3 Methods & Key Takeaways from our Book Marketing Experts

Over the past two years, our team had the pleasure of working with Dr. Annika Sörensen, a medical professional from Lund, Sweden. Dr. Annika’s primary focus is assisting business professionals with reducing their stress in and out of the work environment. To support her business and build her professional brand, Dr. Annika published two books: Taking Stress from Chaos to Calm: Pulling the Pieces Together and My De-Stress Diary.

Focusing on growth in North America, Dr. Annika tasked us with promoting both books, increasing her brand’s presence on social media, and scheduling speaking opportunities while she was attending conferences in the United States.

Like Dr. Annika, if you are a professional with a book and you’re looking to break into the North American market, our book marketing experts have broken down 3 methods used to help accomplish Dr. Annika’s main objectives. If you would like more information on how DigiWriting helped Dr. Annika, please read the full case study.

1) Get Book Reviews from a North American Audience

With Taking Stress from Chaos to Calm, Dr. Annika’s first book, we had to find a North American audience to read, discuss, and review it. Through our Book Review Service, we created a custom e-Blast targeting North American readers interested in the Self-Help and Health, Mind, and Body genres. This led to over 1600 impressions, dozens of positive book reviews, and, most importantly, a highly targeted audience to leverage for her second book, My De-Stress Diary.

Book Marketing Tip: If you intend to establish yourself with a new audience, be patient. Use your book as a “calling card.” Gathering book reviews is a great place to start establishing credibility.

2) Build Your Social Media Presence Through Engaging, Sharable Content

Prior to working with Dr. Annika, her follower base consisted mainly of colleagues and other professionals. What she was missing was simple yet engaging brand building content to build her audience. Working from her first book, our book marketing experts created a series of branded, de-stress tip images. Following a regular schedule, these back-to-basics tips were posted to Facebook and Twitter and shared among like-minded groups (i.e. Stress Reduction). Slowly, coupled with new Pinterest and Goodreads accounts, Dr. Annika experienced an over 400% increase in her audience!

Book Marketing Tip: Use your book and your branding elements to create engaging yet simple content that can be shared among a like-minded audience.

3) Aim for the Sky but Start on the Ground

As a business professional, it’s common to have big aspirations. For example, if you’re a financial expert, you’d probably love to be on The Suze Orman Show. However, it takes time to build a credible reputation and, during this time, you shouldn’t be afraid to “think small.” As Dr. Annika needed to first build an English speaking reel, our team worked with the American Swedish Chamber of Commerce to schedule several small speaking engagements for Dr. Annika. Not only did Dr. Annika sell many copies of her books, but she also gained the confidence and popularity to appear on bigger shows. In November 2015, Dr. Annika appeared on The Kristen White Show.

Book Marketing Tip: Don’t be afraid to start small! As a first time author, especially as a professional, it takes time to build a reputation. Distribute your book when you can and watch your reputation grow.