Book marketing is increasingly moving online – and onto social media, where people are increasingly searching for answers to their questions about the books they’re considering buying. Learning how to host a book webinar on your new book can be an effective way to sell more books – but only if you do it right. Our guide to hosting a book webinar can help you maximize the effectiveness of your webinar as part of your overall book marketing efforts which is to sell more books.

What is a Webinar?

A webinar is an online presentation, similar to a teleseminar, where you connect live to people via computer and share your expertise – in this case about the book you’ve written. It can be open or invitation only. 

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You can do it solo, with others who have written books on the same topic as yours, or with outside experts from other fields. In short, a webinar offers you a way to build your platform – and hopefully sell more of your books.

Seven Reasons to Sell More Books with Webinars

• In the internet world, webinars are the most effective type of interaction.
• The most successful method to sell anything online is via webinars.
• Webinars are a fantastic method to get people excited about your crowd-funding efforts.
• Webinars are very successful at selling high-priced items and services, and they can be used in any industry, including Internet marketing, handicraft, food, sports, how-to instruction, history, psychology, relationships, self-help, and more.
• Interviewing significant individuals in your area (a great writer, a renowned author, a popular social media person, a top blogger, etc.) in a live webinar is one of the finest methods to build a connection with them.
• Webinars are the simplest method to make fresh videos that you can share on YouTube, Facebook, and other social media platforms.
• You may have consumers subscribe to a series of webinars in addition to utilizing webinars to sell other goods.

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How to Host a Book Webinar

There are many platforms available for hosting a webinar, from free services such as Google Hangout on Air or Blog Talk on Radio to paid platforms such as GoToWebinar, WebEx, or Adobe Connect. 

Most have different features that determine what you can do with it – whether you’re just hosting an online meeting with slides and voice-overs, conducting a live interview, or delivering the main presentation live via webcam. 

You also need to decide if you want to use a paid service which will more likely come with some sort of customer support in case technical problems arise in your event. For example, the webinar service provider you choose should have phone or chat support available via their website.

In addition to its technical features, consider whether the platform you use will give you tools that let people share your content on social media – Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter – after they’ve watched it. This is an important consideration because if they can recommend your webinar to their friends via those platforms, then the likelihood of additional sales increases exponentially.

Also, ensure that the technology used will project a high-quality video image to attendees. 

Remember the first rule of selling: People buy from people they like and trust – so never hold a webinar without a webcam attached.

Your primary goal for any book marketing activity is to sell thousands of book copies, but that doesn’t mean you can’t also use your webinar to build credibility for yourself and your book. Your presentation should be the main attraction, of course, but make sure you’ve included one or more of these elements in case there isn’t time during the presentation itself.

1. Let attendees know about any resources available on-demand after they watch or listen to your webinar – links to more information on websites, video clips etc.
2. Make attendees feel special by offering them additional content only available to those who attend live – this builds buzz within your target market about how great it is to be part of something exclusive. You could even say that the next run of the program will not have this material so people need to act on it while they can.
3. Provide something for attendees to do during the presentation – if you’ve got slides, maybe ask them to make notes on what resonates most with them about any of your content that they’d like to apply in their lives. This helps break up the presentation into manageable chunks and reinforces learning even when people are busy doing other things.
4. Ask attendees to share feedback after they watch or listen to your webinar via a brief online survey at the end of the event, which you can use not only for further marketing purposes but also as valuable market data. For example, you could segment results by demographic so that you have an idea of how particular groups responded overall vs individuals who gave individual responses on the survey.
5. Finally, don’t forget to provide attendees with some type of takeaway following your webinar – even if it’s just one idea they can act on immediately that will help them apply what you’ve shared within their own personal or professional lives. This is part of helping people feel great about attending your event and engaging them so they’ll come back again the next time you run another live session.

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How can Your Webinar Help You Drive Massive Massive Book Sales?

Here are some of the most effective techniques to increase conversions:

1. Persuade the audience to purchase your book. This is the most direct method of promoting your book. Your webinar should begin and end with a promotion for your book, with obvious alternatives for purchasing it. You know the individuals who will be there admire your abilities, so they may want to read your most recent work – and excellent writers must read.
2. As a result of their positive impressions, the participants will recommend you, resulting in additional purchases. Even if someone who attends your webinar does not intend to purchase your book, they may be sufficiently pleased by your presentation to mention you on social media. If they do, you might kindly request that they add a link to your book.
3. Charge for your webinar and include your book in a package offering. It’s normal to demand financial recompense for your skills, and many experts make their living selling tuition. One intriguing alternative is to combine your webinar and book into a single package.

What is the Best Way to Market a Book Webinar?

• Put a pop-up on your own website. 

You may connect to your webinar registration page through a pop-up on your website if you create a custom registration page for it. But be careful: badly timed pop-ups may be quite obnoxious, so plan ahead.

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• Share a sample of the preview. 

Consider filming some of the information you want to include in your webinar and posting it to YouTube or Twitter. It’s the equivalent of giving away the first section of your publication. By using a teaser, you may stimulate people’s attention (and set the stage for what you’ll teach them throughout your webinar). Then let them know how they may learn more.

• Create a blog entry to support your argument. 

Whether you currently have a blog or know of some relevant sites that take pitches, producing a blog post on the topic you’ll be covering in your webinar might be beneficial. Lay the foundation, then encourage folks to attend the webinar.

• Put it on your calendar as an event if you can. 

Every time you post your webinar as an event, it will garner a little more attention. Eventbrite has a decent amount of traffic, and sites like TellOnline are also worth looking at.

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Final Thoughts

It’s worth a shot to promote your new book with a webinar. It’s an excellent method to create your own brand and inform others about your work without being too commercial.