So, your book is published, and your social media and internet marketing and promotion strategies are set up and ready to go.

Great!

But the reality is that long-term readership, growth, conversion and loyalty lie in 2 gold standards—and one is offline.


Coupling your online marketing with traditional and unique offline marketing methods is smart. Here are just 5 ways you can locally and regionally market your book to generate interest and create word-of-mouth advocacy.

Book Clubs

Look for local book clubs and approach the organiser with your book. Check meetup.com to find those which read books in your genre. Meet with the group organiser and ask if the group is accepting new books. Be kind, and take “no” politely. Check local libraries, churches (if your content will suit), and other organisations for book clubs as well.

Doctors’ Offices

Ask the receptionist or office manager (in person) at a doctor’s office if you may leave a copy of your book in the waiting area. Let them know that the content is appropriate for those who will read it. You would be surprised how often you will hear “yes”, as gathering evergreen reading materials is preferable to timely reading materials (magazines) that are costly. You can further extend this to other types of doctors’ offices (dentists, hospitals, clinics, etc.) and other businesses that require wait times.

Libraries

Depending upon the town in which you live, getting your book into your local library may prove difficult—and maybe impossible (especially an ebook).  Porter Anderson wrote a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog on July 2nd, 2015 about SELF-e, a programme that puts ebooks into libraries. The article is worth a read if you are interested in being discovered by new readers.

Radio

Research local radio stations and find programmes that showcase local artists. Be sure to have a professional press release and your book pitch ready to go when you contact the station manager. Always follow the directions provided by the manager or person to whom you are directed. Please don’t skip steps or try a go around—always ensure you are seen as a professional.

Journals and Magazines

There are more types of journals and magazines than you can imagine. Look for niche journals and magazines that are contextual to your genre. For example, a small Texas company owns a fencing journal for ranchers which has hundreds of thousands of subscribers nationwide. How many of these subscribers do you think read humorous Texas Hill Country books like Ben Rehder’s?

We bet there is a niche journal or magazine (or 2) that would fit perfectly for your book.

Bonus Round!

"But Sazmick, I only publish ebooks, and you want me to run around town putting print books all over the place. This doesn’t apply to me!"

Not true! There are many ways to get print copies of your books. Also, one key component of digital marketing is analysing the return on investment of your advertising and marketing spend. Why not do the same with your offline marketing?

Additionally, when you attend reader conferences, consider providing print editions for purchase. You can use these purchases as a yardstick test for putting your book in brick-and-mortar stores.

Your Turn

In which ways have you marketed your books offline? Was it successful? What did you learn from the experience?

Subscribe to our newsletter and get special content!