Drumming up free advertising through a public relations campaign is one way to market a book, but some authors may want to do more. Authors, especially self-published ones, need to educate themselves about media advertising options. Understanding the options available will help you target readers more effectively and open opportunities that you otherwise might miss.
The first thing you must do is investigate who will buy your book. Identify the age of your readers and the special interest groups they are likely to participate in. Some authors have a targeted audience that reads the news (print media). Others fit in with TV and radio news junkies. Still others have audiences who spend most of their time tweeting or on Facebook. Discover the media habits of your audience to help direct your marketing campaign.
After targeting your potential readers, you must create persuasive advertising copy. You want to create a well-designed advertisement. This is no time to reinvent the wheel. Check out Adflip, an archive of print ads to investigate existing copy that will help you create your own powerful advertising copy. Then you must consider where to place advertisements. Various avenues exist. Below, the most popular advertising streams are listed. Choose the avenues that best fit your audience.
• Newspapers – Cost varies. A full page ad in the New York Times is well over 100K. A full page in a small town paper might run 1K. Contact local papers directly for advertising rates. If you wish to advertise in multiple newspaper outlets, consider contacting a fee-based state press association, such as Texas Press Association, that can place ads in multiple newspapers.
• Magazines – Cost varies. Contact specific magazines directly for advertising rates and instructions. Fee-based companies, such as NationwideAdvertising, offer services for placing an advertisement in multiple magazines.
• Newsletters – Generally low cost. Many professional organizations offer newsletters to their members. Contact these organizations directly for rates.
• TV and Radio – Cost varies. For local advertising, contact the station directly. Fee-based companies, such as National TV Spots, offer fee-based services for nationwide television and radio spots.
• Facebook – Cost varies. This social networking site boasts over 750 million participants and offers low-key ads. For more information check out Facebook’s business page.
• Twitter – Cost varies. This social networking site offers fee-based promotion of tweets, trends and accounts. For more information, check out Twitter’s business page.
• Google Adwords – Cost Varies. The Google search engine and social network offer targeted advertising campaigns. Fees are based on a per click basis. For more information check out Google Ads.