Three Ways to Increase Your Book Visibility
Authors need to talk about their books, spend time on covers and descriptions, and set their books up for success with marketing
Authors are always looking for ways to increase their book’s visibility, which is especially true of Indie Authors.
Because if we don’t somehow get it in front of our target audience, the question is, will it ever get there?
What authors should know is that there are three ways to increase the visibility of your book.
Talking about it in social places
Spending time on the book cover and description
Setting up your book for success through targeted marketing
Talk about it
Talking about your book should seem like the obvious one, but for many authors, they just aren’t doing it.
When I refer to talking about your book, I mean:
Creating book pins for Pinterest
Offering free eBook copies on social media in exchange for an honest review and providing links to where they can leave said review
Talking about your book on social media from the moment you begin to after it’s published (No one will steal your idea!)
Sharing your book in book and reader groups on social media
Doing author collaboration swaps where you read one another’s books and then review them for each other and share them with each other’s audiences
Talk about aspects of your book: research you did, characters you loved and didn’t love writing, challenges you faced while writing the book
If you aren’t talking about your book in social places like libraries, reading groups, or social media, the chance your target audience will come across your book is small.
Spend Time on the Cover and Description
I have said this once, and I will say it again: Readers judge books by their covers, which is quickly followed by judging the book’s description.
And since we know this to be true, we must take the time to:
Research other books in our genre for titles, font types, color schemes, and keywords
Test our covers and descriptions on readers before the book release
Create several versions of the cover and description to ensure you get it right when you test it among readers
The good thing is, if you self-publish and you find that the cover or description isn’t helping your book sell, you have the option to change it.
I myself have done this and so have many other authors.
But knowing from the beginning that rushing into a decision will only hurt your book is important.
Set Your Book Up for Success
As important as it is to spread the word about your book, think of something deeper: why should readers care about it?
Knowing the answer to this question is going to help set your book up for success and will play into the marketing that you need to plan ahead of time.
For example, for my book Escape City:
Reason for readers to care: My target audience will enjoy zombies, escape rooms, and amusement parks. So I will target their interests by putting them in the character’s shoes and seeing how they would handle the situation if it were them.
How I am taking steps further to market it and set it up for success:
My husband is helping me to create a website set as the amusement park from the book Bronston Family Amusement Park.
On this site:
- Readers can do a text-based game to allow them to make choices as the characters which makes them solve riddles, make decisions, and see how far they would make it.
- Solve different types of riddles and puzzles to access secret information about the book and universe
- See information about how guests would book their trip to the park
- Access a zombie survival guide made by me based on Escape City
I will release the first three chapters publicly for readers to get a taste of the book before its release
I have been building relationships with book reviewers/ bloggers in the horror/thriller genre for months now to pitch them the book to review
I have been talking about my book with my audience on my social media and newsletter frequently to build interest
I made a book trailer and posted it on social media and YouTube
After you figure out why readers should care about your book, you need to use that to create marketing content surrounding it.
Increasing the visibility of your book involves the author taking steps before and after the book is published.
If you:
Talk about your book in social environments
Take time on your book cover and description
Set your book up for success by figuring out why readers should care and then using that in your marketing
You can truly catch the reader’s eye.