Have you ever considered entering your book into a contest as part of your book marketing plan? Perhaps you’ve wondered what a book award could do for you? Book awards are often a great way to gain recognition for your book, and also it’s a great way to get feedback.
Awards may seem glamorous, and they truly are fantastic, but the award itself won’t help you sell more books, it’s what you do after you receive the honor.
Book awards, in their most basic form, are designed to shed light and praise on the best books in a particular genre, and most book awards offer categories for just about any major genre – even poetry (which always tends to be tougher to market).
But what does a book award really do for your book marketing plan?
Well, as it turns out, a lot! From helping to build your platform, to pulling in more readers (book awards are eye-candy), and yes you can even sell more books. Entering these competitions can really offer indie authors a boost.
Check out our helpful infographic on how you can work awards and contests into your book marketing plan.
Resources and Free Downloads
Author Awards and Contests Rated and Reviewed
Writer Beware by Victoria Strauss
Free Monthly Book Marketing Planner
I met you at a S.F. Writers Conference a few years ago and it’s taken me this long to get my book finished. It is now published by BookBaby.com. I’ve paid them for 13 weeks of a Facebook ad and it is for sale in their Book Shop and is on Amazon.com.
What else can you do to help market it? I am 78 years old and not really into doing a lot of marketing myself (as is the case with many of us writers, I’m sure.)
I am happy to go in my RV to booksignings or speaking to groups, etc. but all the other projects to get it sold don’t sound like fun.
Here’s the title: Out of the Fog! A Story of Survival, Faith and Courage.
Right now it is metatagged as “Self-Help” but it is also an adventure memoir of my years sailing alone in the Pacific (sometimes with my rebellious teenaged daughter). The original book was over 800 pages and agents told me it was too long so I have divided it in half and am now starting to work on the second half.
I created a webpage some years back and my son tinkered with it lately. I don’t really remember anymore how to post to it, make corrections, etc. It is SandraCHSmith.com
Thanks for any suggestions,
Sandra CH Smith
Hi Sandra – Congrats on finishing your book! Please feel free to reach out to Amy, my programs manager, at campaigns@new.amarketingexpert.com to see how we can help with your book marketing.