Rule 1: cheapsKate Allan

When I set out to market my first novel I decided to try the marketing theory and techniques which I’d learned at college and used in business across the consumer goods, drinks and internet industries. I’ll take the principles of marketing I’ve learned and used, I thought, and see if they work for books. They did. The novel, The Lady Soldier by Jennifer Lindsay, out with independent UK publisher Robert Hale, sold out its first impression within a week of launch. It was only later I started to look into what resources were available to help authors market their books did I realise what a knowledge and resource gap there was. There are authors such as M. J. Rose who know what they are talking about, willing to share how book marketing can work. But a trawl through the Internet shows up a lot of scams – people wanting authors to part with money, in some cases a lot of money, for various marketing services. Ok, so maybe they are not all scams, but I wouldn’t part with any money in this way. Here’s the first rule of marketing for authors. It can very cheap indeed. If you're in any doubt how a marketing service might benefit you and your book(s), don't do it if it costs money. If you are willing to invest time, you don’t need to invest (much) money. And I’d suggest you spend the money where it counts. Perhaps this might be on printing, or website hosting, or wine for your book launch party. So set yourself a strict budget, because you know what – a lack of money will force you to be more creative with your marketing. And creative marketing gets results.