How To Advertise My Book?

PatrickPowers

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There are very few books similar to mine. So my plan was to advertise next to the listing of those books on Amazon and so forth. But...Amazon doesn't have advertising next to book listings. What's more, the advertising Amazon does offer is so loaded with jargon I can't make any sense of it. At Barnes and Noble website I can't even find anything useful about advertising. So...now what?
 

ChaseJxyz

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lizmonster

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Chase gives good advice.

I'd also suggest thinking about your target audience. Where do they look for books like yours? How do they decide what to buy? IOW, is B&N the right place for you to advertise?
 

Cephus

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You need to identify your audience and, from the sound of it, you might not have one. You have to be aware of who is likely to buy your book, but if there are, as you say, few like it, there may just not be enough customers interested in your topic. Just because it's something you want to write about, that doesn't mean there are a lot of people who will give you money to read it.
 

Polenth

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It'll be a "sponsored products" campaign for Amazon. You want to use the keyword option, which can include author names and book titles. Think wider than books that are just like yours. Any book/author that might appeal to the same audience is worth a try. Also include keywords that relate to your book, which can include things like tropes, themes, characters, genres, location and so on. Anything people might put in search. Aim for at least a few hundred different terms.

Amazon used to offer a product targeted one and I see they have some sort of option for that now with the new campaigns. But my past experience of those is they were terrible. Keywords usually perform better and allow more flexibility.
 

janeofalltrades

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Mark Dawson has a fantastic website dedicated to self publishing and how to market your book.

Also check out Dale L. Roberts on YouTube for his advice on self publishing. He has two channels, the main one and his podcast
 

Laer Carroll

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I DO NOT ADVERTISE. I just write book after book, a dozen so far in ten years. Every once in a while I'll write a shorter story that "fills in the cracks" in the universe I've created.

I have a website which is a central location that I have complete control over & acts as a conduit to and from my readers.

I post notices on Facebook & Twitter but most of my activities there are social, not marketing. Over the years the amount of my followers has grown fairly hefty.

On Amazon I have an Author page that lists all of my books. Readers can sign up to get a notice when I put up a new work. Be sure to take Amazon up on establishing one for yourself. It's very useful. Here is an example of what one looks like.



Over the years I've continued to gain readers. I've got to the point that every month I pull in so much money that I need a tax accountant. Self-publishers have a number of tax breaks. Don't do your own returns until you learn what they are and can do your returns intelligently.

Bascially, your biggest advertising are your books, not anything else. Every book you put up advertises all the other books. So much so that my very first book years ago is still selling.