The book reading boom and resulting sales that occurred during the coronavirus stay-at-home orders have led many people to try their hands at becoming authors. Writing and publishing are significant achievements, but marketing is the third essential component, as a book publicist can tell you. For self-published books, there has become an increasingly agreed-on group of fundamental marketing activities. They're required to help target readers discover a book and potentially buy (or download) a copy to read. No matter how a book is published, it competes against all others in the crowded marketplace.

While there is no doubt the interest and especially social media have a role in marketing a book, they are generally not enough to bring success. Coverage by traditional media continues to be a powerful way to reach audiences and is crucial to building credibility. All producers and editors receive hundreds of pitches each week for coverage, and many are for books. If you can't afford a PR pro to develop and manage a campaign, the media relations project will fall on you as the author. If it does, be prepared to spend significant time on media outreach, and you'll need to write a press release and bio.

Timing matters a lot, and it's crucial to plan your book marketing campaign long before your publication date. The media will consider your book newsworthy only around its launch in most cases, and if you miss the moment, you don't have a second chance. Author websites are no longer a choice, and they are a must these days. Your site doesn't need to be overly long, but it must contain images and information about you and your book. An online search may also be a way you need people to find you, and it builds progressively over time. An established website almost always does better than a new one.

The same is true with social media. It works well for book promotion where you have many followers, and they don't happen overnight. If you launch one or two social media accounts, preferably years before you publish a book, you'll have an audience automatically interested. Never let your social media accounts become dormant because you'll lose followers. When you pitch media for coverage, they will likely check your accounts, and they need to be active and well followed. Today, online booksellers command the lion's share of the market, and you must complete pages on their sites.