Building an Author Platform is something I talk about often and I have delved into various aspects of that through my blog, but today I thought I would give you an overview of marketing for authorpreneurs to help you either create a plan and put it into place or tweak the plan you already have.
So many authors are disappointed when their books don’t jump off the shelves all by themselves. They might have been dreaming about earning a living from writing most of their lives and their experience – the experience of most authors – is vastly different to the dream.
In fact, most authors in Australia earn an average of $10K per annum or less and that leaves a huge gap that has to be filled in order to make the comfortable living they want and deserve.
So, what can an author do to change that? Let’s look at this strategically.
If you are aiming to make $100K or more per year from your book, then you need to do one of three things:
1. You need to sell a lot of books
2. You need to use your book to sell a product or service
3. Sell lots of books and use your book to sell a product or service
Let’s explore those options further.
If the average Indy Author makes between $10-$15 profit per book then he has to sell about 20 books per day, 365 days of the year, to make about $100K.
In order to achieve that, the author would have to have a consistent, well-though-out and well-carried-out marketing plan that included a range of organic and paid options for promoting their book. It would have to be highly automated and be able to run indefinitely.
If an Authorpreneur had a product or service that they offered, such as coaching or an online course, or perhaps they offered some kind of therapy such as physio, massage or even beauty therapy, then they might consider using their book as a means to attract clients into their business and they would factor the wholesale cost of their book into the cost of getting business.
They might even have a bricks and mortar business where they sell a physical product that meets a particular need for a particular community.
Of course, their book would have to be aligned with their product or service and it would have to offer great value that is unique in its presentation and in the delivery of information so as to engage the reader and keep them engaged.
The book would also have to contain lots of calls to action that were strategically placed so that the reader was effortlessly directed toward the product or service that the Authorpreneur ultimately wanted to sell.
You can do the math from there by working out how many sales you would need to make in order to meet your income goal, then work out how many books you need to give away in order to get the number of clients you want.
For example you might need to have 10 people read your book before someone will buy from you.
And the same thing would apply if you chose option 3 where you sold both your book and your product or service to meet your income goals.
It really is just a matter of doing the sums and working out what you want and what you need to do to achieve it.
First Things First
Whatever you decide to do, whichever way you decide to go, the first thing you need to do is establish a mailing list with a mailing program so that you can start building a relationship with your target audience.
Your mailing list is the one central place where you can gather your target audience, and the one place from which you can initiate a conversation with them when and how you like.
Your mailing list is like your home base.
All other platforms are gateways or opportunities to meet new people and they include a range of places such as networking events, workshops, conferences as well as all your social media platforms.
You don’t own those spaces though, so you don’t control who will and won’t be in attendance when you show up.
You need a space where you can gather each and every qualified contact you connect with so that you can reliably reach out to them and communicate with them whenever you want.
There is no better space from which to do this than your mailing list.
Your mailing list is the smartest way to leverage your marketing efforts and build on any relationships you initiate from all of your other marketing activities.
If you don’t have a mailing list, you are not capitalising on your marketing efforts. It’s like starting from scratch every day and that is just crazy.
So, decide how much money you want to make from your writing, then decide whether you want to make that from book sales, a product or service, or both.
Then set up your mailing list and start inviting your target audience to join it.
I did a brain dump and created a list of more than 50 places where you might find your target audience hanging out en masse. I called it “50+ ways to find your peeps” and if you would like a copy for inspiration, click below and I will email it to you.
If you would like to know about our Authorpreneur’s bootcamp where we teach authors everything they need to know about writing, publishing and promoting their books go to www.disruptivepublishing.com.au/jointheclub.
Authorpreneur’s Bootcamp
We are about to start our third and final live round for the year so now is a great time to jump in.
That’s it from me for this week. I do hope it has been helpful.
Have a great week everyone and I will be back again soon.
Bye for now.