What Is Guerrilla Book Marketing and Can It Help You?
If you’ve ever seen a marketing stunt so outrageous you thought to yourself that the person behind it must be bonkers, that’s guerrilla marketing. It’s outrageous, it’s creative, and it’s effective. So, can you implement this strategy as a writer? Sure! Here are some authors who have found success in guerrilla marketing.
Examples of successful guerrilla marketing book promotions
Bestselling author John Shors traveled with readers to the South East Asia jungles and temples that inspired his books. Readers love getting a glimpse of their favorite writer’s inspiration, and Shors offered precisely that with these trips. The unique approach created a buzz around his work and garnered a loyal following who endorsed him by word of mouth.
M.J Rose hired an artist to make the necklaces featured on her book covers. She also collaborated with a perfume maker to create a fragrance for her book’s character who came from a family of perfume makers. Bringing her book’s character to life paid off handsomely with her books selling more than a million copies.
Melissa Foster supercharged her production schedule to publish a book each month between 2013 and 2014. She also released several free ebooks in the process. The result, she became a New York Times bestselling author and makes six figures each month from the sales of her books.
In 2013, thriller author Steve Berry traveled with 25 readers through Vienna and Prague to discuss his book. So successful was the trip that the following year, the writer planned a trip to Southern France with readers of his book, “The Templar Legacy.”
First-time mystery writer Nancy Wood was still grappling with book marketing ideas when she decided to send free copies of her book to reviewers. The book’s positive reception encouraged her to organize blog tours to promote her book further earning the book excellent reviews and ranking.
Author Sam Conniff Allende took brand authenticity to a new level when he marketed his first book, “Be More Pirate.” The author plastered a large, unauthorized, neon pink banner on the window of Penguin Random House’s office in London, a stunt that caught the eye of business magnate Richard Branson. Talk about being more pirate!
Penguin Random House isn’t a stranger to guerrilla marketing stunts. The publisher caused a stir in the streets of Toronto when it hired 20 actresses to dress up as the main character from Stieg Larsson’s book, “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.” The actresses wore dragon tattoos on their backs and even rode mopeds like the book’s character.
Tips for creating an effective guerrilla marketing strategy
Quality over quantity
The quality surpasses the quantity, especially where social media is concerned. It might be tempting to buy “followers” for a few dollars, but these won’t convert to book sales. You’re better off with a hundred active followers than 10,000 dormant bot followers.
Be weird but not too weird
Being weird in your guerrilla marketing is a great strategy. Weird catches people’s attention and sparks conversation, but it has to be reasonable. For a few bucks, you can probably get someone to sing about your book while doing cartwheels in a nun costume, but it probably won’t be an effective marketing strategy for your book.
Get your book seen by the right people
Authors should always have a few copies of their books to give away, but be careful to whom you give a copy of your book. Can the person endorse your book and leave a positive review? Ultimately, each book you give away should help you sell more copies.
Get creative
Creativity is the foundation of guerrilla marketing. Make sure to do the things that other authors aren’t doing. For example, when doing a reading, you could dress up as characters in your book like Jillian Curtis and her son did.
Use videos
Videos are formidable marketing tools in this era of viral content and influencers. For a relatively fair price, you can hire an influencer to make a funny video promoting your book. Extra points and sales for you if the video goes viral.
~ Nanda
Writers' Conferences you could attend:
- The Loft’s Wordplay – May 10, Minneapolis, MN
- Washington Writers Conference – May 10, North Bethesda, MD
- Longleaf Writers’ Conference – May 11, Santa Rosa Beach, FL
- Lit Camp – May 12, Big Sur, CA
- Boldface Conference for Emerging Writers – May 20, Houston, TX
- North Words Writers Symposium – May 29, Skagway, AK
- Bear River Writers Conference – May 30, Ann Arbor, MI
- Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference – May 31, Ripton, VT
- Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference – May 31, Ripton, VT
- Indiana University Writers’ Conference 2021 – June 3, 2021, Virtual Conference
- The 75th Annual Arkansas Writers’ Conference – June 1, North Little Rock, AR
- Odyssey Writing Workshop – June 7, 2021, Virtual Workshop
- The Writer’s Hotel NYC Writers Conference – June 5, New York City, NY
LA Literary Events:
- On April 18 at 8 pm, in The Ripped Bodice in Culver City, Sarah Skilton will be reading an excerpt from her new book, Fame Adjacent.
- On April 20 at 5pm, in Skylight Books in Los Angeles, Sally Rooney reads from her new novel “Normal People” with Karolina Waclawiak.
- On April 20 at 5 pm, in Gatsby Books in Long Beach, Writers Resist is hosting an anthology reading, and book sale and signing.
- On April 23 at 7 pm, Duncan Miller Gallery in Santa Monica, LARB Books will be hosting a Books Launch Party for their first five titles.
- On April 27 at 2 pm, in Skylight Books in Los Angeles, they will be celebrating Independent Bookstore Day with trivias and a book launch by Grace Talusan.
- On April 28 at 2 pm, on The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, Red Hen Press and the Poetry Society of America present a celebration of the figure of Orpheus, mythologized in poetry and music.
- On May 9 at 12 pm, at the Powell Library Courtyard in Westwood, the annual UCLA Marathon Reading will create the experience of a live, crowdsourced audiobook..
- On May 14 at 7 pm, in Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, Matthew McGough, in conversation with Michael Connelly & Miles Corwin, discusses and signs The Lazarus Files: A Cold Case Investigation.
