Post-Book Launch: Digital Marketing, Book Tours and more!

Introduction:

You did it! You wrote a book, went through the grueling editing process, got your book picked up by a literary agent, a publishing house, or figured out how to self publish. Now the release date has come and gone, and you're thinking of how to either keep momentum up for your book or how to ignite it.

Marketing isn’t always the easiest thing for writers to do, especially after emerging from our writing caves. The challenge is that we know this book and its characters so well, it seems like a no-brainer to go and read it; however, readers don’t know either yet. So it is critical for you to figure out who your audience is and what they will enjoy most about your book and the best way to reach them to let them know.

The good news is that growing your audience and marketing your book is easier now that you can hand them your work. So fear not! This blog will guide you through your post-book-launch marketing plan.

If you have any questions about the content of this post, go ahead and email me at emily@crazednovelist.com, and I’m happy to help!

“People can’t read a book if they don’t know it exists. All authors need to do marketing, regardless of how they published.” ― Jo Linsdell

Prerequisite: What if I didn’t market my book before launching it?

I get it! It can be overwhelming going through the editing process, figuring out the best publishing path that works for you, deciding on a cover, and a million other things you juggle as you finalize your book; sometimes marketing falls to the back burner. That is okay—you can start your marketing today. 

The key to success in marketing is consistency and willingness to try and fail. Part of marketing is reviewing the strategies and content you’re sharing consistently and analyzing it to see what is not only reaching but resonating with your readers. 

“It takes great courage to write great books. Find your courage and find your voice.” ― Kristen Lamb

Warm-up: Some research you can do to get started!

To market your book, you are going to need to know who you are marketing to. Your readers are your target audience. You will need to know your target audience on a psychological level to be able to market to them and compel them to read your story. 

First, reflect on your book; what is its purpose? Is it a romance to entertain women in their early twenties or a business book for people who are streamlining small companies? Once you are able to establish your book's goal, you then can determine your target audience.

Try imagining your reader; what is their age, their occupation, what is their personality, what are their book preferences? Once you have that, you have a reader persona, and from there you can use resources, like pew research, to find out what type of social media they use most, how they use social media platforms, and you can start planning your market strategy. If this is hard for you, you can use AI, but keep in mind it is not perfect or one hundred percent accurate.

“Books choose their readers, not the other way around. I believe that booksellers are the matchmakers. Thank you.” ― Cecelia Ahern

Source: Wix

Digital Marketing

Once you know who your target audience is, you are able to determine which social media platforms will help you reach them best. The first thing you want to do is define your objectives, and you want them to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely. For example, a good objective would be: “I want one of my five posts this week to reach fifty likes and a hundred views by the end of the following week.” To do this, you want to create a content calendar that helps you keep track and plan your posts. 

Make sure you are constantly adapting and evolving around what your readers are responding to. Try A/B testing (trying two different types of reel styles) then review the data; whichever gets more views or more engagement is the type of style you should use going forward. You never want to ignore data, have your content to feel unfocused, or post inconsistently. This will make it harder when you do post because the algorithm won’t respond to it. 

Having a strong digital marketing strategy will help you reach readers and grow your community, making the next release easier.

Website & Mailing List

Another important thing you want to have is an author website, a place where people can go and buy your book and learn a little bit more about you as an author. It is also a place where they can sign up for your mailing list and newsletter. 

Having a newsletter allows you to grow your community and keep a pulse on what they want to see and hear about and allows them insider information about the book and the writing process, which increases reader loyalty and excitement for your book and any future releases as well as your brand as an author.

ARC Reviewers

ARCs are advanced reader copies. Now, I understand that your book is already published, but this is still a good practice to get reviews if you haven’t had a lot of momentum on sales yet. The best practices to get ARC reviewers are using platforms like BookFunnel or asking followers on your social media, friends, and family in your network to read and review your book. To incentivize reviewers, you can offer a discount, bonus content, or even send them the manuscript without charge. Positive reviews help gain traction and push your books farther by adding validity to your claims that people will enjoy reading your story.

Book Tour

Book tours are a great way to connect with readers in person and for them to not only buy into your book but your brand as an author. The best way to book an author event is reaching out to local libraries, bookstores, conferences, and book clubs to see if they have slots available for authors to come and speak. 

You want to make sure that you are promoting the events you book on your social media and in your social circles so that word can spread and you are not just relying on the marketing of the library, store, or bookstore.  

“Marketing without empathy is noise; with empathy, it becomes narrative.” ― Wayne Chirisa

Conclusion

The important thing you need to remember throughout all of this is you’re building a community, not just selling your book. You want to create conversation and not just speak to your followers or book event attendees; you want to hear their ideas and theories and figure out what they like and don’t like. This creates trust, which does more for your book than any marketing you could have done before your book’s release date.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0SXDlMx5UU

Resources

The First 90 Days After Book Launch: What Every Author Must Do to Sustain Momentum - This article provides more strategies to consider after launching your book.

96 Book Marketing Ideas That Actually Work in 2026 - A deeper dive into marketing strategies that you can apply to your post-launch plan.

29 Things You Should Do After Your Book Launch - Another perspective on tactics you can try after launching your novel.

How Authors can Identify Their Ideal Reader - A quick TikTok video that can help you determine your target audience.

Emily Williams is the PR and Marketing Director for A.E. Williams Editorial and graduated with a degree in public relations and minor in English from the University of Georgia. The draw of reading and the community around books piqued her interest, and she's been hooked ever since! You can connect with her on the company Facebook, LinkedIn, or through email.