How I Wrote and Published a Poetry Book: Marketing

Marketing is a concept I have feared for a long time. It still holds negative connotations among consumers of the way it pervades our life where it’s ubiquitous and within view, whether email, social media platforms, billboards, ads in retail, or commercial breaks. The only recluse from it is venturing into nature. 

I’ve done my best to block out ads in the landscape of my phone, web browsing, or cruising down the road. I have yet to venture for more than 100 feet without some ad copy welcoming me with some epic deal that touches on my psyche of FOMO. So, I thought for a long time until I stumble on a gem who reframed my outlook on it ever since:

“Marketing is sharing what you love with people who will appreciate hearing about it.” —Joanna Penn, How to Market a Book

I still remember all the folks who tried to upsell me on a product without consideration of what I needed based on my values. It’s an education issue, assessing if they have understood and empathized with the other person’s wants/needs and discerning if it’s a superficial or intentional value add. 

One of my philosophies in the art of living a good life: is when I acquire or consume an experience, whether it’s information, education, entertainment, or wisdom, I ask myself does it provide temporary relief or adds value to living a better life. Am I reading a book because everyone is reading it and it’s tied to the feeling of FOMO, or is there an area of my life where there is an explicit value gained? When you share something that you find of real value, do you consider how valuable it is to others (what effect are you hoping it will produce)? 

And this makes marketing hard to master, as I ask before releasing content to the public space: am I authentically sharing what I love that will resonate with others? With that said, there is a lot of consideration to aligning this vision with a marketing strategy that touches the essence of that message.

Book Metadata

When it comes to the fact that marketing is literally ubiquitous and congested and how you even get seen by your ideal readers—sure, you have your avatar and all the information describing them. You have to curate and publish to the platforms they will hopefully find your book. From my experience, it’s both an art and a science. 

I won’t get into the details of that process. There are so many resources available, and if you’re writing books originally from your own interest, then it’s likely you’re a description of an ideal reader for starters. Once you have an ideal reader in mind and understand your book, you must set up the book’s metadata: description, categories, keywords, and pricing.

Description

Whatever retailer you publish your book on, they all have a description field (also called sales description) of what the book is about. They’re just as important as the book cover and title. Here are some of the reasons from Kindlepreneur:

• They get readers interested in your book
• They can lead to increased sales of your book
• They are part of your book’s first impressions, along with the book cover and title
• They provide a reason someone should buy your book

And in physical retail stores, you need a solid book blurb on the back cover to attract your ideal reader. Unlike the book’s description fields on Amazon, you cannot change the print book blurb once it’s on the shelf in Barnes & Noble. One recommendation is to research top-selling books in your genre and study their book description, apply some techniques for nonfiction or fiction and run an A/B test. if you have the budget, hire a professional. As a creative writer copywriting is a different mindset and skill. 

It doesn’t come naturally without practice. For my book, I wrote what the book is about and hired a professional poet who has written hundreds of book blurbs and descriptions. Then I sent the final book blurb to my designer. If you believe your book blurb is weak and improve it to increase sales, you can always take the book off the shelf, but that will come at a cost.

Categories and keywords

I’ll lump together categories and keywords as they’re closely related. When readers shop on a platform like Amazon, they know which genre of books they like. They are looking for new books to add to their repertoire, and the two ways they can accomplish this on Amazon: searching through category or keyword/phrase search; the former will look like this:

While the latter looks like this: 

When you upload your book with Amazon, you’re only allowed to select up to three categories—however, you can contact Amazon and add seven more, totaling 10 categories. If you request categories, not within your genre, expect those to get denied by Amazon. As for searching for the best categories to add, you can research similar books, check bestsellers in the book’s genre, and see a list of categories that match the book’s theme. 

There are two methods I’ve used: I would research similar books in the theme and style of my book, e.g., I took inspiration from classical authors like William Shakespeare, Lord Byron, and similar poetry books and found out what categories they’re being ranked for and do they share these traits. I will use tools like PublisherRocket or BkLNK to identify additional categories they’re being ranked for. Then curate a list of these categories in my book project folder in a spreadsheet. And if you run a category search, you will get this for the Kindle version of The Cool and Warmth of Hearts:

• Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Poetry Anthologies
• Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Religious & Inspirational Poetry
• Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > American Poetry > Hispanic-American Poetry
• Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Poetry Subjects & Themes > Poetry About Love
• Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Contemporary Poetry
• Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Love & Erotic Poetry

The print version has a different category structure, so I had to perform the exact search to identify which categories I would apply and request for my book. Having more categories creates more opportunities for readers to find my book than just three. The second method readers can find a book is through keyword search in the Amazon search bar, and you can have up to 7 keyword searches applied for the book in the KDP upload process:

And this is where it gets complicated. You can write up to 50 characters in each box, meaning each box doesn’t have to be single-word keywords but multiple keywords or phrases. The complication doesn’t stop there; here are six questions asked about this esoteric topic around keywords:

1. Does Filling In All 50 Characters Index Your Book For More Keywords? Yes.
2. Does Amazon Rearrange the Words and Index for them, or just use the exact phrase you type in? Yes.
3. If I have the Same Keyword More than Once, Does that Help or Hurt? No.
4. Does Targeting a Specific Phrase Help With Rankings? Yes.
5. Is it Better to Put My Keyword in the Title, Subtitle, or Keyword Box? Yes.

