How Best to Promote Your Book

[Kimberley Gold]

Hi All

 

I was wondering if there are any seasoned authors out there who can offer some advice on some of the best ways to promote your book. I have been promoting and selling my book solely on Amazon digital and hard copy and the feedback has been really great considering the short amount of time, therefore I would like to continue to get the word out to the masses with the intent of getting more people to purchase my book.

 

My stumbling block is social media. Although I seem to be signed up with all the relevant Blogs and major social media groups, I still don’t seem to be getting many contacts to assist in promoting my book.

 

I would love to hear any proven advice from people who have had success in the past.

 

Thanks in advance! :)

[linda jackson]

i'm having the same problem if someone gets back to you on this can you let me know thanks!

[Sarah E.]

Hi,

My name is Sarah and I'm a blogger who writes about books at Lace and Lavender Hints. One of the best ways that I know of to publicize your book via the internet is to embark on a book blog tour. A book blog tour is very similar to a regular book tour except that it is conducted entirely online, allowing you to publicize your book internationally from the comfort of your home. During a book blog tour, you visit different blogs, where bloggers review your book, interview you etc. This exposes your book to all of the followers who read those blogs. I know that I have discovered numerous books from blogs simply because the blogger had been hosting a stop on the book's blog tour.

 

That being said, I now offer book blog tours and would be delighted to arrange a blog tour for your book. If you are interested in this possiblility here is a link to the blog tour page on my blog, don't hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions!

 

My Contact Info:

 

twitter: @lacenlvndrhints (send a direct message)

email: click on the envelope on my blog (its in the side bar, theabout me page, & the blog tour page)

book blogs: Send me a message via the book blogs inbox

 

-Sarah

http://laceandlavenderhints.blogspot.ca

 

 

 

[Tory Richards]

Again I have to agree with what Sarah said below. However, what works for one author might not work for another. Promotion is never ending. You might try joining some low cost sites, too. Places like Coffee Time Romance, The Romance Studio, & Deep in the Heart Romance that charge $30 a year or less to add an author page, and or your links to their sites. 

Do a link exchange with other authors.

Run contest or add a poll to your blog to draw readers there, advertise it on face book and twitter

Put out a monthly newsletter 

Call your local newspaper and ask them if they'd like to interview a local author 

There's really no end to what you can and should do to get your name out there and keep it out there. Good luck!

Tory

[Richard Lee Byers]

Facebook is the place where I have most success connecting with readers

It's important not to have exaggerated hopes for working social media. It's more likely to contribute to your success slowly than quickly, and you may never be able to identify a definite effect at all.

It's even more important to know that if all you're doing is pushing your stuff, that hard sell will turn people off, not incline them to sample your work. You need to be interesting and/or amusing and project friendliness. If you can't do that, you're better off staying away.

Good luck!

[Stormi Johnson]

It honestly takes a while to grow a really good social network group. There are many bloggers out there but there are equally as many self published authors these days. Just keep being social on all the networks and don't be afraid to write to bloggers, they are either going to say yes or no. 

Find some blogs that offer advertising and they fit your genre.

Blog tours are great  for helping get reviews up on your book. When you just ask reviewers to review your book they might tell you it could be up to six months before they get to you because of their TBR pile. If you take it on a blog tour then it means that they will be reviewing your book on set dates and you then know that you are getting reviews and when you are getting reviews.

Stormi

Lightning Book Promotions

[Celise Winters]

Hello,

I as a blogger would recommend book tours also. If your book is Young Adult and fiction, then try touring with me:
http://incandescentenchantments.blogspot.com/p/book-tours_12.html
You could give it a try with my 5 tour stop for only $20.

And if your book isn't YA, but it is fiction, you could tour with my other site, Enchanting Book Tours, which is a free book touring site. There is a current waiting list until 2013, though.
Http://enchantingbooktours.blogspot.com

I also offer advertising services on my blog:
http://incandescentenchantments.blogspot.com/p/advertise.html

Good luck with your promotions, and I hope I helped you out!

[Rebecca Gober]

Here are a few things I do to promote my books:

1. Connect with fans on Facebook. Post fun stuff about your genre, your favorite books, writing advice, etc. (Not just your book.) 
2. When you are logged into your Facebook page go and search for other book pages and like theirs. Then leave a comment saying who you are and ask them if they can do a shout out. Also, perhaps offer a giveaway every once in a while and involve the pages.
3. Get some cheap bookmarks made. I order from iPrint.com because you can upload as many images and tweek it anyway. Plus if you google coupon codes you usually can get 30% off. I get like 50 bookmarks for around $13.
4. Connect with Bloggers. Ask them if they can either review your book or offer a giveaway or both. (Free book and bookmarks.) I find a lot will respond back and say sure to the give away if they don't have time for the review.
5. Also, I don't know if you have a trailer but make a great trailer. I always share our trailer when we ask for reviews because I know how much visual images can seal the deal. :) 
6. I haven't done a blog tour yet, but I'm sure they are worth while. Plus, they seem pretty economical. 
7. Offer tons of free copies for review. Did you know that once your book hits 50 reviews (no matter the rating) Amazon will start marketing for you? (With those recommendation emails.) Also, when you hit 10K downloads they will do this too. 
8. Offer a free day on your book. This can push you up in ranks and get you exposure on blogs that do posts with free book links. 
9. Connect with other Indie authors. We all try to stick together and cross promote. 

Hope this helps! If you have a Facebook page and would like me to do a shout out for you check me out at: http://www.facebook.com/nightmarchers

[cas webb]

The book blog tour sounds great, especially if you offer the same in return for the blogs that host you. Which allows them to gain some of your fans/readers too.

 

 

[Michael Murphy]

Have a good website with an excerpt from you book, pics of you so readers can see who you are. Learn about search engine optimization (SEO) to help drive readers to your site. Exchange links with other authors and update the content on a regular bases.

 

Start a blog and link it to your website. Drive people from your website to your blog and from your blog to your website. Host other authors on your blog from time to time and swap blog tour dates. 

 

Befriend and promote other authors so they'll promote you.  And of course the comments that preceded me are great. Best of success. 

[Grace]

Also, make sure that when you're on Facebook/Twitter/etc. that you have a web presence that isn't just promotion.  If all you do is say "Buy my book here," etc., it tends to get viewed as spam rather than meaningful conversation, and people tend to unfollow pretty fast.  Instead try to participate in discussions (the #litchat one is a good starter) and connect with people.

______________________________

Books Without Any Pictures

[G.E. Johnson]

Hi Kimberley. 

Please excuse the self-promotion, but I've actually put together a directory of places to promote your book(s) online. It has made top 10 on Amazon in the Marketing category and actually hit #1 on Amazon UK in the Reference Catalogue category. Take a look, read over the reviews. Maybe it will be helpful to you and the other authors here looking for places to promote through social media. 

"Get Connected" US: http://amzn.to/Nfn618 UK: http://amzn.to/Ox1xIx