Recommended book marketing sites?

Once!

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Apologies if this has been asked before. I'm sure it has, but I couldn't find it.

What book marketing sites would folk recommend? Bookbub seems to the biggest, but there are hundreds of others.

Which ones have worked best for you, and are there any that you wouldn't recommend?
 

Mclesh

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Bookbub is great if you can get in. I've been featured three times now, and the last two times I doubled my money. Other than the big one, I've had good luck with Booksends, ENT, and BKNights. Most other book promotion sites have had a disappointing return for me.
 

WriterBN

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I think this issue comes up every once in a while (maybe in the book promotion forum?) but I second Mclesh's recommendations apart from Booksends. I would add, for the second tier: The Midlist, Fussy Librarian, and Free Kindle Books & Tips.
 

Once!

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Thanks. I had heard of Fussy librarian and Free Kindle Books & Tips, but Midlist is a new one on me. Added to the list.
 

M. H. Lee

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I've been really impressed with Freebooksy and Bargainbooksy. I would've recommended BKnights a year ago, but I've seen decreasing returns across the board from that one (and this is with new titles).
 

SBibb

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If you write science fiction or fantasy, you might check out Book Barbarian. I haven't used them personally, though I subscribe to their list to see what deals they have.
 

akaria

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There's a thread on Goodreads about getting the best bang for your buck with promo. It's long, but really good. ENT and Fussy Librarian seem to work for most people in the thread. I don't have enough reviews on Amazon to sign up. Many of the good marketing sites require you to have 5-10 reviews on Amazon.
 

thenewbie

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This is good information.
 
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Old Hack

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This thread is about marketing and promotion so I'm going to move it from Self Publishing to the appropriate room. Hold on....
 

WeaselFire

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Many of the good marketing sites require you to have 5-10 reviews on Amazon.

And that's a good way to judge these sites. The ones that take anyone are generally losers, the better sites have entry requirements. My favorites have been mentioned, but there are some niche ones for certain genres that may work better for some people, such as Book Barbarian. One of the keys is having one popular enough to get readers but exclusive enough you don't get lost in the crowd.

The other key is to get on several/many of them and start evaluating what works for you.

Good luck.

Jeff
 

akaria

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Some people on the Goodreads thread have had good results from Bargain Booksy, so I'll be running a spot with them on 12/14.

In other news...if you have used or want to use The Midlist for promo, that ship has sailed. Unless you're a HC author.
 

andiwrite

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I have posted a list of 25 totally free promotional sites on my blog. I tried the list the last time I had two KDP Free days and went from 150 downloads (with no promotion) to 750. Here's the link: https://donsloanauthor.wordpress.com/free-promo-sites-for-authors-2/

Amazing list ... I'll keep it in case my publisher ever decides to do a free promo... But I so need something like this for regular kindle books that aren't free. Is there anywhere you can promote a normal book? All I ever see is stuff to help self-published authors, but I don't get what regular authors are supposed to do.
 

mlred

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I had pretty good luck with BKnights and for $5, you can't beat it. I did not have any luck with Fussy Librarian. Very nice staff but it did not impact my normal sales at all.
 

Fantasyart

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Great ideas in here, thanks :) just a quick question, what about genre specific - for me it would be horror. Finding places to promote horror is like seriously hunting out that needle in the haystack. There is very little out there for horror, so it seems. So if anyone here writes horror and has found a great place, with experience of it working, please let all of us horror writers know :) Thanks - ps I've done all the FB groups for horror, and Twitter, GoodReads and some horror forums. I was after more :)
 

akaria

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Fantasyart, have you looked into dark fantasy groups on FB/GR? Some horror writers are rebranding themselves as dark fantasy to get more visibility. Maybe Mystery/Suspense/Thriller groups would fit your books better? It's a tough road for horror writers. Good luck!
 

Daffyjkl

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BookGorilla? Has anyone had any success with them?