THE TOOLBOX:
Now that you have a generic marketing calendar, it's time to assemble your toolbox. These are the things you will want to have close by when it's time to dedicate an hour or two to marketing.
GRAPHICS PROGRAM
First into the toolbox is a graphics program. I used to use Photoshop, but since I retired from work, I now use Gimp because it's free. I try to do everything as free as I can because I devote all monies spent on producing my books on an editor and paid book ads that work. I say 'ads that work' because many of them don't. More on that in the next few blog posts.
MARKETING CALENDAR:
I used to use Hootsuite, but it got too expensive and I couldn't see enough in their desktop area. I switched to using a Microsoft Excel sheet. This allows me to continue to just Right-click and add a row above, so it is easy to build out the calendar. Within 6 months, I had about 4 to 6 daily marketing ads to post everyday. I find this the easiest.
THE CRUCIAL BOOK INFORMATION:
Below is a snapshot of the excel sheet as calendar I use. Below that is a list of everything else you will need to make any and all ads that come up. By having all of this at your fingertips, you can decide to dedicate one or two hours to marketing, and then be able to dive in without having to stop to fetch one thing after another.
I like using the Excel sheet because I can see a bird's eye view of what's coming up over the next few days or weeks. I can also use the scroll bar to zip around and see what else is coming up. I can use the find feature -- Control F -- to find anything by using a keyword or two. And last but not least, I can copy emojis and they paste out in the color onto social media! I'll post one below. All I do is copy and paste this from the excel sheet:
Where and How does Book Marketing Start?
First you need a generic marketing calendar to user year after year
Learn More 👉https://readfirstchapter.com/book-marketing-for-new-authors/
#bookmarketing, #selfpublishing, #marketingads
A BOOK COVER IN THE RIGHT RESOLUTION:
You will need a digital book cover in 72 dpi size format. This is smaller than the size needed for a printer. If your book cover pictures are too big, then you can shrink them down using Gimp. I'm making a mental note to do a short video on how to do that.
MAKE A CHEAT SHEET OF INFORMATION
Next you want to make a cheat sheet by gathering all of the following information in one document so you can copy and paste it easily. I use a Notepad document because they are easy to open, can stay up when other programs are open, and they have the "find feature" as well.
Along with the 72 dpi book cover, you will need short blurbs about your book or books. Starting at about 150 words, keep whittling the blurb down until you have several blurbs with the last one being about one sentence (for Amazon ads).
The quickest way I have found to do this shrinking blurb routine is to start with the blurb from the back of the paperback. I copy and paste that into my cheat sheet. Then I whittle that one down by 20 to 30 words and save that one too. Somewhere after 75 words, you're down to just what I would call 'an ad blurb'. I do this whittling down using a Word document, so I can record how many words the blurb is. I keep that with each blurb.
Copy and paste any and all purchase links for your book. Be sure to keep track of which merchant each link belongs to. Besides the purchase links, you may want to keep the paperback and hardcover links handy -- you never know!
If you have a sample of the book posted online, be sure to record this link as well. Using free giveaways of the first few chapters is a good sales pitch. Record any Bookfunnel and Site Origin book links. Anytime you can use the giveaway links, it's another opportunity to build your reader list, also known as a mailing list or a newsletter list.
HASHTAGS:
Most younger people know what hashtags are. If you're a boomer like me (hee hee), you may need to brush up on what hashtags are. Go to YouTube and search out videos explaining hashtags. Someone will explain them to you.
For others who know what they are but don't know how to use them, I'll give you the first few to get you started.
- readersoffacebook
- #readersofinstagram
- #readersoftiktok
- bookstagram
- #booktok
ROYALTY FREE IMAGES:
For any advertising, you will need royalty free images and graphics. I use DepositPhotos.com . There is another place called pixabay.com and they offer totally free pictures and graphics. You may want to start with them.
Did you know that if you are a Microsoft 365 customer, there are thousands of pictures, illustrations, icons and more available to you in the Powerpoint program? I've started using those as a new resource for free photos.
Anyway, you will need to have royalty free images to use in marketing.
PICTURE AND ADS FILING SYSTEM:
For the first year, I had pictures and ads all over the place. This year I sat down and devoted about two hours to organizing all of my various pictures on my computer. Everyone has their own filing systems and I'm not claiming mine is the best, but for anyone who wouldn't know where to begin, this can get you started.
I use one file called "Royalty Free Photos" where I keep all the photos I download from Deposit Photos, Pixabay or even Powerpoint. I use a naming style shown below so I know where I got the picture:
- DP-Picture-Description.png ==> DepositPhotos.
- GI-Picture-Description.png ==> Google images
- PX-Picture-Description.jpg ==> Pixabay picture
- PPT-Picture-Description.png == Powerpoint picture
I keep my marketing ads that I make in a large folder called "MarketingImages". I keep pictures of the ads and my 72dpi book covers in this file. I use a naming taxonomy as follows:
- RMPI-Ad-Description.png ==> Ryan Mallardi Private Investigations
- NVS-Ad Description.jpg==> Newport Vampire Stories Series
- JNDS-Ad Description.png==>Jack Nolan Detective Series
- Groomed-Ad-Description.png ==> Ad about Groomed for Marriage
- Sanctuary-Ad-Description.png==> Ad about Murder in the Sanctuary
I keep all of these pictures and graphics in the Marketing Images folder. I allow them to all swim free in the one folder. It seems chaotic, but I can use the find feature to fetch anything I need. When I want to find a picture of the ads I've made for a series of books, then I click "Control F" and type in "RMPI" and all of the ads that I have with that naming nomenclature come up. Then I can pick one. There is nothing more frustrating than having to enter and exit subfolders!
I hope you enjoyed this segment of my Book Marketing for Authors series. Be sure to see my YouTube Channel for more marketing videos.
Next I am planning on demonstrating how to make the first ad that you will need, the book cover and summary like the one i have below:
Next Blog Posts: The first ads - All About the Book