I have met many authors, digitally and face-to-face, who worry about the number of sales. That is an ideal worry as well. As someone who writes a book, you have all the rights to think and worry about how many books do you sell. However, this worry is a mistake. It should be the second worry, in fact. The first worry for an author should be his image as ‘an author’. Unless you impress the readers, your books might not be able to impress them (in most cases). It’s the basic logic – products of a popular and trustworthy company sell more than the products of a company which is new and not having an affinity with the consumers. Making it simpler, we buy our grocery from the shopkeeper we somehow know rather than a shopkeeper whom we don’t know. Now, the question is, how many readers do know you ‘as an author’? If the answer is not many, your books are unlikely to generate sales. So, this is the real worry for debut writers. How to overcome this problem? How to build an author image? How to consolidate the brand of an individual as an author?
For new authors, whether they write novels, poetry, short stories or non-fiction books, creating a perception about themselves being a well-equipped person to produce such writings is a difficult task. However, with a few things in mind and a dedicated timeline to follow, they can certainly create the recognition for themselves as authors, experts in their genres and the right author to choose. Nevertheless, let me be very clear that perception building (or author brand-building, whatever way you call it) should ideally begin before the publication of the book. It is like making the readers know about your presence in the world as an author and announcing to them that you are going to be published in ‘this’ genre. And following are the steps that you can follow to make things happen in the desired direction.
Option 1:
Speak for yourself: This involves getting very active on various digital platforms and speaking about yourself. You have to share the extracts from your writings. You have to apprise others about your views on literature, contemporary trends in literature, poetry, novels and anything literary in nature that you can think. Ideal places to begin are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blogspot, WordPress and LinkedIn is optional. Use LinkedIn only if you are writing a non-fiction book targeting working professionals.
You can do the best by having an official website as well. On your official website, you can start blogging to share your views with your readers. You can tell them about your upcoming book, your inspiration behind writing the book and also share teasers, extracts and random quotes to keep your readers interested in your writing. Don’t worry if you don’t have the expertise in web designing. There are many tools available online that may help you. However, if you want the precision, the simplicity and the aura of an author on your official website, you can certainly get in touch with us and we will create your author website in just 7 days – beginning at just Rs 4,000!
Post Ideas: You can share many things on your social media stream or on your website. You can discuss your writings. You can share why do you write. You can tell the readers about your writing routine. You can also engage with your readers by prompting them to respond to your posts such as:
“Which version is better, my dear readers? The gangster falling in love with our protagonist or the protagonist turning into a gangster by falling in love with one of them?”
Such posts on strategic intervals will create a healthy and interactive bond between you and your fans. You can also share various cover designs and ask for help from your fans in choosing the best one. Moreover, You should also include attractive graphics with your text-posts on social media whenever applicable. Don’t let it become monotonous. Keep your social media stream diverse, interactive, engagement-attracting and clean.
Pros:
Speaking for yourself will certainly bring results in terms of your recognition as an author. It will make new readers aware of you. It will open to you a whole new world of potential readers who might be interested in your ideas, your works and your book(s).
Cons:
Speaking for yourself will demand indulgence, time and efforts from your side. If you are a serious author, you might lose important time that you should otherwise invest in your writing. If you make even a small mistake with your strategy on social media, you might lose the interest of your readers. The results may take time depending on your activities and the nature of the campaign(s). Moreover, there must be a maintained frequency of posts on website, blogs and social media which might be difficult to meet in due course because you might lose your balance – write or promote?
Solution:
We offer a complete solution for social media management, website creation, associating the author’s name with the specific genre with our advance SEO campaigns and many other things. You can relax and focus on your writing instead of worrying about keeping your pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram active and posting frequently. Get in touch with us and we will offer you the best solutions to all your social media and author branding requirements.
Option 2:
Make others speak for you: This is taking the first option to a different level. And by different, I mean one step ahead or a level up or, to be more specific, adding an extra layer of advancement to the first option. When you speak for yourself that you are so and so an author, others have the choices – either believe you or not. However, when there are 10 people who concur with your words about yourself, who agree with your opinions and tell others that they do believe in you and your words, people at large will eventually agree about your proposition, opinions or stature (though substantiating those with your work will be the best for you). When you are making others speak about you being an author of this or that repute, an authoritative voice in this or that genre, an expert on the subject matter and an author that readers must not miss, you are likely to get many more eyeballs rolling in your direction! This is called, in technical terms or a term entirely developed by BookBoys PR, passive author branding. Want to know how can you make this happen?
Making inroads:
You can do it yourself if you have good contacts in the book blogger circles in India (keeping our workplace to India for the purpose). You can get some good writers who write for reputed literary platforms and ask or request them to write articles about your writing skills, writing philosophy, literary vision and anything else that you may associate with your writing. Do remember that the platforms on which articles about you are being posted and the identity of the bloggers themselves matter a lot! So, be wise when you make your choices. Adding some samples of your class, quality, or adding an extract from your ongoing or completed manuscript may corroborate what they claim.
Using Social Media:
In the option that I offered above, either you or your PR team are posting on your official pages on various social platforms. Now, with passive marketing strategy, you can inspire your readers, your friends, your colleagues or anyone you know to comment on your posts (where you share articles about yourself, creative images, extracts from your writings, quotes etc). Once comments begin falling in regularly, there are very high chances that organic engagement will begin gradually and many readers will join the discourse. It might take a little time but passive strategy, when mixed with the active one, can work like magic!
Pros:
This is the best thing to do! While you actively post on your social pages, it’s just the best way to show to your readers that your posts are engaging, your thoughts, quotes, images and articles about you are generating a buzz… readers will connect with you more easily and naturally once they see some interaction going on. Bloggers and critics are the best way to announce yourself to the galaxy of readers and making inroads in the Indian book market which has become so huge in India right now. So, there are many pros!
Cons:
Just like the first option, even more than that, this strategy of author image building will be time-consuming and it will demand even more dedication from you. In the course of a week or two, you will begin feeling the pressure of the job because it’s only you (unless you have a team) co-ordinating with many bloggers, critics and your colleagues and relatives (which rarely work) for engagement and write-ups. Your focus from your major purpose, writing effectively, may waver.
Solution:
Just like what we offer in terms of active social media management, we offer many services in passive mode as well. You can choose different services on our packages page or you can simply write to us at [email protected] or give us a call at +91 9798108921 and we will be right there to assist you in the best possible way!
Dear authors, at times, things might seem very difficult because writing industry has become very competitive for new talents to find their feet. Don’t worry. You can make things happen, even now. You just need to produce the best content and you can rely on the services of BookBoys PR. We will ensure that your talent meets the right rewards in due course of time. All the best!
written by staff for BookBoys News & Strategies Blog
