How to get Readers to Come to You
In a world where advertisements are found in every nook and cranny of modern life, most people actively avoid seeing ads to the best of their ability. This is even more difficult when trying to sell a book. So how do you advertise to an audience that are looking the other way?
“Didn’t you have ads in the 20th century?”
“Well sure, but not in our dreams! Only on TV and radio…and in magazines…and movies. And at ball games, on buses, and milk cartons, and t-shirts, and bananas, and written on the sky. But not in dreams! No sirree.”-Futurama¹
The most effective form of promotion in these hard times is called subtle advertising. But this must be done correctly.
This subtle advertising doesn’t so much push your agenda down the consumer’s throat, but instead wafts the tantalising smell towards them in a way that the consumers feel like they want to consume of their own choice. This leads to them wanting to come back for more. Everyone is more likely to do something if they think it’s their idea.
Here are a few ways of making your readers come to you.
The Chameleon Trick/Riding the Wave
It’s not unheard of for advertisers to use other, more recognisable products to promote their own. For example, with every Disney film that’s released on DVD, you will find a knock off DVD with a similar font, front cover and name, an attempt to trick people into buying their DVD instead. Books with similar covers and names, while is a bit cheaty, will most definitely work. Thriller and crime novel covers commonly have images of dark monuments and large buildings such as cathedrals on them. That’s thanks to the popularity of Dan Brown novels.
Another similarity based method is riding the wave, or following a trend. After the 50 Shades books series came out, hundreds of books of the same genre of erotic romance novels were also published, riding on the wave of popularity of a more successful book series. In order for this to be done effectively, you need to keep a close eye on what is popular and what will be popular in the future. A good way of finding out what will be popular in the near future is what’s doing well in the movie theatres. The Marvel movie series are making a killing recently, and as a result, graphic novels are becoming more popular. Got a good idea for a superhero novel? Get writing so you don’t miss the wave.
Attracting a Target Audience using Social Media
A decent following on social media obviously has it’s benefits when selling a book, but it’s a lot harder to sell a book to the few hundred friends you have when they don’t enjoy reading poetry for example. Before you release your book, try posting things related to your genre. Post short poems on Instagram to gain a following of poetry lovers. Then when you start advertising your book of poetry, you already have followers you know would be interested in poetry. Why? That’s the reason they follow you.
The author Danny Rhodes, in his run up before releasing his novel Fan, which is based around football culture in the 1980’s, started tweeting pictures of footballers and famous matches that happened in the 1980’s. By the time he released Fan, he had followers that he knew were football fan that lived through the 1980’s and would be the perfect audience for Fan.
The YouTuber FilmCow, that makes surreal alternative comedy animations, already had a following on YouTube which he knew would be the perfect audience for his short stories, which unsurprisingly, were surreal alternative comedies.
The Power of Subconscious Advertising
Simple jingles, short phrases/catchphrases, subtle logos and even colours schemes are way to advertise without consumers even realising. You will subconsciously think of Google if you see the colours blue, red, yellow, blue, green and red all in a row. Even dear Father Christmas’s iconic red suit used to be green before Coca-Cola got it’s claws into the jolly old elf. Even now people around the world still only feel like Christmas has begun when they hear the soft chanting of “Holidays are coming, holidays are coming”.
Having a catchy book title, tagline or even pen name will stay in the minds of potential consumers. The name Harry, in most people’s minds, will be autofilled with “Potter” without hesitation. You may not know what a Pokemon is, but you can bet even your grandparents will recognise the word. Find your Pokemon. Find your way to burrow your work into people’s minds. Imagine a band called EXIT. Why? Because in every bar restaurant and club, their name will be lit up in green, neon lights.
Bad Publicity is Good Publicity
Saying controversial things, while sometimes could be morally questionable, can do wonders in the world of advertising. Characters like Piers Morgan or Katie Hopkins stay relevant in the media, not for their personality or their works, but for their controversial views and statements. Without that, they are not interesting and therefore have no power in the current day and age of everyone trying to have their voices heard.
So shout about things that make people angry, have a view on something that differs from the common consensus. While the rest of us are going left, go up.
Will Self became notorious in the writing scene for his first book Cock and Bull which consisted of two novellas that included rape, violence and gender stereotypes. Don’t play it safe, otherwise you will find it much much harder to sell copies of your book.
How to get Readers to Come to You
While advertising is easy to do, you don’t want to force your books down people’s throats and alienate your potential audience. To have your readers come to you on their own accord will be harder, take longer, and may not work straight away, but what you will eventually get is a stronger, more devoted fan base that will be more likely to stick with you and your work for years to come.
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