How to Handle Book Marketing Overwhelm

It never fails… a new aspiring author will come to me for a consultation, expressing how hard it is to get their book written. Then we’ll enter the publishing phase, and while my publishing team makes it easy and relatively stress-free for our clients, they still realize a lot goes into publishing a book and doing it right. Then the book is released and we all celebrate! Errr… I mean, then the book is released and it’s time to market it! (And celebrate!)

As if you weren’t overwhelmed already, now you have to sell this thing???

Here are three tips I use to defeat book marketing overwhelm:

#1 Take it slow

No one says you have to launch your book the day it hits Amazon.com. In fact, most books aren’t launched that day because it’s too hard to know exactly when it will appear based on Amazon’s ever-changing algorithms. Take it slow as you prepare your book launch and make sure you spend the time necessary to get the best results.

This tip also applies to your overall marketing plan. Sure, a big push should be made when a book is shiny and new, however you shouldn’t ever stop marketing your book. Take time to sit down and develop an action plan of exactly what you’re going to do when. If you get into that plan and find it’s too overwhelming, take a step back, re-evaluate it, and stretch your timelines out a little.

Bonus tip: Sitting down to develop your book marketing plan will save you time, money and frustration. The best time to do it is while you’re still writing your book!

#2 Give yourself grace

Marketing a book can be a full-time job. In fact, there are book-marketing experts who make it their career! Don’t compare yourself to those experts and think you should be able to do in one hour what they’ve studied for years. Most authors have zero experience marketing a book. You’re learning from the ground up and there are no rules! Let yourself have fun and play with different tactics and strategies. What works for other authors in your genre is a good place to start—and what works for them may not work for you.

Give yourself the space and grace you need to learn, grow and succeed. You will be marketing your book for the rest of your life, or at least the rest of the book’s life if it’s on a timely topic. There will always be tomorrow to try something new!

#3 Get help

No author should feel they have to “go it alone.” Especially if this is your first book, or a book in a new genre for you, find a marketing coach who can share their hard-earned knowledge and experience with you. Here’s how to find a good coach:

• Make sure it’s someone you “click” with, who gets you and your book topic. Interview your coach before you hire them.
• Ask your coach about their other clients’ real world successes. The average self-published book sells a mere 75 copies. If you get a coach whose authors sell hundreds, even thousands of copies, that’s a good sign!
• Choose a coach whose expertise is in your genre. Don’t ask a non-fiction business expert for advice on marketing a novel. There are some tactics that will work across several genres, and choosing a coach who works specifically in your genre will further ensure your success.

You’ll find you won’t make as many costly and time-destroying mistakes with a coach by your side!

I hope these three tips help you get started on the path to less overwhelm. For a complete course on how to create your non-overwhelming book marketing plan in less than one hour, check out my exclusive Market My Book! program.

How have you handled book marketing overwhelm? Share your experiences in the comments below!

Photo courtesy Shutterstock, Kreus