Marketing Your Book – The strategy may be in “why” you wrote your book

Why did you write your book?  Over the years, I’ve met men and women who were writing books for all sorts of reasons.  Most wanted to write a book because they thought it was the “key” to the castle in terms of making money or landing a spot on Oprah.  Of course, nowadays, we see that that really isn’t the case.

Instead, writing a book is more like a launch pad for other activities from which, potentially, you can make money.  I’m not saying you can’t land a large book advance or a spot on a top-rated TV or radio show, however I’m pointing out there are many add-on activities which can hold great opportunity beyond the mere writing of your book.
If you take a look at the reasons why you wrote your book, you can often find hints of marketing strategies that might be a good fit.  Perhaps you wrote your book as a lead generation tool.  In that case you might want to align it with face-to-face networking opportunities.

Or, maybe you wrote your book as part of your journey of personal development or self-improvement. Many fiction books fall into this category.  Telling a personal story is perfect for talk radio, and also for discussion groups like book circles and other literary groups you might find at your local library.

Another reason you may have written your book is to have an information product.  When it comes to “products” you have so many options – including articles, ecourses, videos, social media, and even buying ads on various online networks.  All of these promotional activities can help build visibility and credibility and help sell more books!

There’s no one “right” strategy that fits with a particular reason for writing your book.  However, I believe there is value in taking time to explore your original intentions as you may find some highly aligned and inspirational strategies that are perfect for you!