A marketing strategy that makes sense and fits your budget is vital to your success.
Book promotion and marketing is a full-time job. Promotion is a long-term project and requires patience and the mindset that it is all about gaining exposure. You must get your book out of the stack in order to have sales. (I know, right? What a revelation!) Remember this: you may love your book, but not every book brought to the marketplace sells. Very few new book titles sell, and this is especially true for self-published titles. Books that climb in the Amazon rankings are first, great stories, well prepared with thoroughly edited, and wrapped in an eye-grabbing cover design. However, even with all that, there is no guarantee that your book will be successful. You may have a great product, but if no one knows about it, your book will languish in the vast ocean of six million titles on Amazon.
So what do you do?
Promoting your book doesn’t mean spending a lot of money
Promotion is essential. That said, don't jump into a program that promises instant success. There is no such thing. Many of the advertisements we see online guaranteeing that your book will be the next bestseller are far from reality. (And that's being nice.) The book industry is very tough and crowded now, with a new Kindle eBook being published every three to five minutes, so gaining readers’ interest depends on many factors. How well the book description is written and how many positive or negative reviews a book has received affect a book’s sales potential. The popularity of the genre and realistic pricing are factors that influence a book’s success.
Categories are Important
The Amazon book categories you choose will have a direct effect on whether you become an Amazon bestselling author. Choose the wrong one, and no matter how many books you sell, you won’t become an Amazon bestseller. Choose the right one, and you could become a daily bestseller with minimal marketing.
The Target: The Top 100
Amazon promotes the Top 100 in each genre. That is where you want to be! Everyone looks at the Top 100. I have had the first book of each of my series hit #1 in Christian Fantasy/Fiction, and that genre is a tough one. However, it is no simple task to keep them on the bestseller list. I can go from #1 (a 7,500 ranking) to #120 (a 135,000 position) in a matter of a few weeks. It is not a sprint, but a marathon.
The Bottom Line
Book promotion takes time. You must be in it for the long haul. It is not only about royalties and rankings. If you diligently promote your book, you will, over time, establish your name/brand and build trust with readers. That sells books for years to come.
As I said before, there is no such thing as instant success, but if you have a marketable product, there is no reason you can't have the satisfaction of having your book come into the light for others to enjoy.