A Marketing Revamp for your Older Book Title
by Penny Sansevieri
Book marketing strategies change a bit when you’re promoting an older title, so it’s important to keep your marketing plans separate for your new releases and your backlist.
But that means something can be done to spike book sales on this older title!
10 Strategies to Reignite an Older Title
Whether it’s a single book or your entire backlist, here’s a quick rundown of marketing strategies that can help you revive and reignite a book that no longer falls in that “new release” window.
#1 Do a Cover Update
If your book is more than a year old and not selling well, re-do the cover. Find a professional cover designer that has a strong portfolio in your genre and get their help.
Related reading: Book Covers 101: Updating Your Cover
#2 Do a Goodreads Giveaway
Get yourself set up and commit to networking with the winners and build your presence on the site.
Related video: Allessandra Torre's video on promoting your book with Goodreads
#3 Do a Limited-Time Discount Promotion
Go as low as you can go for 2 or 3 days (fewer days creates urgency) and submit the book to sites that are dedicated to promoting Kindle deals.
#4 Run BookBub Ads
Because BookBub ads are so visual, this will work especially well with a new cover. When using book marketing strategies like this, be smart about running your ads to target those who are most likely to resonate with your book, regardless of its pub date.
Related reading [with video]: Tutorial: How to Use BookBub Ads to Promote Any Book
#5 Create a Book Bundle
If your older title is part of a series, bundle the first two titles to create a new product. If you write non-fiction and cover the same topic you can do a bundle as well!
#6 Build Book Marketing Strategies Around Current Events
If there is something in the news cycle related to your book or industry — speak up! Pitch yourself to online influencers for guest pieces or interviews. Get really active on social so you show up for trending topics. Definitely plan a dedicated blog post. Consider whether or not you can provide value by releasing a special newsletter.
Related reading: 30+ Bite-Sized Ideas for Book Marketing
#7 Run New Amazon Ads
Amazon ads are easy to create and won’t break your budget if you’re paying attention!
Related reading: Beginner's Guide to Rocking Amazon Ads
#8 Update Your Amazon Page
Changing up your subtitles and descriptions can really make a difference for drawing in new, interested buyers.
Related reading: Monopolize Your Indie Author Real Estate
#9 Change Up Your Categories and Keywords
It’s amazing how much more exposure you can get on Amazon by using the right categories and keywords.
Related reading: Using Amazon Categories to Sell More Books
#10 Don’t Stop Pitching for Reviews
Of all the book marketing strategies, this is one that’s frequently neglected. Be sure to use your email list and social media to remind people to post a review after reading the book. Remember, a book with 20 reviews is more likely to keep selling than a book with only 3 reviews.
Related reading: Help Your Readers Write Good Reviews and Building Street Teams
What strategies have you used to reboot an older title? Do you have any questions for Penny? Please share them with us down in the comments!
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About Penny
Penny C. Sansevieri, Founder and CEO of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a bestselling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert. She is an Adjunct Professor teaching Self-Publishing for NYU. She was named one of the top influencers of 2019 by New York Metropolitan Magazine.
Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most innovative Amazon visibility campaigns as well offering national media pitching, online book marketing, author events, and other strategies designed to build the author/book visibility.
She is the author of 18 books, including "How to Sell Your Books by the Truckload on Amazon," "Revise and Re-Release Your Book", "5-Minute Book Marketing for Authors," and the newly-released “From Book to Bestseller.”
AME has had dozens of books on top bestseller lists, including those of the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal.
To learn more about Penny’s books or her promotional services, visit www.amarketingexpert.com.
8 comments on “A Marketing Revamp for your Older Book Title”
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What a useful post. As I'm published by a small independent publisher, some of these I can't do, but I can certainly set about others. Thank you.
Good for you, V.M! I loved that this list covered so much ground. I have many friends with large backlists who can benefit from this information.
Fantastic suggestions, Penny! I never thought about bundling!
Penny always has the best ideas!
fantastic advice.
Thanks, Denise! I found several gems too. 🙂
Would it be useful to change the title to rejuvenate interest in a book self-published book? My debut novel was a finalist in 2 Rising Star categories and easy to find by googling the title. Then an agented writer published her debut with the same title and my visibility suffered. I would like to give my book another chance. Maybe too much time has passed. Good article with lots of helpful advice. Thank you.
Missed entering my name.