By Jori Hanna
“I feel like a broken record. I’m tired of talking about my book, my followers have to be tired of seeing my book on their feed. I don’t want to annoy them. What do I do?”
If you’ve ever felt this way while launching your book, or if you’re afraid of feeling this way during your book launch, I’d like to offer you some comfort. Reaching this point is both normal and necessary. If you feel like a broken record, saying the same thing over and over, you’re probably finally in a sweet spot with your audience.
To market anything well, your viewer must have repeated exposure to your product.
I’m going to use the term “product” quite loosely here, as it is whatever you’re trying to spread awareness and loyalty for. When you’re building your audience, your personal brand (AKA: you) is the product. When you’re selling a book, your book is the product. When you’re trying to get people to sign up for your email list, your email subscription is the product. To identify your product, you need to identify your short-term goal: what do you want your audience to do? Once you have identified your product, your audience needs to see that product repetitively.
Additionally, there is a significant difference in focus if your goal is “I want people to read this book” vs. “I want people to buy this book.” As Gia notes in this article from BookRiot:
For many like myself, we enjoy owning books that we already love. It is rare for us to buy a new book because we don’t know if we like it yet.
This creates a marketing catch-22. Readers most likely need to have read your book before they will want to buy it, but books must be bought and circulated in order for readers to read the book. Right?
Not necessarily. Enter ARC (advance reader copy) distribution and libraries.
How to get readers before you get buyers:
If your book is not released to the public yet, you have the opportunity to get your book to readers before it is widely available for purchase. There are a few companies that handle this in the publishing industry (and most have options for independently published authors, as well!). Netgalley, BookSirens, and Edelweiss are the most well-known of these companies. Readers can apply to be part of the ARC team for a book before it is released. They receive a free copy of the book and in exchange agree to provide an honest review on retailer and reader-focused websites.
If your book is already published, you have two main options available to you (though some companies, like BookSirens, will still allow ARC distribution for a published book). These options are utilizing libraries and offering your book for free through retailers. More readers => more word of mouth marketing => new readers => new fans who will want to buy your book because they love it.
However, you’re still likely to run into an issue as you try to get ARC readers, library holds/check-outs, or downloads: your viewers must know your book exists, and must remember your book in particular, before they take action.
The Rule of Seven
Marketing experts refer to this as the “rule of seven.”
The University of Maryland’s marketing professors describe the importance of this rule, and the importance of repetition, this way:
The Rule of 7 asserts that a potential customer should encounter a brand’s marketing messages at least seven times before making a purchase decision. When it comes to engagement for your marketing campaign, this principle emphasizes the importance of repeated exposure for enhancing recognition and improving retention. Repeated exposure is vital because it builds familiarity and credibility, fostering trust and influencing your audience’s behavior.
Depending on who you talk to, that rule of “seven encounters” may increase to 20 or even 40 encounters before someone takes action. This repetition is vital for authors trying to sell their books, but it does introduce a new question. How in the world do you reach the same audience member 7 (or more) times? How do you ensure someone has that many encounters with your brand?
Whether you’re planning your social media content to make sure your book is in the spotlight at least 7 times in a row or updating your email newsletter header so that your new release is the first thing a reader sees before they get to the meat of your newsletter, a multi-faceted marketing plan (see also: campaign) will ensure your audience at least has the chance to see your book 7 times.
Planning Your Campaign
The first step of planning your campaign is to take stock of what channels you have available to you. For our purposes, a “channel” will be any mode you have to get the word out.
We’ll assume you’ve done your due diligence and have access to the following channels. (If you don’t, you may want to set these channels up.)
- A Facebook Account
- An Instagram Account
- A Youtube Account (or possibly TikTok)
- A Website with a functional blog
- An Email Newsletter
- A BookBub Account
- A Goodreads Account
Now, we must operate under the assumption that you do not have repeat followers at these channels. Planning your content as if every viewer is new to your channel will ensure you effectively reach your audience that does not cross over to other channels.