If only keyword search was kept simple, yet on the plus side. This helps readers find the book with targeted search phrases, especially coming up with unique keyword searches for a specific book. Here are the ones I applied for The Cool and Warmth of Hearts:

• romantic love poems book
• romantic love poems collection
• romantic love poetry collection
• romantic love poetry book
• romantic love pining heartbreak life nature divine
• love longing heartbreak nature divine life poetry
• romantic love stories
• romanticism poetry

I’ve used what the book is about, which encompasses its theme, categorized its book type and genre, and subthemes keywords found in my book.

Pricing

Unfortunately, there is no precise pricing for books, and there are several factors to consider when pricing a book. First is your publishing goal. There are recommendations if you’re a new author or have multiple books available. Some questions to consider: is your focus on making as much money as possible? Reach and sell as many copies as you can. 

When you’re a new author needing to establish brand awareness, it’s suggested to price low and take advantage of features like Kindle Unlimited and free day promotion with promotional websites. Whereas with the author who has many books available, you could make the first book a series or earlier books in non-series priced low and scale up the newer ones. 

It’s easier to experiment with ebook pricing because you don’t have to factor in the material cost to make a print book, and it varies between the paperback and hardcover with page count; also, if you have a book with illustration and color that adds to the cost as well.

My objective was to gain customers’ trust by keeping the price as low as possible and going exclusive with my ebook on Amazon to make use of their features since I was a new author without a sizable following on social media or email lists. Before all of this, I looked into the prices of books in the same genre that was in the same category. I found that many bestsellers had higher prices than mine to gain readers’ attention.

The combination of hundred to thousand reviews and the solid following of these best-selling authors have supported their decision to price their books higher. 

The pricing became more critical on the print versions because of the publishing cost and Amazon royalty fee for each copy sold; so, I looked at similar books pricing as I did with the ebook and checked both their formats (paperback and hardcover), trim size (e.g., 5×8 or 6×9), and page count. 

Once I found similar books near my book’s format, trim size, and page count, I would price $1 or $2 below that amount as the focus was brand awareness in the hopes of selling as many books as I could and hopefully gaining reviews to further increase my brand awareness.

Author Platforms and Email List

Different strategies for author platforms include the social media landscape. Some have success on one or two platforms where most of their fans live. However, if you choose to play the long game as an author. In that case, there are recommendations I will cover that are within your control than at the hands of another platform.

It’s possible to have a Twitter or Instagram account and do exceptionally well and build a following of fans. However, remember that those platforms could one day be gone, or your account could get hacked or deleted, and all that effort is gone. The same could happen with your website and email list, but this is less common than the others. 

Additionally, most people who follow an author on social media are followers rather than fans. Fans are the ones who are more likely to support an author with the purchase of their books, courses, or donations made through a website like Patreon. 

Fans are the ones who exchange their email address and acquire a freebie from a reader magnet because they find value in what an author provides.

Plus, engagement with email subscribers is much higher than on social media, so it’s worth setting up a website, email service provider, and Reader Magnet because people love free stuff. It’s a great way to invite them and peek into your world to see if they like it. My strategy:

• A WordPress website to showcase upcoming books, a catalog of books, a preview of the book, an about me section, and a free page with reader magnets
• Link my reader magnets with my email service provider landing page—MailerLite, to collect email addresses which I can provide them upcoming books, author life, book updates, and more
• A blog page if they’re interested in the topics I love to write about and hopefully find value in

That’s it so far, and one more consideration other essential platforms for authors are Goodreads, Amazon Author Central, and BookBub. Some readers prefer only connecting with the author’s work on these platforms than sharing their email addresses or following an author on a social media platform.

Social media

The common consensus is to focus on one or two social media platforms to drive the most traffic, as some of the downsides of managing multiple accounts will suck up your time and energy. Plus, your level of interest and engagement on multiple platforms and the content you curate. 

For example, I’ve chosen Instagram as my primary because I receive a lot of visual inspiration for my writing. And soon, I will add YouTube to that list, where I plan to release videos on topics I find value in and hope others will. 

I have an account on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Medium. They serve different purposes, such as Facebook—it’s more of a personal connection with family and friends, and Twitter receiving updates about topics I like. LinkedIn, where I have a professional network from my career in the I.T. industry, and Medium to connect with like-minded writers.

