Authors have two big issues when it comes to book marketing:

1. They don’t know how to market.
   How do I “get my book out there?”
2. They don’t want to market.
   “I hate promoting myself.”

This is not news; most artists hate to market themselves. But marketing is not what it used to be, and that’s especially good news for writers. I’ll let you in on a secret. You don’t have to promote yourself. You can “do” marketing without the marketing.

“Um, so how am I going to sell any books if I’m not doing any marketing?”

Content marketing is the answer—and I would argue that it’s your only path if you are still an unknown. Content marketing is simply using content to create connections. Good news—you know how to do this. After all, you’re a writer. So you have the tools. Think of the folks who are not writers—they struggle with this immensely. For you? Piece of cake.

But first, you have to stop thinking of it as promotion. You don’t have to be self-promotional. No one likes to do it, and no one likes to hear it. The two issues above are intertwined, so let’s break it down.

Issue #1: You don’t know how to market

Let’s start with the first issue. This is the easier of the two, because you can solve it with education. To be effective, you need two things: 1) a strategy; and 2) a set of tactics to execute the strategy. A huge mistake that people make when “trying” content marketing is that they head straight for tactics without a strategy. I won’t say that you can’t succeed this way, but you’ll certainly decrease your chances of success.

Outline a set of goals, construct a plan, and build out a set of milestones. The tricky thing with content marketing is that is highly dynamic, meaning that it will start to change as soon as you begin. Your plan will become a living, breathing entity—mostly because you are interacting with actual people. So even though you have a set of goals and milestones, expect the tactics you use to change as you learn more about your audience.

How does it work? You introduce a stimulus, watch, record, and evaluate. Did it perform as expected? Why or why not? Of course, this makes the assumption that you have your back end set up to watch the results. You’re going to need to see more than social “likes” and “shares.” Do you have a way to track visitors to your site? If you are intimidated by Google Analytics, even simple metrics will work, such Jetpack for WordPress.

There are a ton of factors that can make or break your success. Everything from content-related factors (tone, length, language, a compelling title, etc.) to delivery-related factors (the right platform, timing, SEO, etc.). But when you boil it down, only one question is really important in assessing your content’s performance:

Was it compelling enough to share?

If you have delivered something of value to your audience—something that affects even a small change—then you have created an action out of nothing. A connection. Chances are that it’s because you were inspiring, instructive, or entertaining. Good job.

Issue #2: You don’t want to market

Let’s cover the second issue. I said that you don’t have to promote yourself. You can “do” marketing without the icky marketing. How?

Let’s turn your thoughts upside down for a minute. Most of us think of “media” as TV, radio, and other broadcast media. And why not? It’s what we grew up with, and it’s still what we see most prevalently. The concept of broadcast media was conceived in the 20th century (arguably as early as the 17th century, though), and is obviously still valuable. But this type of media does you absolutely no good as a brand new player trying to enter a crowded market. You can’t afford to pay for television ad—probably not a radio ad either. You’re competing against the advertising budgets of multimillion dollar corporations. And even if you could afford it, what good would it do you? 20th century broadcast media is a spray of content at no one in particular, hoping to catch someone’s attention.

Social media changed all that, though. With today’s Internet, we all now have equal access to a potential customer (which is why Net Neutrality is so important, in a nutshell). You can reach the very same readers as Penguin Random House, the largest publisher in the world. That’s not to say that PRH doesn’t have an advantage, of course—they can hire a team of publicists, marketers, and social media managers. And they do. They also have the benefit of a strong, trusted brand that they’ve built over years and years.

But starting from zero, it’s just you—no team of marketers. No brand to lean on. And yet, via social media, you have equal access. Think of how amazing that is. You can go directly to your readers. For free (well, almost). Just like PRH can.

So what are you going to do with that?

• First, abandon any thoughts about traditional broadcast media. The channels and the philosophy. You won’t have access to the channels anyway—and the broadcast philosophy won’t help you.
• Understand that it’s not going to be about promotion—your strategy is going to be centered around creating relationships instead. That’s the social world, and you will not be welcomed into it unless you treat it that way.
• Determine a set of goals before you start, and be realistic about it. Organic growth takes time, but the result is deeper, more valuable connections.
• Construct a set of tactics around your stated goals, ensuring that they are in your comfort zone. You will have a hard time being genuine if you are visibly straining against your own strategy.
• Treat it like an ongoing experiment. Try a new tactic, watch what happens, and then learn from that. Apply it to your next tactic. Try something different, and see how the result changes. Iterate constantly, just like any other entrepreneur would.
• Lastly, have fun with it. When you are treating this as an exchange of ideas, expertise, and encouragement, it won’t feel like marketing—and it will actually be more effective, too.

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Stay tuned for next week, when I’ll be getting into The Basic Elements of Content Marketing. Then, as promised, I’ll take you behind-the-scenes to show you how I think about content marketing:

• The Content Marketing Curve, including actual data from my own efforts;
• How to Build an Audience on Twitter, to show you my own social media methodology.

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Photo credit: “im not listening” by 2 TOP is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Changed from original: Added text overlays.