Last year I wrote a blog about how to write a good nonfiction book using a formula I created using the word WRITE as an acronym. You can read about that here.
Once you have written your book, however, you have to market it. There is no getting around this, so I created a marketing formula you can use that flows directly from the WRITE formula.
The process is simply an extension of the same process you used to write your book.
I created another acronym to help you remember each of the steps, using the word MARKET of course. 🙂
M…Message – Keep these things central to your marketing objectives at all times:
Your wisdom
Your reader
Your intention
Your transformational edge
A…Action – If you don’t put your book in front of your readers they will not know about your book and they won’t be able to buy your book and they won’t be able to receive your wisdom or experience the transformation that is available to them through your book.
List all the places where your reader hangs out and go there regularly so your readers can get to know you, get comfortable with you, get to like you and hopefully get to trust you.
You can also create your own space where your readers might like to come and hang out with you.
R…Relationship
Have a very clear understanding of what your reader needs and how you can help him/her.
Make an offer to your readers and invite them to your mailing list where you can build a relationship with them via regular communication.
Work the numbers. Only a small percentage of your list will buy from you at any one time so you need a growing list to sell to but they need to be genuine readers who are engaged in the content you are sharing with them regularly.
K…Knowledge – share your wisdom in ways that your readers can easily consume it.
Blogs, podcasts, facebook lives, social media posts, and any other way you can think of
E…Educate – share your wisdom in a way that is genuinely helpful to your reader and then invite them to either buy your book or work with you in some way.
Share your knowledge. Invite them to buy your book or work with you. This is a simple business model that works for some of the most successful business people I know.
T…Transform – people don’t care what you know until they know that you care. When they know that you care, however, they will not only allow you to transform their lives, they will start marketing your book/coaching/courses for you because they will want their friends lives to be transformed too. The best part is that they will market your book with total conviction.
It is said that it is never too early to start marketing your book but it is never to late to start marketing a book either.
Invest time and money into building your own marketing skills or pay someone else to help you market your book.
If you truly believe in what you have written and if you really want to be of service to your readers then create a marketing plan and put it into action and don’t give up.
Set a goal to put your book in front of at least 10,000 unique people every year. Broken down that means putting your book in front of groups of 100 people twice a week for 52 weeks of the year.
According to some book marketing experts I follow, once you have done this for 2 or more years, your book might go viral.
What would that mean to you? What sort of difference would that make to you and to the people you want to help?
It might take less effort for your book to become a real best seller, or it might take more. What I do know is that it isn’t going to happen if you are not sharing your book far and wide every chance you get and if you are not building relationships with your readers.
How committed are you willing to be?
Follow this link if you would like a copy of our comprehensive Write to Market Checklist
If you would like to know more about building an author platform I have a module that takes you through every step. Hit reply or email me at deb@disruptivepublishing.com.au and I will give you the details.