Become a Book Marketing Pirate: 17 Tips to Sell More Books

Book launch and marketing is piracy. You need to take ruthless action, be conniving to implement new tactics, and be unafraid to ask for the sale.

But don’t worry—you can be just like Captain Jack Sparrow, everyone’s favorite antihero, by having a heart while doing piratey things.

All these tactics are white hat, but you will need pirate-like gumption to do them. To become a healthy pirate—and sell more books!—follow these 17 tips.

Pick a few to implement, don your swashbuckling outfit, prepare the mainmast, and sail forward!

1. Steal from the rich: Get more endorsements
2. Become pirate Santa: Give away books
3. Stow away on another ship: Do a guest blog
4. Polish the front of the ship: Update your book’s sales copy
5. Discover a new lucrative venture: Record an audiobook version
6. Don’t let a rich man walk the plank: Get what you need first!
7. Get drinks with a pirate buddy: Tell a friend about your book
8. Inspire your pirate crew: Book a speaking engagement
9. Become a siren: Go on a few podcasts
10. Get your own ship: Sell your book on your website
11. Clean your dirty face: Schedule a branded photo shoot with your book in hand
12. Set sail: Talk about your ideas on a platform.
13. Make friends at pirate parties: Connect, chat, and schedule virtual coffee chats
14. Make your ship fancy: Upgrade your online presence
15. Make a hit list: Chase down your target
16. Hire a team of mercenaries: Get help to do what you suck at
17. Away anchor: Stop dreaming. Attack your to-do list.

Endorsements are an underrated part of book marketing. Many people think that you should get four or five as part of your book launch strategy and then call it good, but this isn’t the case.

Keep working on endorsements at every stage in your book marketing journey.

The best way to get more endorsements? Ask. But wait for the right time.

Getting endorsements is akin to chasing down a ship but waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

Attack too soon and you risk souring the relationship. Wait until you’ve already been interacting with the person for a while, then the endorsement is yours.

A great way to build those relationships is by developing and maintaining a platform. Follow people on the platform you “hang out” on most, and then eventually, ask them for this favor.

New endorsements can be placed:

• On your website
• On the book’s sales page on platforms like Amazon
• On other marketing-related items like bookmarks, posters, postcards, etc.

Giving things away goes against the pirates’ creed. Except, it’s one of the best ways to get more eyeballs on your books.

When you give your book away, you get zero immediate ROI from this. (Actually, you get a negative ROI if you count the cost of the book!)

But doing so solidifies a relationship that could blossom into something more later on.

People love receiving books. So, give the people what they want!

The best ways to give away more books:

• Keep copies on you. I keep a few copies of my most recent book in my bag to give away to people I meet.
• When you strike up a convo with someone new online, offer to send a free copy of your book.
• Add a signature to the end of your email that says something like: “Hey, I wrote a book. Did you know? Happy to give away a free copy. Just tell me what version, and I’ll send it your way!”

Note: Avoid massive giveaway options to freebie sites. Why? What most often happens is you give away 1,000+ copies of your book, get a few bad reviews, and you feel defeated.

Be a smart pirate: only hunt for people with the treasure you’re after.

What’s the best way to reach a new audience?

“Steal” the attention from someone else. Take advantage of the hard work they’ve done to build their audience and then get in front of them.

You’re reading this because Katie and I worked together, and she thought, “It would be cool for Jordan to share a bit of his marketing thoughts with my audience.”

Voila!

The best ways to find these opportunities are by connecting organically. Sure, if you find people that accept guest posts, reach out and ask by all means.

But similar to the endorsement tip above, knowing them first will go a long way.

No one respects a dirty ship. Clean it up.

If your book’s sales copy (the book’s description) stinks, you won’t sell any books.

Some people think the most important parts of marketing are ads, outreach, and PR.

False.

The three most important parts of marketing a book:

1. A beautiful cover
2. A captivating title
3. Sales copy that converts

Since you’re in the book marketing phase, your cover and title might be more permanent fixtures. But you can always update your book’s description.

Copywriting is anything but simple, but make sure your book’s description doesn’t read like a book description.

You’re not telling the reader what the book is about, you’re telling them why they should purchase.

This subtle distinction is everything.

Rewrite your book’s sales copy with what the reader will gain from reading your book.

If you don’t have an audiobook version of your book, do it now.

The audiobook industry is growing and is showing no signs of stopping.

More people than ever are choosing to listen while they drive, while they eat, or while they’re doing household chores.

And the good news? You can do an audiobook multiple ways. Have someone record and edit it for you, record it yourself but get help mastering it, or DIY the whole thing.

All it takes is a good mic, a free program called Audacity, a room with good sound quality (like a closet), and you’re good to go.

One of the worst mistakes authors make is when they have a great book, but nowhere for the reader to go at the end.

You’ve tricked them into walking the plank, you’ve prodded them to jump, but you forgot to steal their purse!

They’ve jumped into the wide waters and you will never again have the chance to “steal” from them.

Where do people go if they want to learn more about you? Do you have something set up?

Make sure when the author jumps, (i.e. finishes your book) that they:

• Can find you when they look you up on Google.
• Have a specific reason to find you again and read more from you in the future.
• Have at least signed up for more information from you (your email list) or, at best, have signed up for a discovery call to potentially work with you.

