You don’t need a big following to sell a book.
You need a clear book and a few credible ways for the right readers to find it. An audience helps. It is not a substitute for positioning a stranger can understand.
Forget building a plan around becoming internet-famous. Build it around being findable by the people your book was written for.
Make the book recognizable first
Long before you hit publish on your book, you’ll make decisions that will determine your books marketability.
Can a stranger instantly tell what the book is about, based on the title alone? Or do they have to guess? If the title is vague, does the subtitle do the heavy lifting, making it crystal clear who the book is for and how it will help them?
Does the description tell the prospective book buyer, in detail, how the book will make their life better in some way?
Your marketing starts in those decisions. More exposure won’t help if people still can’t tell whether the book is for them. (If your promise is the problem, read Sermon or Solution? Why Most Christian Books Don’t Sell.)
Let Amazon do some of the finding
Your Amazon description page is a crucial part of your marketing. I’m always astonished when I see books with a few sentences in the description that barely tell what the book is about. That is a serious missed opportunity. Amazon currently lets you use 4,000 characters to SELL your book to potential readers on the benefits of the book. Not just what it’s about, but how it will make their life better and why they need to get a copy right away.
Maybe it would help to realize that it is intended to be a full-length sales page, not a one-paragraph book report.
It’s also very important to choose accurate categories, search-friendly keywords, a strong subtitle, and a description that makes the reader immediately understand the book’s promise.
You may not have a large following, but Amazon already has the readers. Amazon reportedly gets more than 4 billion visitors per month. Your job is to make it easier for the right people to find your book.
Answer real questions in public
Write an article or record a short teaching video that answers a question your reader already has. Give it a plain, descriptive title and a genuinely useful answer.
If your book helps women explore meaningful pursuits after retirement, the topics are obvious: choosing a volunteer commitment, starting a new project, figuring out what your experience qualifies you for. Base them on actual reader questions, not on phrases you assume people search.
Then connect the content to the book — explain how the book goes further. The article should still be worth reading for someone who never buys your book. Create multiple paths for the right reader to find you: articles, short videos, podcast appearances, social posts, and other useful content.
Borrow someone else’s audience
Find the people and organizations whose audience already matches your reader: a relevant podcast, a ministry newsletter, a professional community. A small audience filled with your ideal readers can outperform a massive audience that doesn’t care about your subject. Obviously, the dream would be to have both!
Offer something useful — a guest article, a focused conversation, a practical resource. Show how your message relates to their “tribe” of followers, and how you can add value to their community. My first book sold nearly 3,000 copies in one day in response to a single radio show appearance, because it was perfectly tailored to their audience. In the following weeks, it sold tens of thousands of copies, all from that single appearance.
At the time, my entire “author platform” consisted of a handful of junior high students in a Sunday school class I taught in the boiler room of a Grange Hall by a corn field in South Jersey. But that radio show reached millions of listeners. And for an hour, I was able to borrow their audience.
I didn’t need to own the audience. I needed access to the right audience with the right message.
Today, podcasts, radio and TV shows can do the same for you.
Quick answers
Do I need a big social media following to market my book? No. You need discoverability: a clear Amazon presentation, useful content that answers real questions, and a few borrowed audiences.
What’s the single most important marketing asset? The book’s presentation — title, cover, description. If a stranger can’t tell what it is and who it’s for, more marketing can’t solve that.
When should I start marketing? Before the book is done. Audience-building and positioning decisions are easier while you’re still shaping the manuscript — see Christian Book Launch Strategy for First-Time Authors.
Not sure what kind of writer you are? Take my free 90-second quiz — What Kind of Writer Are You? — and discover your writer type, the hidden trap stalling your book, and your one next step.