Collaborative marketing—the future for authors

It’s never been easier to get your book published. But easy access to publishing creates challenges of its own.

With millions of titles uploaded to various self-publishing platforms on a regular basis, authors must radically reshape their approach to book marketing in order to see an increase in sales. An innovative approach to increasing exposure is collaborative marketing.

There’s nothing new about the idea of collaboration. It’s been a key element of writing for centuries. But the idea of marketing collaboratively, instead of individually, is a successful business technique that authors need to embrace.

Simply put, collaborative marketing, or co-marketing, is a strategy that involves working with similar companies or individuals to promote a brand while driving down costs.

Evidence for collaboration’s power in the business world is all around us. An appliance manufacturer rents space from a wholesale retailer. A certain brand of sneakers teams up with a sports drink manufacturer to advertise their product more efficiently. When the cost of advertising is shared, the potential profit for both parties increases dramatically.

While many authors may collaborate, in the sense of doing a guest blog or endorsing the book of another author in a similar genre, our vision of collaboration needs to be expanded. Co-marketing must become a major tool in the writer’s toolkit in order to more effectively convince readers to purchase a book.

For authors, collaborative marketing can largely take two forms: working with readers and working with other authors.

Let’s look at working with readers first.

The age of social media has fundamentally revolutionized marketing by putting consumers—or, in our case, readers—in the driver’s seat.  Huffington Post writes, “marketers {think authors} now need to develop deep relationships with their core consumers so they can easily inform an idea with them and motivate people to advocate for their brand.”[1]

We are all aware that readers (consumers) wield immense power that can encourage, or discourage, other readers from making a purchase. But what about engaging readers beyond the book? Getting readers to engage with your characters, or the topics you present, exponentially increases your ability to reach your target audience.

For example, if your book offers strategies for time management, you might consider holding contests in which entrants share how they boost productivity during the holidays. By engaging with readers in a way that directly relates to your book, you create a unique partnership with the consumer that can result in user-generated content, more online chatter about your book, and ultimately, more sales.

User-generated content is a prime example of collaboration with readers. Can you provide opportunities for readers to engage with your characters or post pictures relating to themes from your book on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter or their blogs? Even better, encourage them to share content with you so you can repost their content on your social media channels. Be sure to secure their permission.

When your readers are generating content about your book, they’re promoting your brand, leaving you to do what you love best—writing more books!

The alternate form of collaboration is to form partnerships with other authors.

Think, for a minute, about a concert you attended or perhaps a song you listened to recently. Chances are there was more than one musician playing. You could argue that each musician is in competition with the others as they all want to be heard. But, by working together, the musicians create something more solid and mask any imperfections.

The same can be said of collaborative marketing among authors.

This year my company, Logos Publications, launched a revolutionary collaborative marketing strategy called Catch Fire ^TM. Catch Fire ^TM is a subscription-based, marketing program that promotes a website on which all author-subscribers can list up to three books.

Catch Fire ^TM promotes collaborative marketing by sharing adverting costs and by creating a community of authors which can result in stronger products and potential sales. For more information, visit www.logospub.com.

As the efficacy of competitive marketing dwindles, author-entrepreneurs must look to the future. And that future’s name is collaborative marketing.

JP Robinson gained experience in the marketing field doing promotional work for multi-million dollar medical facilities and non-profit groups over the past decade. He is an international speaker, educator, and prolific author of both fiction and non-fiction.

JP also conducts writing seminars in various parts of the country and heads Logos Publications, LLC, an emerging publishing and book marketing team.

When he isn’t writing or teaching, JP loves spending time with his wonderful wife and children.

• www.JPRobinsonBooks.com   
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• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jp-robinson-16a29013b   
• https://twitter.com/JPRobinsonBooks 
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIp-3rH6KLCtw5UrJsyBZNw  

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[1] Klepic, J. (2017). The Age of Collaborative Marketing Has Arrived. [online] www.huffpost.com.