Talk about your book out in the real world.

It’s doubtful that all your friends, connections, and colleagues know you’ve written a book.

So, tell them.

They might not be interested. They may not be a perfect fit. But they may know someone who is.

This marketing step is hard for some authors. It took me several years before any of my close friends even knew I was an author.

But every time I’ve stepped outside of my comfort zone for this step, I’ve received back tenfold.

This is something many authors fail to do. So, do it, and you’re a step above the rest.

A crew that is captivated by your every word. A crew that will do your bidding. A crew that will die for you.

This is the captain’s dream.

Be the captain of your book and message. Speaking engagements are fantastic for refining your message, connecting with people, and for building trust with potential clients.

A nonfiction book is your ticket into most speaking engagements. Writing “the book on it” confirms your expert status. Use this ticket as a means to enter.

Of course, you’ll need to practice to develop a keynote, but once you do, you can rinse and repeat just like the dirty, crusty pirate you are.

If you’ve written a novel, you can book speaking engagements at libraries and schools, at conferences for librarians and teachers, and at writing conferences. You can read portions of  your book and do an author Q&A or teach other authors about writing craft.

Sirens are heard for miles around. Well, go and be heard my young pirate captain!

Podcasts are similar to guest posts in that they help you refine your message, but they have a secret power…

You don’t have to prepare all that much.

If you’re a nonfiction author, you can already talk freely about your subject. If you’re a fiction author, you know what your book is about, the best passages to read aloud, and all about your writing journey, your muse, and your characters. You got all the material you need.

The best podcast hosts will make you feel comfortable and will ask you leading questions (or send you questions in advance).

Just have a natural conversation with them, just like you did with your pirate buddy that you told about your book.

And the best part? Record an hour conversation with the host and then you’re done. They have to do all the work, not you.

If that isn’t pirate-level book marketing I don’t know what is.

Selling your book on your own website shows a level of professionalism that will set you apart.

Make the page look good and make it easy for people to buy from you.

This can be complicated to set up, but get help if you need it.

Make your website a one-stop shop for your material, but also as a hub to connect with you.

Set yourself apart with good-looking photos taken with your book.

High-quality pictures can:

• Go on your website
• Be used as featured images in blog posts
• Attach to social media posts

Looking professional will go a long way toward securing higher-quality (and higher paying!) clients.

Play the game by looking the part!

The richest pirates are the ones doing something.

They’re the ones chasing ships loaded with precious cargo.

They are out there, on the seas, doing what needs to be done to put (stolen) food on the table.

My favorite platform to be on? LinkedIn.

It totally depends on your niche and what you offer, but be somewhere.

Don’t spend too long thinking of brilliant ideas without putting the ship out to sail.

When you’re hanging out on your platform of choice with all those grubby pirates, make it even more lucrative.

Connect with other pirates to:

• Get more information on the best places to hunt for leads and readers
• Build out your source of referrals.
• Give back and learn that benevolent piracy is not so bad a thing

Even pirates need other people around them. They don’t do it alone. Make friends and connect with people in your industry to go the distance.

Sometimes you need to work on the ship to be able to attract leads and readers.

You can’t fool a merchant ship to chat with you if your ship is all grubbed up.

They’ll just take one look at you and blow you out of the water.

It’s important that your online presence be cohesive. You don’t want someone to wander over to your Instagram account and not even know it’s you.

You don’t need to be everywhere, all the time, but you need to at least have a presence there, a way for people to find and connect with you.

Batten down the hatches!

Who do you want to buy the book, and what are you doing to reach them?

You can’t sell your book to the right people if you don’t know who the right people are.

Think about your target audience and what they like to do, where they like to hang out, and how you might reach them.

Now, go to your platform and do some deep dive research to find 2–3 of these people that fit best.

Bonus if these people are past clients or readers of yours. Double bonus if they are active on the platform.

Now, follow the tendrils of people they are connected to so you can find more like-minded individuals.

Rinse and repeat and you’re now a respected assassin-for-hire.

The best ship captains make everyone else do all the hard stuff while they lounge in their ship’s office. Hire ship hands who will do what you aren’t as good at, or that you don’t want to do.

This looks like:

• Having an expert create an ad campaign for your book
• Hiring a copywriter to upgrade your website
• Doing a PR campaign to re-launch your book to a specific niche
• Anything else from this blog post that you want to do but don’t want to do.

Get help when you need it most and build a crack crew.

Do one thing today that helps you sell more books.

It doesn’t even have to be something from this list.

Just stop browsing all the possibilities online. There are a million things you could do to market your book…

But you need only do one thing today.

So, get on it, pirate.

Make Davy Jones proud.

May the waves be with you,

-Jordan

When not immersed in the ever-expanding universe of writing and publishing, Jordan enjoys long walks, audiobooks, and playing padel. He shares his life with Miranda, the partner of his heart and mind. He loves playing games of all sorts, is devout in his faith, and spends more time reading and writing than one would think humanly possible. To get in touch, email Jordan at Jordan@jmring.com. He’s always available and eager to connect.