Marketing Strategies for Your Book

First, a disclaimer. I market non-fiction, super-stodgycutting-edge, boring informative science books (*bats eyes at boss-man*). The handy thing about marketing non-fiction is that you have a built-in audience:

What is the book about? If it's about trees, sell to foresters. If it's about fish, sell to aquaculturists, zoologists, marine enthusiasts, etc. You get the idea.

But I'm betting most of you, like me, write fiction (or creative non-fiction OHAI MEMOIR). And you're probably thinking "Audience? I WISH."

I feel your pain. You have maybe a couple hundred Twitter followers if you're lucky, and barely over 100 blog followers (COUGH). You probably have more Facebook friends, but they're all, you know, actual friends who you don't want to spam with promotions.

BUT. I guarantee your book still has a super-specific audience.

FOR EXAMPLE. Amazon is the best illustration of this (sigh. I know, they are taking over the world. But they're just so damn GOOD at it). When you buy, say, the Hunger Games on Amazon, you are added to this mysterious ethereal list. The list says "HEY. This person likes to read dystopian fiction."

So when a big publishing house buys a new dystopian, like, say, Glow (which btw, I have a sekrit copy of to give away soon ;) ), the pub house can pay Amazon $$$ to send a mass email to all the people on that list of dystopian-readers. Wooo, targeted emails! Best thing evar.

How can you make this strategy work for you, you ask? First, think about WHO your audience would be. Is your book a fantasy for teens? Is your book about prom queens? Is your book about college computer nerds?

Once you have a set audience in mind, think about where your audience hangs out. For example, college computer nerds are probably all over the internet. They probably keep a blog. Or maybe hanging out on forums like 4chan?

Google is your friend. Comment on blogs related to your audience, or run by members of your audience. Talk to them, ask about what their interests are, before you jump right in with your pitch. Ask if you can work WITH them -- maybe in exchange for a small fee they'd host an advertisement about your book on their site. Or maybe you can send them free copies to review, if they keep a book review blog. Contact administrators of the forums where they hang out to ask about advertising opportunities.

Smaller forums and blogs probably won't charge as much as the huge sites like Amazon and Google for ads. Plus, they'll reach a selected, targeted audience.

Or you can ask the forum owners if they'd be willing to sell you their member list. Ask bloggers if they have a newsletter, and if they could mention your book in it, or rent you their email list. Targeted email lists are a great thing to collect. Don't spam it, obviously, but sending one or two emails a year about your new book can generate some huge results.

You can also look for book clubs ads in your area. Try to find one that reads books in your genre. Contact them and ask if they'd like you to give an author interview. Ask book clubs outside your area about Skype interviews. If you start off with free interviews and speaking arrangements, you can work your way up to paid deals.

Be creative with it. Have fun. Don't think of it as a chore -- think of it as connecting to new readers. New friends, even. Your publishing house (if you have one) is going to do its best to help your book succeed, but at the end of the day, nobody loves your book more than you do. So spread that love around!