When I first published The Transformational Coach, I wrote here about my lessons learned from three book launches, finding my writing voice, the different forms of publishing, naming the book, and choosing the cover design (I have included all of the links below if you missed them). Now, twelve months later, I can share what I have been learning about marketing this book.
But before I share, may I take a moment to celebrate the book’s first birthday, which is on the 8th of September. Yay! Please raise a glass or a cup of your choice of beverage to the continued success of The Transformational Coach. And if you haven’t bought it yet, what are you waiting for? I promise you much (un)learning that will make you a more masterful coach.
Celebration over. Now back to sharing what I have learned about marketing the book over these past twelve months in case you have a book in you or have already written one that needs to be read…
You might think that once the book is written and published, that’s the end of it. Well, it might be, if that’s your aim. But what if you want to get it into the hands of the people for whom you wrote it? That requires some not-insignificant dedication. Your publisher will get it into all the right places so that your potential buyers can get hold of it, but it’s you, the author, who knows most about what it’s about and how it will support your readers. So it’s you who needs to do the heavy lifting of marketing.
That might sound onerous – heavy lifting. And you might not like marketing very much. But there it is: if you want it to sell, just like any other offerings from your business, you need to get the word out there that it exists and how it meets people’s needs.
Not that selling the book is the be-all and end-all in itself. Indeed, you may never make the investment back that you poured into it to get it published. But if your book is written in a way that represents what your business is about, then the book will also sell your business.
So it’s absolutely worth figuring out your marketing strategy for the book.
Articles and book reviews
Before the book was even published, I continued to write, writing articles to be published in the likes of Coaching at Work, Choice Magazine, Coaching World, HRD Magazine, Coaching Perspectives, and Coaching Today. Figuring out what to write that was distinct for each publication was the trickiest piece of this. For one of them, I chose to use extracts from the book, for another I wrote for mentor coaches (vs coaches), for another, I wrote about listening to playbacks of our coaching to enhance our skill…there were plenty of different angles I could take.
Most of these were one-offs, but one was a series, which kept the book front of mind (I hope) for some months.
I also asked these same magazines and some association newsletters to include book reviews. Some used their own reviewers, some used people I suggested.
I realise this might all be new to authors, approaching magazines and asking to write an article. But they are always on the lookout for interesting, thought-provoking material for their readers.
But don’t expect payment. This is business development on your part. So be sure to include links to your book and your business website as part of your biography at the end of each article. Common sense I know, but think carefully about the way you want to word this bio.
Talks, webinars, demos, podcasts
My book is written for coaches. And I know where coaches hang out. So I have been able to offer talks, webinars, and demos that represent the content of the book to multiple coaching circles and coaches listening to podcasts…and continue to do so. The book has been featured in book clubs too, another format that gets people interested.
I have come to see this as my business development time, not just my book marketing time. And it has worked, to get the word out, to promote sales of the book and to bring people to me who might otherwise not have known about my mentor coaching or supervision services.
Social media
I post something about the book each week on LinkedIn (as that’s where coaches hang out online). These days, it’s often a testimonial from someone who has read it. And I am not backward at asking people who tell me they’ve read it to please write me a review on Amazon and/or on LinkedIn to spread the word. Lately, this seems to be the way that the book is taking off – by word of mouth by readers who rave about what they learned/unlearned from the book.
Sales numbers have gone up exponentially in the last three months, as a result of this word of mouth spreading the news. It takes people a while to bring a book to the top of their reading pile, even if they did impulse buy it in the first place. And it’s these readers who you rely on to champion the book on your behalf. A little encouragement to do so and a nudge here and there makes a big difference.
In summary, marketing a book takes patience and persistence, courage and consistency, creative writing and creative speaking. The book launch is just the start of it! And I am still learning from my fellow authors at the Right Book Company about new and innovative ways to get the book into the hands of those for whom it was created.
https://clarenormancoachingassociates.com/my-writing-journey/
https://clarenormancoachingassociates.com/lessons-from-three-book-launches/
https://clarenormancoachingassociates.com/today-is-the-day-my-book-publication-day/
https://clarenormancoachingassociates.com/what-i-have-learned-along-the-way/
https://clarenormancoachingassociates.com/whats-in-a-name/
https://clarenormancoachingassociates.com/do-judge-a-book-by-its-cover
