Need to Market Your Book? If Yes, Read This Even the world's most famous authors need marketing support for the new books they write to achieve their goals. Besides having an excellent literary agent and editor on their side, having a skilled publicist is a must. A successful book PR campaign depends on well-defined objectives, thorough planning, an identified target reader, and the proper outreach to media. It's a given that an author will maintain active social media accounts with appropriate content. Overlooking any of the above puts a book in peril of falling short in sales and visibility. Nothing guarantees success, but PR improves the chances for it. Setting clear goals in the beginning, is essential because they provide the basis for developing the campaign. Most but not all authors' primary objective is to sell books. But some have become authors to gain personal publicity (author branding) to promote themselves and their businesses. Books as marketing tools are increasingly popular and effective. Once the goals are set, honing in on the target audience is crucial. Ideally, a book has several target audience groups. Some may be mainstream and others more niche. It's common for the smaller groups to have greater interest and buy more books. Putting serious research into determining target audiences improves the chances for success. If you shoot from the hip and guess wrong, you could end up marketing to people who have little interest. Practical and creative book marketing campaigns don't need to cost a fortune, but they can't cut too many corners. Talk with PR pros and seek advice about a reasonable amount to spend. If they have experience in your genre, they can recommend a budget level based on other successful experiences. You may be able to handle some aspects on your own to support a publicist's efforts. Traditional media continue to play a highly influential role in book marketing. Everything that runs on TV or is carried in newspapers and their associated websites ends up elsewhere online. Authors today find support from social media followers, but they generally don't buy enough copies to make your book a success unless yours total in the hundreds of thousands. Your publicist will present your work to the media with creative pitches to help make it newsworthy. It's also crucial to approach the right media – the ones who will have a genuine interest in your book. When you do, you'll likely receive coverage. https://www.smithpublicity.com/2021/03/what-a-literary-agent-does/