some ways they SHOULD be promoting their book but aren't.
Our answer: a mail marketing campaign!
Is this old school? Yep. But hear us out.
Nowadays we are bombarded with social media advertisements that all look the same. Are those effective?
Sure, sometimes.
But there is something very special about having someone send you a book in the mail because they know you'll love it.
That kind of personal touch can't be matched!
3 Simple Steps to Successfully Implementing this SUPER Effective Book Marketing Strategy:
Figure out how many books you are willing to part with for this effort.
Hop on to social media to find some influencers or organizations you might not be connected with, and find a mailing address for them.
Write a personal note explaining why you are giving them your book and how you think you can partner with them.
Follow up with an email in a few weeks, making sure they received your gift.
One of my favorite author success stories from using this old-school approach
I met an author at a writing event a few years ago who told me she used this approach to help market her book, to incredible success.
This author had written a children’s book about the tooth fairy, and only had a shoestring budget to promote it. So, she decided to use what little money she had to send free copies of her book in the mail to places she thought might be interested in it like dentist’s offices and toothpaste companies.
She said she didn’t hear back from a lot of the people she sent the book to, but did receive a several thank you’s and expressions of interest in it.
But then, one of the places she sent a copy of the book to tweeted about it - and her book sales skyrocketed!
Can you guess where this game-changing tweet came from?
Crest toothpaste.
Crest received her book in the mail and loved it, so they tweeted about it…and it made her book an overnight bestseller!
I love this story for so many reasons, but mostly because it shows how effective it is to give that personal, authentic touch to your book marketing.
Want more quick and easy book marketing ideas this?
One of our most frequently asked questions is for templates authors can use to market and sell their work. We totally understand, you’re a writer—you just want to write instead of spending all your time marketing (us too!)
That’s why we created this super handy PDF guide with our favorite book marketing templates for authors:
The “little black book” authors are raving about!
Introducing our “little black book” of marketing advice for authors that includes:
Book press release templates
Speaker sheet templates
Sample email pitches to libraries, book stores & gift shops
Kickstarter scripts for crowdfunding a book
Sample emails to request reviews & endorsements for your book
…and so much more!
We’ve heard from so many authors that this template guide has been a “life saver” when it comes to marketing books. Click here to get your copy now!
