[00:00:00] Welcome to Beyond the Book presented by Juxtabook. I'm Zach Kristensen. It's our weekly, Q&A episode. Answering your questions about writing publishing and launching your book. Let's begin.
[00:00:13] My question for you is as a new author, what should I be doing for marketing? What's the best way to get started and what pointers do you have for a new author with marketing?
[00:00:25] To get started with your author marketing. You're going to need to think about a few foundational steps because that's going to influence everything that you do moving forward.
[00:00:35] I've talked about this many times before, and so I'm not going to go into much detail with it, but the first step is to understand your audience.
[00:00:43] Who are they?
[00:00:43] Why are they hanging out?
[00:00:45] And how are you going to connect with them?
[00:00:47] And above that is how are you going to make sure your brand connects with them through your messaging?
[00:00:56] So it's essential that you portray yourself as a [00:01:00] solution to their problem or their challenges. And that's the importance of clearly articulating who you are and what you're about in your messaging.
[00:01:09] If you're in there are these stages. It's okay. You just may be starting to write your book or you may have your book further along or nearly done.
[00:01:17] But understanding that at any point will help you in your writing process and in how you're going to market your book.
[00:01:24] So the next foundational aspect I want to talk about is storytelling. You are narrating a story in your book but you're also narrating your author journey.
[00:01:36] And by sharing that, no matter what stage you're in is going to be a way that you can connect with your audience. Some things that you can share in your author journey is what you're working on that day. What you're struggling with, what you're most excited about. You could share pieces of your writing. Talk about what you're discovering.
[00:01:55] You're bringing others on a journey so that they learn about who you [00:02:00] are and you build that trust.
[00:02:02] Now the great thing about this is that you're going to be able to do this and whatever medium you put this out with, you're going to be able to say here's what I'm working on without directly asking people to buy and when you do ask for that sale and ask for them to buy your book or your services.they're already going to have that foundation of trust built with you.
[00:02:25] Another step beyond that, as you're telling your story is engaging with your readers as they engage with you. And if someone comments, responds back emails, you make sure you're engaging with them because you're building those connections one at a time.
[00:02:40] Another foundational step that you can use to get started with your marketing is as you're talking about things, talk about the challenges and pain points of your audience, lead with those. Because that's, what's going to bring people into your story.
[00:02:55] You may have a solution, but your [00:03:00] audience may not understand that's the solution that they need to solve their challenge or problem. So as you're reading with your, with. So as you're leading with the pain points and you're discussing these challenges, it's going to make your content immediately relatable to your audience. Rather than just solely focusing on the solutions that you provide.
[00:03:22] The other part of this is, as you're doing all this, you gotta be consistent with it. Make sure that you're posting, emailing contacting, engaging consistently, even if it's just one-on-one and it may not be in the way that you think could be the most efficient in the short term, but it will be effective in the longterm.
[00:03:41] So determine what that is and be consistent at it.
[00:03:45] To wrap up with this, know your audience. Become a strong storyteller and engage people with telling your story as the author. third, talk to the pain points when you're discussing and marketing what you're doing.
[00:03:58] And forth be [00:04:00] consistent.
[00:04:00] Thank you for the question and thank you for listening
[00:04:04]
[00:04:10] If you have any questions about a recent episode, I'd love to hear from you. Visit juxtabook.com/beyondthebook and click the appropriate button to leave your question and we will include it in our weekly Q&A episode.
[00:04:26] Your book is just one chapter in your author journey. Think beyond the book as you craft your path. Thank you for your questions and thank you for listening.