Book Launch Strategy

The book launch strategy is unique to each book, with elements that pertain before and after its launch. The launch strategy will encompass timing in pre-launch, launch day, and post-launch tasks. The pre-launch window starts as early as two months before the book’s release, with subsequent tasks one month out, two weeks out, and days before. The focus I have had for two months before release:

2 months pre-launch

• Upload a description of the book and set the launch date via Amazon KDP
• Setup author central page so I can collect and upload editorial reviews to the book’s Amazon editorial review section
• plan which promotional sites I will use for the book’s five free days and budget it  and then schedule the date for each on Amazon KDP
• Contact and kindly requests from book blog reviewers. Read and provide a review on the book launch day and bookstagrammers showcase my book on their Instagram account
• Create an inventory of promo images for social media posts and email campaigns and some promo sites that require you to upload your own
• On social media, I will share excerpts from the book, book cover, and reader magnet linking a free ebook chapbook found in the bio section with a social link.
• Bonus: if you have an ARC team, this is a great way to gain a good chunk of reviews by sending that team an advance copy of the book and having them provide a review on the launch date

1-month pre-launch

• Kindly follow up with any book blog reviewers and bookstagrammer if they have not already touched base with you.
• Upload and publish the paperback and hardcover copies of the book
• Link book release on BookBub, and within budget pay for new release alerts

1-week pre launch

• Turn on the pre-order for the ebook and change the price to 0.99 cents on Amazon.
• Kindly follow up with book blog reviewers and bookstagrammers to remind them that the book is seven days from launch.
•  Social media and email post announcing the book is almost available.

3 days before the launch

• Kindly follow up with book blog reviewers with an Amazon review link of the book and a kind reminder to the bookstagrammers that its three days away from launch.

Launch day!

• Book launches at 0.99 cents and a book promo site (BargainBooksy) will send out their email list of low-price book deals—my book being one of them.
• Social media, email post that the book is live!
• Kindly let anyone who took part in the book’s review upload their review on Amazon’s link from book bloggers, the ARC team, social media, and email subscribers.

2 days post-launch

• The Book’s Amazon free day is live and a book promo site (FreeBooksy and Awesome Gang) will send out to their email list about the promotion.
• Social media and email posts about book deal being free today only!

4 days post-launch

• Book’s Amazon free day is live and a book promo site (Just Kindle Books) will send out to their email list about the promotion.
• Social media and email posts about book deal being free today only!

6 days post-launch

• Book’s Amazon free day is live and a book promo site (The Fussy Librarian) will send out to their email list about the promotion.
• Social media and email posts about book deal being free today only!

8 days post-launch

• Book’s Amazon free day is live and a book promo site (Free Discounted Books) will send out to their email list about the promotion.
• Social media and email posts about book deal being free today only!

10 days post-launch

• Book’s Amazon free day is live and a book promo site (Awesome Gang) will send out to their email list about the promotion.
• Social media and email posts about book deal being free today only!

Suppose you’re wondering why I schedule free days every two days instead of consecutive days. In that case, it’s because of how the Amazon algorithm works, and I’m trying to ride and sustain high-ranking than spikes, and the best way to ride it is riding the slow curve. Mentioned by Chris Fox in his book, “Launch to Market.” 

With that said, this is a perfect strategy that will work with every book, but it’s better than shooting blindly and hoping my book is good enough to stand on its own. And my friends, that sums up the brief marketing aspect of my book. Marketing is a beast, and I covered the icing on the cake. 

Of course, there is more detail around the topic of a book’s marketing I discussed, which I would not go into given it would take a short ebook to cover it all. That could be an idea for a reader magnet ebook promoted to authors.

The Gist

• Foremost, develop the mindset that “Marketing is sharing what you love with people who will appreciate hearing about it.” All the effort put into creating a book should not go to waste and never find its reader—you never know how much value it can provide to someone, even if it’s one—remember you’re bringing a new perspective into the world, yeah sure, nothing new about the theme and genre most books are found in, but that’s not the point as long as you attempted to write it in your voice readers will recognize and praise.
• A book’s metadata cannot be passed if you want readers to find your book on major retailers—especially Amazon. Some research performed for developing a book description/blurb complements a book’s title and cover and invites the reader to preview it. 
• Performing additional research to find the best relevant categories and keywords will ease the work for readers in discovering a new book. Competitive pricing and strategy make a difference whether you’re a new or an existing author and your publishing goals.
• If you want to play the long game as an author, it’s best to have the foundation: a website, an email list, and a reader magnet. You lack control over whatever happens to your social media accounts or the accounts on platforms like Amazon and Goodreads. Of course, setting up those accounts is painting in broad strokes, which leads to higher brand awareness.
• Although my book launch strategy has yet to be planned out in further months, as you typically find in your web search. Most of the basics remain the same, and every author has a strategy. Whether you go exclusive for an ebook to take advantage of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited and free day promos and line up with promotional sites or prefer to go wide with all retailers, there isn’t no perfect science to it; however, there are recommendations: newbie author—go exclusive, price low for brand awareness or established author—go-wide, price competitively for more sales; you can always change up your strategy every three, six, or 12 months remember to give it time and see how the first strategy plays out.