It's never about "convincing" readers
What book promotion is really about
Marketing and selling your books should never be about trying to "convince" your readers that your book is simply the best and they just have to take a chance on it.
If you think about when you've bought or borrowed or downloaded books to read, particularly from a new author that you haven't read before, I bet that it's almost never been because you saw an Amazon or Facebook ad with the book cover as you were scrolling past.
I'll bet that when you've taken a chance on a book by an unknown-to-you author, it's nearly always because you think to yourself - I've heard of this author before. Oh yes, such and such a friend or family member or colleague mentioned this book to me, perhaps I'll take a look…
The process that we're looking at here is precisely what is meant by the term "word of mouth". Books are bought and sold, primarily, by spreading what the industry terms "word of mouth".
This is an industry secret that I'm very keen to impart to authors. That professional marketers, PRs and advertisers are all hugely concerned with one outcome when they're putting campaigns and ideas together. That is, to "promote word of mouth" amongst consumers. There's many a PR pitch I have given to clients (producers, publishers etc) in the past where the phrase "promote word of mouth" has been prominent.
This is because the industry and the professionals in comms and sales know that the more a consumer trusts in a product, the more likely they are to buy. In your case as an author, the more your readers trust that they are going to love your books - BEFORE they have read them, the better.
But, this trust is the tricky bit to foster. Simply telling readers that they're going to love your books, because you already know they read in your genre or read similar authors to you, isn't going to be enough to win their trust in you and your books, as an author they don't yet know.
There's simply too much choice for readers. They're much more likely to stick with the authors they know. So, if we can create the conditions for your books to start being discussed amongst readers - to promote that word of mouth - which begins by establishing credibility and authority in your genre - that's when the needle will really begin to move for you.
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