Five New Marketing Ideas To Try

Once you have a book, most authors need to do some of their own marketing. The typical means are usually websites, blogs, social media and ads. The world is constantly changing, though, and new ways to market books and writing are coming all the time. Here are some “newer” ideas you might want to try.

Use a Cricut

Are there any items you could make that go well with your book? Mugs? Bookmarks? T-shirts? Bags? While you don’t necessarily need a Cricut to make items that complement your book, it can make it much easier. I was at a book fair and noticed other authors had bookmarks, coloring pages, t-shirts and bags for sale in addition to their books. I decided to make mugs, bookmarks, and a coffee sugar scrub to go along with my books when I sell them at a market or fair. It catches people’s eyes, gives them something to buy if they’re not a big reader, and gives you the option to sell packages of items.

Think about the Homeschoolers

Homeschooling has increased substantially over the past two years. If your book is for children or young adults, can you develop worksheets that can go along with the book? You could sell them with or without the book or even offer one or two freebies to get parents interested in using your book at home with their children. If your book is for adults, look at creating discussion questions that could be used with a book club. You could even offer to show up via Zoom.

Offer to do a School Workshop

Schools are opening back up to pre-Covid activities and they are often looking for enrichment opportunities to catch kids up who have fallen behind. Offer to teach a writing workshop and have a flyer the children can take home that lists your Web site and how to buy your books. You can also do these writing workshops at a library. Some schools and libraries pay the author a small fee and some don’t.

Podcasts

There are a plethora of podcasts out there now, but that also means there are many looking for guests to talk to on their shows. Going into a podcast platform and searching for key words related to your book or writing style should give you a long list of podcast hosts to contact about going on their show. If this is something you are highly interested in doing, it might be worth investing in a microphone or headset to increase the quality of your audio. Some podcasters also do video and post it on YouTube or other channels. If that’s the case, check your camera and lighting, too.

Substack/Patreon

Substack and Patreon are two new platforms where people can offer content for different pay levels. I honestly haven’t used either much yet (I just signed up for Substack), but I’ve heard them talked about on writing podcasts and they sound promising. You can use it as a blogging platform or put new content on it, like the serials in old newspapers. You could tease new chapters or books, too. (I’ll probably do a blog post on Substack after I use it more.) They sound like they’re worth checking out, though.

Have you come across any newer ways for an author to market their writing? Share them in the comments!

Copyright 2022 Sarah Anne Carter
Image: Photo by Karolina Grabowska (Pexels)