Step one: Update your banners (or add them) to emphasize your book.
On Facebook you’ll want to ensure your cover photo includes a visible version of your book cover, as well as pinning a post about your book to the top of your profile. This pinned post is also your game plan for Instagram or TikTok. YouTube allows a channel banner image, so you’ll want to update that, as well as your main featured video, and your channel logo that can appear in your videos. This way, whenever someone views any of your videos, not just the new ones about your book, your book will be easily visible to them and you’ll start getting those much needed impressions on your book cover. Add or update the banner or first image on your newsletter, blog, or website, and you’ve updated all the images you can.
The idea behind utilizing these banners and cover photos is to create online billboards that will help spread the word as people engage with your other, normal content. (And yes, you should have “normal” not necessarily your-book-focused content.)
Step two: Brainstorm at least 7 posts you can make (reusing these across your channels is encouraged) to introduce your book to your audience.
This may take a little creativity so that you can avoid the “broken record” issue where you post an identical post 7 times. These ideas may help:
- Introduce the main stakes of the plot, or the main problem you’re trying to solve in non-fiction
- Introduce the characters or main concepts
- Share a few quotes you hope will resonate with your readership
- Feature the main tropes your book utilizes (if fiction)
- Discuss your inspiration behind writing this book and what you hope to achieve for your audience with it (if nonfiction)
- Do a cover reveal post
- Invite readers to join your ARC team
- Invite followers to subscribe to your newsletter to receive the first chapter of your new book upon subscription
- Share a “teaser” of the book–whether that’s the first line, the hilarious chapter titles, or a inside joke they’ll have to read the book to understand
- If you can create character art, this can be a fun way to gather attention and build hype (fiction)
- If you have teaching experience on this topic share a portion of your lectures (nonfiction)
And on and on. Once you’ve done all of these, it’s time to move on to other paid options to gain reach and exposure and visibility.
Step three: Paying for exposure.
In order to utilize all of your available channels, the next step will be to engage Goodreads and BookBub. These two sites are online book-lover-hubs. There are others, such as The Story Graph and Fable, but these two have author portals which will allow you to engage with your fans through their systems, utilize their marketing opportunities, and reach interested readers.
One of the most powerful tools in your arsenal will be Goodreads Giveaways. These giveaways drive momentum on Goodreads, create visibility, and have the power to launch books into the limelight. Any Goodreads Author can list a giveaway for print copies of their books, so this is a fantastic, repeatable activity. These giveaways snowball into more and more reach, so while you could stop at one, I would recommend you run 3-7. By the 7th giveaway those who enter will remember your book.
BookBub ads are most beneficial once your book is up for preorder, however, you do not have to have your book in their system yet to run ads to reach readers of your genre. The target of the ad simply cannot be preorders–it must instead be newsletter subscribers or something else where you can collect an audience who has seen your book and would like further information or an alert when your book is available to order. You can set these ads up according to your own budget, so these can be as budget-friendly as you need them to be.
Step four: Rinse and repeat as needed.
At this time, it is a good idea to assess the data to see if your sales/downloads/subscriptions have increased. If not, you may need to adjust your target for a little while. (If you don’t have very many Facebook friends or followers, you may need to focus your attention on that aspect of this before you repeat the Facebook part of your campaign with new posts.
There are other opportunities for exposure and paid ads that you can look into as well if your personal reach doesn’t feel like it’s enough. Magazines like Foreword Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal all offer advertisement placements to help books reach the industry experts. You may also want to look into publicity appearances, like podcasts and radio shows. But as with the rest of your campaign, it is worth considering how you may be able to reach those audiences 7+ times or how you might funnel those leads into a channel where it is easier to reach them again and again.
Conclusion
All marketing is repetition. The goal of your marketing activities should be to increase brand recognition and viewer trust so that they choose your product over the others available to them.
