Once you’ve written the book, you need the help of influencers or your fans to push the book sales. Influencers could be fellow authors, bloggers, reviewers, teachers, celebrities, fans and so many others. If other social media users tap your book into their social networks, it does help get the word out.
How do you find influencers? They could be your own friends or friends of friends. They could be people you look up to, other authors or readers who believe in your work.
Gaining the support of influencers is a hard-won process and doesn’t happen overnight. You can’t flood someone’s inbox with emails and demand that they tweet about your book. It has to be on the basis of trust and this will take time plus you’ll have to return the favor as well.
How do you feel about promoting your book when you go out for book meets? Do you think that you are pushing the sell too hard? Do you feel better when someone recommends your book, instead of you having to do it? In the beginning, it will be hard and also pointless, considering the number of voices involved in self-promotion but if you connect with the right people, your book may just be known.
This is an excellent post by Jane Friedman about how to find and reach influencers to promote your book. Read it.
Another post on how to establish a fan base.
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