Because self-published authors don’t have a publishing company to help them promote their books, it’s important to take the initiative in marketing. Even authors who have publishers must often do their own marketing. Connecting with your fans on a personal level is a great way to market your book. This can be done through attending conferences as well as interacting with them through your blog, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and Pinterest.

Face-to-face interaction, however, is one of the most effective ways to market your book. If you have the budget, time and freedom to do so, I highly recommend attending conferences as a vendor and/or book seller. Readers and potential customers appreciate the opportunity to speak with an author and to have their books signed by the author herself.

For the first six years of my career as an author, most of my book sales occurred at live conferences I attended as a vendor. (Now, Kindle sales account for 90 percent of my writing income). I typically attend two or three conferences a year. I normally sell anywhere from 30 to 100 books per conference (depending on the length and attendance of the conference.) For example, I have attended the Journey to the Father Youth Conference as a vendor every summer since 2005. The JTTF attendees, workers and volunteers know me and, most importantly, there are many at this conference who will not only buy anything I write, they will buy multiple copies.

Another way to keep things personal in marketing is to consistently reply to fan mail, comments on your blog, on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking. This develops a rapport with your readers and you can also make a lot of good friends too!

Participating in Skype and teleconference calls with book clubs are also a wonderful ways to connect with readers. I’ve participated in several Skype calls with readers and book clubs.

One last — and very important — approach: With the Catholic Writers Conference Live fast approaching, please consider attending and networking with other Catholic writers. If your book has the Seal of Approval, you can register to do a book signing at the Trade Show (see photo above), be interviewed by CMN for their author book trailers and possibly be interviewed on EWTN’s Bookmark.

Remember: connecting with your readers can help to promote your books to those readers who will return time and again to purchase your books.

copyright 2013 Ellen Gable Hrkach