It’s been several months—or even several years—since you published your book. Does that mean you can no longer market it effectively? Far from it! While it’s certainly important to market your book in the months leading up to its release and immediately after, you don’t need to stop there. Here are five tips for promoting older books in the months and years after the initial buzz dies down. 1. Hold a price promotion At Deep River Books, we’ve seen authors successfully use price promotions on their ebooks to promote old and new books alike. Planning around a holiday works great—Valentine’s Day for a romance novel or book on marriage, for example, or Veteran’s Day for a book like Welby O’Brian’s Love Our Vets. Just be sure to plan far in advance so we can work with you! While price promotions on older books can be quite effective for authors with only one release, they can be even more effective if you have multiple books. Diana Urban at BookBub specifically recommends you do this when you have at least two books: one that’s just come out, and one older title. This strategy is great when you’re promoting a series. As Urban writes, “By discounting the first in the series, you’ll hook new readers who will likely buy the subsequent books in the series at full price, including the title you’re actively promoting.” We’ve certainly seen this ring true for one of our best-selling fiction writers, Jeff Dixon. And if it’s your second (or third or fourth) book, but not in a series? Urban still states, “Discounting a backlist title is also an effective strategy for promoting frontlist books, even if the newer book isn’t part of a series.” 2. Garner more reviews Reviews are particularly useful in the first few months, so if you’re still in that stage of the book release, jump on this! But whenever you receive them, Urban says, “The more reviews a book has, the more intriguing it will be to potential readers viewing the book’s product page.” The focus here is on Amazon reviews. Now, a price promotion like we mentioned above can lead to such reviews. But there are more direct methods as well. Urban writes: One effective tactic is reaching out to top Amazon reviewers who have already reviewed similar books and offering them a free copy of the book you’re promoting. Top reviewers are usually experienced reviewers who are willing to spend time writing a genuinely helpful review, and are more likely to have a quick turnaround time. The easiest way to find relevant top reviewers is to browse through similar books and find people who have a “Top Reviewer” badge. Check out her full explanation, with screenshots, under her article’s second tip. 3. Use holidays and current events I mentioned above that Valentine’s Day is a great day to run a price promotion for a book on romance or marriage. But Urban encourages authors to consider other current events as well. For example, “If the book features athletes overcoming great obstacles, promote it during the MLB or NFL playoffs or a relevant sporting event.” Think creatively. Does a book relate to a specific season? Is it perfect light reading for the beach, or does it have a bit of Christmas spirit? Does it focus on atonement, Jesus’ life and death, or another Easter-related theme? If so, mark your calendar. The related season or event may provide the perfect time for a price promotion, ad campaign, or even book signing. 4. Feature your older books both online and offline Amanda Luedeke at MacGregor Literary suggests, “Feature them on your website, social media pages, newsletters and book signing tables.” What does this mean? For one thing, your cover photos on Facebook and Twitter should include both old books and new. DRB author Heidi McLaughlin’s Facebook page cover photo is one great example. Luedeke also emphasizes, “When you Tweet about your books, talk up the old ones just as much as you talk about the new one. When you blog about your books (or about themes in your books), don’t forget your old ones!” She suggests that when authors have multiple books, they cycle through them: “Give each book (old and new) between 2 weeks and a month in which you focus on it in all your social media. Cycle through your books over and over until it’s time to focus on a new book.” 5. Write and publish new books Just as promoting old books helps get attention for newer books, newer books renew attention for authors’ older work. So it’s no surprise that Diana Urban wraps up her article with the tip “continue publishing new books.” Promote older books in order to continue bringing in royalties. But take the time to write new work as well, and don’t let promotion completely overwhelm your writing time. There’s a fine balance there. With practice, though, you can find it. Be sure to check out the full articles quoted above: “Nine Ways to Market a Book after the New Release Buzz Dies Down” by Diana Urban at BookBub (July 17, 2016) This article is aimed primarily at self-published authors, so not all of Urban’s tips are quite as doable for DRB authors. In addition, there are a few points where she’s clearly promoting BookBub’s publicity services. Those disclaimers aside, there are still some great pointers in here for our partner authors. “Thursdays with Amanda: How to Promote Old Titles” by Amanda Luedeke at MacGregor Literary (July 19, 2012) This article is a little older, and it’s definitely directed toward authors with traditional publishers, rather than those with a partner publishing company like Deep River Books. Even so, much that she suggests can be useful for our authors, too.
