SECTION 1 → PART 7
What Next? What Else Should You Be Doing While You’re Marketing Your Book(s)?
EXTENDED BOOK CHAPTER #10 from MY SELF-PUBLISHING MANUAL by Bart Smith
INTRODUCTION & WHAT TO DO NEXT!
Congratulations—your book is officially finished and out in the world! While crossing the finish line of authorship is a massive achievement, it is also the exact moment your role shifts from a creative writer to a proactive CEO and marketing machine. The success of your book now depends entirely on your willingness to stop writing and start aggressively executing a structured, daily promotional game plan. If you are sitting back wondering what steps to take next to turn your manuscript into consistent cash flow and long-term authority, you are in the perfect place. Dive into this critical transition phase to discover your exact marching orders, focus your daily energy, and launch your publishing brand into the stratosphere with massive, unstoppable action! Well, here’s what can and should be done at this point:
1. Make note of what worked, what didn’t ...
Again, make note of what worked, what didn’t, what marketing activity (online/offline) gave you the most for your time/money/energy. Treat your marketing efforts like a business audit by tracking exactly where your buyers are coming from and which campaigns are moving the most inventory. Double down on the specific multi-channel avenues that yield the highest return on investment, and immediately cut the cord on any platforms that drain your resources without generating traction. Continually reviewing your conversion numbers ensures that you stop guessing, optimize your daily promotional schedule, and focus your creative energy entirely on the high-profit tactics that scale your revenue and name recognition.
2. Write Another Book
If your first book was slow to sell, write another one and promote them together to give your readers twice the value for a single transaction. Continually expanding your catalog is the secret to maximizing your backend customer potential, as each new title acts as an entry point into your entire ecosystem. Keep writing until you can build a massive, high-value bundle of your books, and toss in an audio version of your chapters to instantly skyrocket the perceived value of the offer. Readers absolutely love purchasing bundled packages because it feels like an absolute steal, allowing you to easily increase your average order value and shift multiple units simultaneously.
3. Write For The Long Haul
Write books that will stand the test of time, focusing on evergreen principles and perennial problems rather than temporary fads that are in today and out tomorrow. Creating foundational content ensures that your manuscripts remain highly relevant and saleable five, ten, or twenty years from now, giving you ample time to locate and dominate your exact target market. This long-term approach transforms your books from fleeting promotional trends into permanent, high-yielding intellectual property assets. By building an enduring library of timeless solutions, you establish an unshakeable brand authority and secure a compounding stream of passive income that pays you for decades to come.
4. Tempt your readers with more. Got a new book coming out? Got the cover done?
Why not share it and get people excited about what you’re going to publish next? Provide sample chapters from the next book to pull readers to you! “Sign-up to my eMail list and get notified when I release my next book!” Tempt your readers with more by teasing upcoming projects directly within your current book's back matter and across your digital channels. If you have a new title on the horizon or a fresh cover design ready, showcase it early to build anticipation and transform finishing readers into immediate buyers for your next release. Sneak a compelling sample chapter into the final pages of your current book, and pair it with a bold call to action like: “Sign up for my email list today to get notified the exact second my next book drops!” Harnessing this natural post-reading momentum is a brilliant way to continuously grow a hyper-loyal launch squad and secure a massive wave of day-one sales for every future title you publish.
5. Re-launch a book with a new cover. I’ve done this before with a few of my books.
Years later, the cover got an overhaul and I redesigned it so it could appeal to a new and different market. It’s a great way to stimulate new sales. It gives you the opportunity to “re-launch” any of your books with new readers/audiences. Re-launch an older book with a brand-new cover design to instantly capture entirely fresh segments of the market. Overhauling a dated cover aesthetic allows you to breathe new life into your existing catalog, align your intellectual property with current modern visual trends, and make a years-old manuscript feel like a hot new release. This cosmetic upgrade gives you a perfect excuse to orchestrate an aggressive promotional push, pitch fresh media outlets, and run targeted ad campaigns to capture audiences who originally skipped past your previous layout. Treating your book as an evolving asset means you can continuously optimize its presentation to tap into new reader demographics and stimulate a non-stop stream of passive revenue.
6. Becoming a MARKETING ROCK STAR!
LIVE EVERY MARKETING TIP mentioned in this section and become your own master of marketing and promotion. Commit to becoming a book marketing rock star by aggressively living and executing every single promotional tip outlined across this entire manual. True marketing mastery does not come from passive reading or safe over-thinking; it comes from stepping onto the field, taking massive daily action, and ruthlessly tracking your data to see what drives real revenue. Embrace the dual identity of an elite author and a high-energy chief executive who stops at nothing to get their message into the hands of global audiences. By mastering these multi-channel tactics and consistently putting yourself out there, you will smash through the retail noise, build an unshakeable publishing empire, and watch your bank account skyrocket as a result of your own promotional power!
7. Turn Your Book Content into High-Ticket Assets
Don't limit your income potential by treating your book as a low-cost, standalone product. Your chapters contain highly valuable frameworks that can easily be repackaged into premium backend offers, such as multi-week corporate coaching workshops, intensive masterclasses, or high-ticket private consulting agreements. Map out the most actionable methodologies from your book and structure them into a live or recorded group training program that solves a specific corporate or consumer problem. By inviting your readers to take the ultimate next step with you at the end of your book, you can easily turn a casual $20 book buyer into a high-paying, long-term client who gladly invests thousands of dollars to work directly with you.
CLOSING THOUGHTS & YOUR EXECUTION PLAN
Can you think of more ways to promote your book? Write them down. Add them to your marketing plan and start marketing your book in more ways than what you see here! Transitioning from a creative writer to an aggressive marketer is the ultimate dividing line between an unknown manuscript and a highly profitable publishing empire. Now that you have the exact roadmap for what to do next, the responsibility lies entirely on your shoulders to step out into the arena, execute these strategies with relentless consistency, and never let your promotional momentum stall. Do not let your ideas sit idle on a to-do list; instead, pick your immediate next action item, focus your daily marketing blocks, and take massive action to get your message into the hands of global audiences. Your book is finished, your strategy is locked in, and your audience is waiting—go out there, make your mark, and watch your authority and book sales skyrocket!
CHECK OUT OTHER BOOK MARKETING LESSONS
← PREVIOUS LESSON (PART 6)
MAIN BOOK MARKETING HUB
NEXT LESSON (PART 8) →
© BartSmith.com | All Rights Reserved
Website Design & Marketing by Bart Smith
