‘Cause marketing with no budget is better than not marketing at all

I’ve met or seen many authors who’ve loaded a book onto Amazon and shared their book in Facebook groups, hoping that will be enough to make sales.

It’s something, and something is better than nothing. But you can be even more strategic than that before your book launches.

I always recommend a budget of $10,000-$15,000 to self-publishing authors, and at least $2000 of that should go toward marketing. That’s a suggested minimum.

But even if you don’t have a budget but you have time, here are 5 things you can do that cost nothing.

1. Post daily on social media

If you’re not on social media, then too bad…or if you’re still a way from publishing, you can start your account now and build your community. If you’re anywhere from Gen Z to Gen X, you’re probably active on at least one account. That’s great—you don’t need to be everywhere.

The thing is, especially if you’re only a lurker or a weekly poster (or even less) you’ve got to ramp up that frequency so the algorithms show your posts to your audience. I recommend posting daily for the 30 days before your intended book launch date, and then for the 60 days after.

That’ll ensure that if you have a link for pre-order (which isn’t required), people can start ordering your book. The week your book goes live is key to your sales rankings—if you care about that and are selling on Amazon. If not, then ignore what I just said.

You’re thinking people are going to be sick of your posts. First, vary your posts between images, video, and text (if possible) so they look different from each other. Second, people won’t see every single post unless they have set notifications to be alerted when you do, which most people don’t set up.

So don’t worry about annoying people.

Hopefully, by the 60-day past launch mark, people know you’ve released a book and have supported you by purchasing it.

2. Send emails

If you’ve already got experience selling books, or you run a business or other type of online community, you probably use email marketing software. Yes, some email marketing companies charge based on the number of people on your list, but some don’t. If you send out regular emails, then incorporate your book into them or have dedicated email messages highlighting your book.

Again, I suggest weekly emails the month before your book launches (total 4), and then for 2 months more after your book launches (total 8).

Don’t use email software? No problem. You can use whatever service you use to send out emails to family and friends. But you need a list. So, before your book launches, start collecting those emails. This post will give you some ideas on who’s already in your community.

Draft a genuine email about what your book is about, why you wrote it, and where to get it. If you’re confident people won’t get angry if you send a few more, then have a few follow-up messages ready to go for the next few weeks or months post-launch.

Say you have a list of 100. PLEASE don’t put everyone’s email in the To: field. Most emails get flagged as spam if you send to over 20 people at once, so I suggest sending in batches of 15 or 20 in the BCC: (blind carbon copy) field.

3. Post blogs

If you do not have a website, you won’t have a blog. If you’re already on Substack or Medium, though, you can use those services.

Similarly, I suggest weekly blogs the month before your book launches (total 4 posts), and then two months after your book launches (total 8).

4. Have a launch event

I know what you’re thinking—venues are expensive! I can’t afford a launch event! There are ways around this.

If you have space in your home—or even a common room in your apartment building—you have a venue. You just need to get people to show up.

Will you sell tickets in advance, or have people come and buy a signed book from you with cash? It’s up to you how you want to handle this, but you definitely want people to buy a copy. That’s the whole point of a book launch.

If you think people will come to a bookstore to hear you read, negotiate having a bookstore carry your book on consignment and split the profits with them. Then you don’t have to worry about handling cash or money, but about what you need to do or say at the event.

Don’t like talking to people in person? Do this all virtually. You can host solo, but I recommend having a friend emcee a virtual event and do a Q&A portion so you look (and feel) like the rock star you are.

Get creative with your launch event(s)!

5. Get interviewed by the media and podcasts

Wait, doesn’t that cost money? Advertising dollars? Yes, you can purchase ads from these outlets. But no, interviews do not (or should not) cost you money.

Traditional media (print magazines, newspapers, radio & TV shows, online magazines) are always looking for news stories. If you’ve got a timely and compelling story surrounding your book, that might be worthy of an interview. If they offer to feature your book, that’s good too.

Podcasts are always looking for interesting guests to talk to. You and your book won’t appeal to all podcasts, so you have to be strategic in who you pitch to.

I recommend expecting to do media interviews a year past your book launch (you can even start pre-launch), but it may even be longer. Books don’t have an expiry date! The great thing is that this is all dependent on how much time you have to dedicate to interviews.

Next week I’m sharing about how to build a media list, so stay tuned for that—and I’ve already shared this post on how to nail interviews. So you should be set!

Need a ghostwriter, editor, or marketer to help you publish and market your book so you can get it in the hands of readers? Read more about my services here and contact me if you’re ready to begin!