Writers turn to marketing: Authors turn to YouTube and social media to promote their books

BENGALURU: Ten days before her widely-anticipated book The House That BJ Built hit the stands on May 25, city-based author Anuja Chauhan uploaded a YouTube trailer that garnered more than 15,000 hits. Publishers Westland Books went all-out to promote the book on social media, including announcing a Dubsmash contest, giving away signed copies and sending out chapter samples with the June issue of Cosmopolitan.

While established authors like Chauhan have both publisher support and the financial leeway for such prerelease promotion, debuting and budding authors have it less easy . With their bankability unestablished, they are doubling up as book marketers themselves with inventive strategies like thematic book launches, corporate talks, social media outreach and book-signing sessions.

A case in point is author Itisha Peerbhoy, whose romantic-comedy `Half Love, Half Arranged' was published by Penguin late last year. Apart from a launch event at the ITC Windsor that saw dramatic performances of characters out of her book, she interacted on the social media, participated in social events, attended corporate panel discussions, reached out to students and couriered books to key people in her contact list.

"Books of varying quality are coming out all the time. So in a market cluttered with competition, it becomes really important to stand out and reach the right people," Peerbhoy told ET. " And unless you are a celebrated writer, you are usually on your own."

Iti Khurana, assistant manager-marketing at Harper Collins, said yearly marketing budgets divided among all titles is directly proportional to the author's popularity . "We determine the percentage of marketing spend according to the advance payment and the print run. We support debut authors to a certain extent, but after a point, they are asked to chip in."

Entrepreneur Adhirath Sethi, author of the just-released thriller novel The Debt Collector's Due, said that while personal budgets are subjective, marketing spending is essential for differentiation.

He reached out to readers by converting his book launch event, held earlier this week, into a crime scene. "I am targeting airport signings since my book is a breezy, travel read, and using social media. I am also personally going to bookstores convincing distributors to stock the book," he said.

Peerbhoy said a well-planned marketing strategy also helps create recall value during ecommerce purchases as readers usually seek out specific books. "The secret is to never expect money from your first book and be humble about it," she said.