Can someone suggest some good (and non-expensive) ways to promote one's self-published book? Specifics would be nice and not generalities. My book has been available through Amazon for about one year now. It's published through Createspace/Amazon. It's Christian fiction/adventure, and I currently get a grand total of about one Kindle purchase per month. Not exactly a best-seller. But then I haven't done anything to promote it, either, other than mail physical copies (free of charge) to organizations/ministries/leaders who I thought would like it and pass it along word-of-mouth. Clearly, a good, findable title isn't enough.
Advertising one's novel
- Thread starter Crunchyhippo
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Do you have a Facebook author page? A website with a newsletter? Have you reached out to popular bloggers who review books similar to yours? Instagram account? Have you arranged an interview in your local newspaper for their "local interest" section?
The first thing you need to do is figure out your target market. Who is your reader? Are they using FB? Instagram?
Research "building an author platform." It's not an expensive thing (in fact most of it will be free), it's going to be a massive time suck to start from scratch, but it's necessary.
The first thing you need to do is figure out your target market. Who is your reader? Are they using FB? Instagram?
Research "building an author platform." It's not an expensive thing (in fact most of it will be free), it's going to be a massive time suck to start from scratch, but it's necessary.
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There's a forum for this: https://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?48-Book-Promotion-Ideas-and-Advice
And this might be of help: https://absolutewrite.com/forums/sh...-intelligent-human-being-and-not-an-SEO-Dweeb
And this might be of help: https://absolutewrite.com/forums/sh...-intelligent-human-being-and-not-an-SEO-Dweeb
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Try looking/asking here:
http://www.kboards.com/index.php?board=60.0
Not knocking AW (of course) but The Writer's Café specialises in self publishing, and they had a higher traffic of people in that side of the business, so you'll probably find some tips more germane to your situation there.
Without going into payment for publicity, which can be expensive, most of the methods involve trying to beat the "visibility" algos of Amazon - ie: publishing every 30-90 days, "batch publishing" with other authors, or publishing in an odd/rare genre where 2 purchases will make the book Number 1 in that category.
http://www.kboards.com/index.php?board=60.0
Not knocking AW (of course) but The Writer's Café specialises in self publishing, and they had a higher traffic of people in that side of the business, so you'll probably find some tips more germane to your situation there.
Without going into payment for publicity, which can be expensive, most of the methods involve trying to beat the "visibility" algos of Amazon - ie: publishing every 30-90 days, "batch publishing" with other authors, or publishing in an odd/rare genre where 2 purchases will make the book Number 1 in that category.
I am not a marketer and have not yet published my own book. I have, however, done advertising for businesses that I own and read several books and blogs on marketing and advertising in general. If you are a self-publisher, try the following:
1. Build up to a publish, and market your book hard for a short period of time. Most internet search engines such as Google and ranking systems on Amazon are time-sensitive. In other words, they will not rank your book higher by the overall number of clicks, searches, or interest in the lifetime of the book. Rather, they look to how many inquiries are made over a period of time.
2. Don't use general marketing. Unless you have the resources to bombard the airways and magazine spaces every day or week then it's not cost-effective. You need to target people who are looking for what you have. Services like AdWords and even facebook are pretty good at targeting what people are looking for (mainly because they invade people's privacy and collect information on them, but that's a different topic).
3. Reach out to target groups. While I'm not a fan of writing to appease a target audience, I do think you should market to a specific audience who you think might be interested in your book. In your case, perhaps you could send a copy to some youth group leaders at churches.
4. People also mentioned social media. I agree that social media can help promote your book and get you clicks or downloads. But I would be careful about overuse. Posting "buy my book" messages on Facebook and Instagram might be good for a first book or once every few years, but it will diminish your social capital. People will think you're just using your social outlets as a trading post.
That's my two cents. Hope it helps.
1. Build up to a publish, and market your book hard for a short period of time. Most internet search engines such as Google and ranking systems on Amazon are time-sensitive. In other words, they will not rank your book higher by the overall number of clicks, searches, or interest in the lifetime of the book. Rather, they look to how many inquiries are made over a period of time.
2. Don't use general marketing. Unless you have the resources to bombard the airways and magazine spaces every day or week then it's not cost-effective. You need to target people who are looking for what you have. Services like AdWords and even facebook are pretty good at targeting what people are looking for (mainly because they invade people's privacy and collect information on them, but that's a different topic).
3. Reach out to target groups. While I'm not a fan of writing to appease a target audience, I do think you should market to a specific audience who you think might be interested in your book. In your case, perhaps you could send a copy to some youth group leaders at churches.
4. People also mentioned social media. I agree that social media can help promote your book and get you clicks or downloads. But I would be careful about overuse. Posting "buy my book" messages on Facebook and Instagram might be good for a first book or once every few years, but it will diminish your social capital. People will think you're just using your social outlets as a trading post.
That's my two cents. Hope it helps.