“Everything you need to market your book is in your manuscript.”
From Finding Author Success by Deborah Riley-Magnus
If you say SEO or keywords to an author, they physically cringe. But the process isn’t as daunting as you may think, though it can be a challenge. The good news is you already have everything to market your book.
Create Your Word List
As in my previous post, the “Secret to Author SEO”, I describe how you can make a word list based on location, genre, crime and your hero. But let’s take that one step further and start to think outside the box.
Let’s glean keywords from Debora Riley-Magnus’ book “Cold in California” (an excellent read, BTW.) Below is her 25-word pitch and product description.
25-word Pitch
Product Description
Twice-baked vampire, Gabriel Strickland, learns he has a chance at redemption when he’s whisked from his final demise into a purgatory secretly tucked in West Hollywood. Sixty creatures, including other dead vampires, pixies, a legendary Navaho stick man and bothersome leprechauns, struggle together to earn brownie points and wait out possible centuries of this purgatory. Gabriel receives dubious advice from the troll who runs the place, but there are always bugs in the pudding and he faces them all. Enter, the beautiful Dori Gallagher, who not only knocks Gabriel off his feet, but also an evil warlock who has designs on her. When menacing forces gather against Gabriel and everything he’s come to respect, it’s a fiery clash of the supernatural in one heroic effort to save his new reality.
List One:
- Vampire
- Heaven
- Hell
- Purgatory
- West Hollywood
- Warehouse
- Twice-baked vampire
- Gabriel Strickland
- Redemption
- Secret(ly)
- Pixies
- Legendary Navaho Stick Man (stickman)
- Leprechauns
- Troll
- Dori Gallagher
- Evil Warlock
- Supernatural
- Heroic
Gleaning Keywords from Book Reviews
Another great source of possible keywords can be found in your book reviews. Sometimes, your readers will find hidden meanings you didn’t even think of.
Additional words I gleaned from “Cold in California” reviews:
- Employment Agency
- Romance
- Series
- Unique
- Paranormal
- Love
- Dramatic
- Funny
- Humor
- Exciting
- Entertaining
- California
- Los Angeles
- Baseball
So what do you do with this list?
As an author, you should have a blog where you post an article at least once a month. Knowing the keyword helps you determine the headline and subsequently sets the stage for the article post.
The key is to target potential readers.
Who, from your list, would be interested in your book? Vampire lovers, of course but what about Native Americans (Navaho); Irish-Americans; or people who live in L.A., West Hollywood to be precise?
Every character has more of a back story than what is detailed in the final book. In Magnus’ case, she could write an article about the legend of the Navaho Stick Man and how he became part of her book.
So targeting readers searching for Native American fiction, or more specifically Navaho stories, would be a wise bet.
