7 Ways To Market A Self-Published Book – Plus a couple extras
7 Ways To Market A Self-Published Book
Have it ever crossed your mind how to promote a book? Writers and novelists spend months or even years to finish a masterpiece. It takes time to research, write, edit, and then rewrite a book just so writers can get readers and make sales. Therefore, it’s important for you to understand the ways of marketing a book before getting your work out in the public.
If you’re a writer and you publish your own books, for example on Amazon, you need to explore more ways to create sales and sustain your career. Every product or brand needs good marketing in order to sell. Thus, it’s not enough to just have your books listed for sale on a site, you need to market them smartly.
So, what do you think are the best techniques to make your target audience buy your book? Well, to help you out, here are seven effective ways to promote a book and gain readers from social media sites and book listing platforms:
- Goodreads Author Account. Goodreads is a free book listing platform; having an author account on this site will help you gain potential readers. In fact, it’s a go-to promotion platform for self-published authors. If you list your books on Goodreads, building a fan base shouldn’t be too difficult.
- Author Email List. Before the advent of social media and Amazon Kindle, self-publishing authors advertise their books via email lists. Many of them, however, still use email listing to promote their work. This is ideal for novelists looking to boost their sales. But, it comes with a price. BookBub, for instance, will ask you hundred dollars before advertising your book. Not to worry because you can use your own email list, if you have any, to promote your work.
- Slideshare. As a presentation sharing network, Slideshare can also help you promote your books. It’s like content marketing, only that, it’s more visual. If you do well in this platform, you can do even without a blog site to publish posts about your books. With visual content, it’s easier to attract readers to get your book. Most importantly, Slideshare can be shared and viewed on most social platforms via any mobile device.
- Pinterest. When it comes to versatility and functionality for marketing and writing, Pinterest is the social media platform to use. It helps writers plan their novels while reaching a readership. Pinterest also cultivates creativity for writing projects and provides inspiration to start a book. This image-based social platform offers a perfect opportunity to drive traffic to your site and unite your readers.
- Twitter. Perhaps, Twitter is one of today’s most common social media platforms used to reach out to specific audiences. It’s almost impossible to meet someone who doesn’t have a Twitter account. For promotional purposes, this is a great avenue to let potential readers know that your book exists. With regular tweets, your followers will get updated about your upcoming activities and book releases anytime and anywhere.
- Quora. Quora is a Q&A website that provides an effective platform for some interactions with fans. By participating in the site, you could advertise your book for free. You can answer questions related to your work and simply mention your self-published books.
- Facebook Groups. If you feel advertising is overly commercial, you can join Facebook groups instead of doing a paid advertisement. With the fan base you’ve built since you started writing, you can create a Facebook group exclusive for your readers and those who are interested in your work. Make it public so everyone can see your posts and get real-time updates about your releases.
Bonus Tips: Writing and Amazon
Write another book. Another effective way to gain more readers is to write another book. Having a writing plan will help you get wider readership. Plan everything you need before starting to write. Some considerations to make when writing is to know your target audience and how it will affect them. Leave your readers curious and write another one so they’ll be connected to your work.
Use Amazon Marketing Services. You should also explore opportunities in running ads via AMS (Amazon Marketing Services). It’s a platform where you can promote your book by placing an ad in Amazon’s search results while customers are browsing the website. It picks specific product pages where your book will be promoted. In return, you will be charged whenever your ad is clicked by customers.This has amazing potential to sell your book on autopilot.
The power of marketing your self-published books on these online platforms gives you the ability to reach out efficiently to your readers without spending too much. Here’s how you can benefit from AMS:
You have to publish at least one book on Kindle Direct Publishing to run an ad through AMS. There’s no need to enroll your book in KDP or other program. All your books published on KDP are entitled to run an ad. To market your self-published book, just follow the steps below.
- Create a KDP Account and log in.
- Choose a book you’d like to promote through an ad.
- Press the Advertise button.
You will need to select between a Product Display or Sponsored Product ad. Always ask for upfront fees before choosing a marketing service in order to avoid overspending in your online advertisements.
Making It Truly Worthwhile
Admit it, marketing a self-published book is not easy. Most writers, in fact, feel uncomfortable when it comes to the idea of promoting or selling their work. It feels commercialized to them. So if you’re also struggling with the thought of marketing your books, just think of it as a way of sharing your writing to others.
Of course, by sharing your knowledge and talent, it’s only appropriate that you get paid. Remember, you’ve invested time and energy just to finish one masterpiece. The money you make from your work will keep your writing career going in the long haul. So, how do you plan to market your self-published book with the above tips?
Another Great Resource: Goodkindles author services
If you don’t have a website or your looking to get a boost on an affordable budget GoodKindles can be a great resource. They will literally send your book to thousands of potential readers in your niche, and this takes the headache out of trying to find your ideal customer when it’s already on their list.
