WriteHive Online Conference 2024: Marketing Tactics for the Self-Published Author
Image by un-perfekt from Pixabay
Now that the 2024 WriteHive Online Conference panels are available on their YouTube channel, I’m catching up on the ones I missed during the conference itself and sharing some of the things I gleaned from them here!
“Marketing Tactics for the Self-Published Author” was a fantastic panel filled with great information for self-published authors who want to sell books. The panelists talked about changes in marketing tactics over the past few years and their personal top three ways to market books. They noted that what works for one author might not work for another author, but you can look to other authors in your genre to see what might work for you. The goal, of course, is to get your books in front of as many eyes as possible to increase the odds of selling it. Panelist Tatiana Obey made a great point about her top three tactics being product, building an audience, and controlling your information (i.e., having a website and newsletter, which you control, being more valuable than dozens of social media accounts, which could vanish with a platform or somehow getting your accounts banned).
The panelists also talked a lot about the challenges and pitfalls to avoid with marketing tactics. They noted that while ads can be one of the best ways to sell books right now, you have to be careful that you’re not throwing too much money at them, especially when you aren’t sure what ads are most likely to work. They recommended research, but also noted that there can be too much information and too many options, and again brought up the idea that one size does not fit all in the book marketing world. They also talked a bit about author branding in relation to challenges, noting that it’s not just about the book’s genre.
Additionally, they talked about some more unconventional ways to get your books in front of readers, including donating to libraries (which may not work in all locations–locally for me, the library won’t take donated books, though you can recommend books for purchase through the library’s website) or having your books published in large-print editions (for both accessibility and because the large-print book market is undersaturated). They also said that sometimes the best marketing can be just writing the next thing to keep your readers returning for more.
This panel packed a ton of information into an hour and fifteen minutes, so if it’s a topic you’d like to learn more about, you can watch it on the WriteHive YouTube channel!
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