What is one best content marketing strategy for new authors?
To help you form the best marketing strategy for your writing, we asked leading authors and publishing professionals this question for their best pieces of advice. From building a loyal following before your book is published to pursuing powerful legacy media channels, there are several strategies you can pursue as an author to support your content marketing efforts.
Here are six strategies for authors looking for the best content marketing:
- Build a Loyal Following Before your Book is Published
- Prioritize your Content Distribution
- Optimize the Content for Discoverability
- Build Curiosity to Drive Interest
- Don’t Try to Dominate Every Social Media Network
- Pursue Powerful Legacy Media Channels
Build a Loyal Following Before your Book is Published
Reviews are the best form of content for promoting a book online, and you can work on developing an audience of potential reviewers before your book is published. Start networking with people and build out your social media profiles. Authors have a special advantage in that they can easily build an audience of potential readers. One great way to do this is by using a website like Goodreads.
Goodreads has a forum for beta readers that you can join. You’ll be able to share your manuscript with dozens of people who enjoy reading books in-progress and providing feedback on improving the content. Once your book is published, go back to those same people and ask them to post honest reviews. Ideally, you want reviews from verified purchasers, but the more reviews you get, the better.
Dennis Consorte, Snackable Solutions
Prioritize your Content Distribution
Content marketing is not just writing content and then putting it on your blog. You will need to prioritize content distribution as well. Most people make the mistake of focusing only on writing content and miss sharing it so people can know about the brand, get introduced to your product, etc. One simple way you can distribute content is through your own email newsletter.
Trevor Hatfield, SendX
Optimize the Content for Discoverability
First, make the content you write related to what potential readers are already searching. For example, instead of “10 things you need to remember when going to the beach”, write “How to avoid sunburn”. The first title has no searches, and the second has almost 600 searches per month worldwide (of which 140 are in the US), according to SEMRush.
You can add variations to this, e.g. “how to avoid peeling after sunburn”, which could be a subsection of an article describing how to avoid peeling skin if sunburn has already happened, unfortunately. This phrase accounts for another 610 searches, of which 260 are in the USA.
Another factor to consider is the length of the article and its expertise. In 500 words, it isn’t easy to encapsulate an expert approach to a topic. Finally, remember that it’s sometimes better to choose a less famous phrase with fewer searches that have chances to get to the top of the search rather than the most popular.
Lukasz Zelezny, SEO Consultant London
Build Curiosity to Drive Interest
The best content marketing strategy for new authors is to build curiosity around the topic of their book on social media. With books, there are a lot of factors that go into making them sell—including the author’s platform, the quality of the book itself, and the publicity that is done around it. But at the end of the day, if people don’t know what your book is about, they won’t buy it.
So the best way to get people interested in your book is by talking about it on social media. You can share small video clips related to your topic that will give people an idea of what your book is about or create some sort of free course or short video series that teaches people something about your topic and then makes them want more—so much so that they want to buy your book.
Tiffany Homan, Texas Divorce Laws
Don’t Try to Dominate Every Social Media Network
Choose two to three social media networks and focus 100% of your marketing efforts solely on these. Many new authors rush to sign up for every social media platform then make the mistake of reposting the same content across each one. Keep in mind that each social network has its own user quirks and behaviors.
TikTok and LinkedIn, for example, are chalk and cheese. To be successful on any one platform you need to create content specifically for that audience. Authors trying to create content for every social platform often stretch themselves too thin and often produce generic content that appeals to no one. Avoid this trap by committing to consistent posting on just a few social platforms.
John Butterworth, Viddyoze
Pursue Powerful Legacy Media Channels
Promote your book the old fashion way with interviews on legacy media and independent podcasts. The media is still considered one of the most potent forms of publicity. Although we have changed how we consume our media, it’s still valuable for authors to promote their newest novels on all media fronts. Sitting down for a podcast interview with a well-known podcaster is one way to increase sales and gain a new fan base.
During the interview, don’t be afraid to get personal and discuss your latest novel in the best way imaginable. The objective is to build a fanbase and get them excited about their favorite characters from the writer’s perspective.
Benjamin Earley, HOLT
