6 Ways to Build a Book Audience Before You Publish

Anthony

One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen authors do over and over again (especially first timers) is they start marketing their book after its been published.

That’s putting the cart before the horse.

In fact you should start building your audience yesterday or today if you can swing it 🙂

And that’s tip #1

Start Early

You can start your own Facebook page for your book or yourself as an author as well if you wish as an easy starting point.

That way you can start off by inviting friends and family first.

Then you can join other Facebook groups full of readers and writers who could be willing and able to read and review your book.

Pinterest is a great site to use as well to see what kind of books your market are really into, what kind of titles they like and everything else you want to know about them.

2.  Quality Not Quantity

There’s a band called Phish that never really had a radio “hit” per se and yet whenever they tour they are usually one of the top 10 highest earning bands in the world.

You see they have a small but rabid fan base that follow them anywhere and pay whatever price to see them.

So remember, the quality of your reader and fan base are going to be much more important in the long term for your success as an author than having the biggest number of followers.

3.  Understand Your Market and Audience

One of the most crucial factors about being an author, especially a non-fiction author is to understand who exactly you’re writing for.

The more granular you can get with this, the better.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself about who your target audience is.

  • Do they tend to be male or female?
  • Age?
  • What shows do they watch?
  • Who else do they follow that’s not necessarily mainstream but well known in your niche?
  • Where do they live?
  • Where do they work?
  • Are they an early riser?
  • Do they have kids?
  • Are they married?
  • What level of education do they have?

Once you know the answer to these questions you can simply find a person who fits that exact description and write everything to them.

4. Build Your Personal Platform

Now you can have a blog if you wish but the biggest thing I’m always telling authors is that the real power lies in having an email list.

That way you can always send out an email to people who are more likely ready and willing to buy your book when you’re ready to launch.

The other part of building your platform is it allows you a way to have contact with your audience more easily and they can follow you wherever you go for interviews, if you give other recommendations, etc.

#5: Create Relationships With Influencers

One of the best ways to promote your book is to have influencers in your niche to help promote you.

The best way to do this is to get on their radar.

Now you should not immediately hit them up for something they can do for you.

Follow them online, like their posts, buy their books and genuinely be their fan and care about them and their success.

Heck if you have an email list you could even let them know that you would like to send an email out to your list promoting their book and see if you could get a little something extra for your readers – so that you can build a better relationship with this influential person and your audience at the same time.

The whole idea is to not come hat in hand asking for help.

Be willing to be their fan, to help them and really truly mean it.

6. Send Out Advance Review Copies

In the world of publishing, reviews are king.

So getting advanced copies out to a few key fans and supporters and getting their great reviews allows for a spring board for your book when you’re doing a full on launch.

Now make no mistake, your book still needs to be good (hopefully great) to anyone that comes across it and is interested in the content.

But people simply tend to not trust books without reviews so getting those advanced reviews is crucial to your success.

Want to see how you can start publishing your own Kindle books and get other great tips?

Check out this special deal I have for you here. 

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/268316090281804445/, http://www.lifeofastoryteller.com/2017/03/21/how-to-build-a-book-audience-before-its-published/