There are millions of iPhones in use all over the world. iPhone users are usually quite enthusiastic about their devices. They surf the web, check email, play games and of course buy and read books on their devices. Now as book-marketers, if you can figure out a way to engage with this audience, you stand a better chance of finding readers for your book.
Here are 3 ways to market your book to iPhone and iPad users:
1. Create an iPhone App for your book
iPhone users are in love with their apps. They love to discover interesting little things that they can download and play with in their spare time (such as when waiting at the dentist.) You can take advantage of this phenomenon to create an iPhone App for your book and give it away either for free or for a small fee. The app can contain an extract of your book, a book trailer of your book, a game that ties into your book, a method for users to share the app with their friends and a coupon code that offers a deal for purchasers of your book.
How do you build an iPhone app for your book? The best option would be to hire an app developer using referral websites such as ODesk or AppTank. If you don’t have much of a budget and are technically inclined, you can build a simple iPhone app on your own using third party app development tools.
2. Make your website iPhone friendly
iPhone users also tend to surf the web with their iPhones. If an iPhone user lands on your author website and discovers that the site is iPhone friendly, you’ve gained a potential new reader for your book! In a later article we’ll cover ways to make your website iPhone friendly. Three basic ideas when making your website iPhone friendly are:
i) Avoid flash components
ii) Offer an optimized iPhone menu
iii) Avoid large images since download speeds on iPhones are slower than your computer
Also, if you have created an iPhone app for your book, ensure that there is a link to your iPhone app on your website so that a visitor can easily download your app directly from your website.
One excellent resource that we’ve found for authors to create their own mobile friendly websites and communities is Winksite. Winksite allows you to create your own mobile friendly site with just a few clicks.
Here is an example of Rae Wilder Novels created using Winksite.
3. Create a fun game or community around your book
As mentioned earlier, iPhone users are usually looking for some fun things to pass the time. And if you can create a game that ties in with your book, you have a good chance of getting their attention. Word games are simple to create and appeal to book addicts. The game can either be made available as a downloadable app or as a component on your website that is accessible to users when they visit it with their Safari browsers. The Hangman game on Freado.com has been designed such that it can be accessed and played from an iPhone.
So go ahead. Have fun and take advantage of this brave new world to find new readers for your books!
