The publishing market is not unique to large publishers as it used to be. An era has opened in which anyone can produce and sell their own books. However, publishing a book alone cannot reach readers. Now, authors must promote their own books and create a brand through self-marketing strategies. In this article, we will take a closer look at self-marketing methods and success strategies for one-person publishing.
Why Self-Marketing Is Important in Single-Publishing
Securing My Book’s Presence in Countless Books: Hundreds of new books are poured into the country a day. No matter how good the content is, it won’t be sold if it’s not shown.
The opportunity to grow my brand and my book together: One-person publishing is a great opportunity to become a writer and brand. You can sell books through personal branding and expand your influence through books.
Long-term revenue and secondary business expansion: successful branding of a book opens up a variety of secondary revenue streams, including lectures, content sales, goods, and online classes.
Leveraging the Online Platform
Online platforms are the core of marketing in the digital age. It is no exaggeration to say that more than 70% of self-marketing takes place online.
Blogging: Keep your search flowing by posting consistently about the topic of the book. For example, if you’ve published a cookbook, you can share recipes and cooking tips to expose the book naturally.
SNS Marketing: Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok are effective in promoting the author’s face and story. Delivering the book’s message with short video content enables rapid spread.
Register for e-book platforms: You can expand your readership by posting books to e-book services such as Lidibooks, Millie’s The Study, and Kyobo Bookstore SAM.
Online channels are inexpensive and have the advantage of building trust in the long run if they operate steadily.
Author Branding and Storytelling
After all, books are content that tells people’s stories. Readers want more than just information, they want the author’s personality and authenticity. Therefore, the most important thing in self-marketing for one-person publishing is ‘author branding’.
Emphasis on the author’s professionalism: Increase the reliability of the book through occupation, experience, research, etc.
Personal Story Utilization: Sharing stories such as how you started writing a book, concerns about the writing process, and challenging publishing will strengthen your connection to readers.
Building brand identity: It is recommended to unify the book cover, blog design, and SNS content tone and show it like a brand.
offline marketing strategy
Offline marketing is still strong in the digital age. In particular, independent publications are greatly encouraged by the experience of meeting readers on the spot.
Book Talk and Lecture: Open a small book talk at independent bookstores or cafes to communicate directly with your readers.
Participate in flea market: participate in events such as bookshop markets and independent publishing festivals and sell directly to readers.
Collaborative Marketing: You can also collaborate with brands or organizations that are relevant to the subject of the book to hold joint events.
When readers who have a relationship online participate in offline events, they develop into a loyal fan base.
the power of content marketing
There is a limit to simply promoting “The book is out.” What the reader wants is the knowledge and values contained in the book, so a strategy is needed to distribute them in the form of content.
Provides part of the book in blog serial format
Upload Topic Tips or Lecture Videos on YouTube
Card News Visualizes Key Messages with Infographic
Keep your readers engaged with email newsletters
This method has the effect of promoting the book while increasing the author’s professionalism and credibility.
Checklist for Self-Marketing Success
Define your target readers: Specifically set who you must read my book.
Online Channel Operations: Choose a channel that you can keep consistently on your blog, YouTube, or Instagram.
Planning Content: Upload your book-related content once or twice a week to communicate with readers.
Author Branding Strengthens: actively reveals faces and names, draws attention to the ‘author itself’ rather than the book.
Take advantage of offline events: Book talk, autograph sessions, lectures, etc. provide opportunities to meet readers in person.
Conclusion: The key to successful single-person publishing is self-marketing
It is a structure in which one-person publishing is free, but marketing is also responsible for it. Most of the reasons books are not sold after publication are due to lack of marketing.
Therefore, it is necessary to systematically carry out promotion, author branding, offline events, and content marketing using online channels. After all, the key to successful single-person publishing is how you market yourself rather than books.
If you start small self-marketing from now on, your book will reach more readers and be able to sell consistently.
