The first piece of book marketing most writers do is to create a website or blog to keep in touch with their readers. It's logical, because the object of any marketing plan is to spread the word about your books to people who might become your fans. Get the information in front of more eyes, and your sales numbers are bound to rise. The problem with this plan is that not everyone is a web designer. Even the simplest of web designs have to be designed, built, and maintained, usually at some cost to the writer. What if you could do what you like to do, which is write, and skip all the technical stuff related to owning a website? Take a look at Medium. 
With the Medium interface, you can post your work and put it in front of thousands of dedicated readers. Bestselling authors such as Michael Pollan and Judith Rodin are finding it useful for marketing their books, and it's adding surprising numbers to even the newest writing novice's work. It's not a blog, it's not a dedicated website, it's simply a great place for you to publish any type of content marketing you want and reach a large audience.
How to Write on Medium
Using Medium is as simple as using the word processor on your computer. After signing up, a process that takes seconds, click on the text editor and begin to write. Paste an excerpt from your published or upcoming book, write an essay, or set up teasers for each chapter as you write it. You know what you want your readers to find, and Medium makes it easy to spread the word.
Creative Things to Write
- Post an excerpt from an upcoming book to get reader anticipation going
- Use the site as a beta reading group and post two versions of something, asking for reactions and opinions
- Write an original article on some topic that ties in with your books
- Keep your fans interested by writing a newsletter in between new books
- Publish outtakes, paragraphs you cut, and alternate endings for your characters' lives
Ways to Spread the Word
Medium already has a massive customer base, filled with people looking for all kinds of good, intelligent writing. The site itself is great marketing, but you can also add links to your work there on social media sites, your Amazon author page, or in your email newsletters. You can even create a simple static website and embed your Medium pages instead of having to deal with using your sites interface. Mention Medium in your writer's groups, spread the word in topic forums, and add your link to the back matter in all your books. It's a new way to contact readers who wouldn't ordinarily look for your work and, since they're looking for topics like yours, they're more likely to read your work and stay a fan.
Keep the Faith and May the Force be with You!
