Writer’s Digest just accepted and agreed to publish my fourth article in their magazine, which reaches about 70,000 subscribers across the country.
My new article will appear in the May/June issue, specifically in the regular IndieLab column that follows trends in the self-publishing business. This article focuses on three simple strategies for marketing your book, drawing from my own experience as both a senior marketing consultant for a Fortune 100 company and an award-winning author of The Black Lens novel. Here’s a brief summary:
Many authors who self-publish focus more on publishing their book than they do promoting it. While the reasons vary, some have no clue where to start. Others don’t want to waste hundreds to thousands of dollars on marketing that may not result in any sales. But probably most of us would just prefer to sit back, write, and hope the book sells itself.
All those reasons make sense. Yet unless you hit the publishing lottery, your book won’t sell itself because you’re competing against millions of others. That’s why—assuming you want to sell copies to more than just family and friends—you must build a strategic marketing plan for your story.
While that may sound daunting, this article will demystify the complex world of marketing by breaking it down into three simple strategies for promoting your book. Drawing from my own experience as both an award-winning author and senior marketing consultant for a Fortune 100 company, I will teach you the fundamentals of earned, owned, and paid strategies. You will learn how to earn free publicity for your book (earned), promote it through the channels you control (owned), and pay to increase that exposure even further through digital media (paid).
Writer’s Digest published my first article in 2019 about how to craft the perfect media pitch, my second article in 2020 about how to create successful book media kits, and my third article in the 100th anniversary edition of their magazine about how to research like a reporter.
Take the next step
Learn more at christopherstollar.com, buy a copy of The Black Lens on Amazon, or book me as a speaker.