Any Ideas on how to promote a book?

[coachcj]

If you are a published author, can you please share you ideas on how you promoted your book.

 

[placebo99]

I'm not a published author, but I hear the Kindle Store is a good place to sell for first time authors. It can be kind of hard to navigate the waters of Amazon, but there are some good blogs etc with advice on how to sell well on Kindle and - perhaps more importantly - reach a large audience.

Just a hint though: don't be duped into buying advice on how to sell in the Kindle Store. Most of the advice is common sense and the really useful stuff you can probably get for free anyway.

If you're not really into the whole Kindle thing, try emailing round or using blogs or social networking to promote your book, and keep petitioning publishers to pick it up. It may take a while, but you'd be surprised what you can achieve with a bit of nous and persistence.

Hope this helps! =)

 

[katehasbrouck]

I actually just published a book 2 weeks ago! It's titled Homecoming, and you can check it out on Amazon if you want!

I am just starting out and really no one knows me, is that marketing is TOUGH. You have to start from scratch, reach out to people, and it is a slow, slow process.

But don't lose heart! All new authors (especially me!) have to start there!

I have built a blog (check it out in my signature), created a Facebook fan page, a Twitter account, a GoodReads page, a LinkedIn profile, and a Pinterest. These aren't the only things, but these are the best social media platforms to work with.

But the most important thing is to MEET PEOPLE. Reach out on forums like this, be involved in discussions. You will find your readers in places where your genre is devoured and loved, and they will be enthusiastic to help you out if you mean business!

And check out doing some blog tours or hiring a publicist. Even though it will cost you some money, the help that these can provide you is more valuable.

I hope this helps! If you have any other further questions, feel free to message me!

 

[TheGuide]

You need a website. Check out mine @ BigRoost.com, then build your own through Godaddy.com (easiest one I've found). Come-up with a catchy website address. That's your first start. Also, Kindle is a super idea for the second, and any other way to promote your book.

I have a booth at an upcoming "Christian book fair." Look for book fairs where you live and see if they are renting booths so you can 1) be visible to talk to people who stop by, and 2) sell your book! Even if you sell eBooks, you can design a nice sign in PowerPoint then have a print shop print a large poster (or two). Hang it in your booth. Also for eBook sales, have at least two (old) laptops on the table set to your website's "buy now" page. Customers can pay right there then download from the email they receive when they get home!

I also plan to pay two teens $40 each to hand out post cards with info about my book and my booth location number.

Hopefully these tips help.

 

[miss-a]

Great tips, all! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Michael Snow]

Lot's of good tips. As Kate said, marketing is tough. Just have to keep at it. It helps if you have friends who are interested and help share your links on social media.

Are you talking about e-book or print? For print, my local Christian bookstore takes them on consignment. But bookstores are fewer and less books. Contact local libraries. They sometimes will have an author introduce his book and do a short reading.

Whichever, one good source recommended a separate site for each book. (And you don't have to spend money at GoDaddy.) I recently put this free site up for one book on Wix. 1914 Christmas Truce Centennial

I have done my blogging on Wordpress and do, also, have a personal site that I did buy a domain for and pay for the website but I don't think it has helped a lot nor do I believe it is necessary for the books.

http://mikesnow.org

Don't forget the 'press release' and smaller, hometown newspapers will sometime do an interview. Though a year ago two papers did nice articles BUT never mentioned the stores where the book was available!

 

[Elijah Hawthorne]

I believe that Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) is the best choice for writers that don't know anything about the publishing and marketing processes. The downside is that you can not offer your book in electronic formats anywhere other than KDP for the 90 day enrollment period. If you are new to marketing, this is a good thing. Putting 100% of your efforts into marketing 1 platform will serve you much better than spreading your efforts across multiple publishing platforms. However, that does not prevent you from using a site like Createspace in the future to publish a paperback copy of your book and distribute it to multiple sources if your Kindle book does well.

KDP offers many benefits that I won't get into right now. However, you'll still need to come up with a strategy for making your book successful within the program. It will still require smart marketing efforts within KDP and outside of it. I am new to publishing but I have 3+ years of experience with internet marketing. I just published my first book and I made 3-4 mistakes that I will correct with my next one. That is the cost of learning and making progress. Most people spend all of their time trying to make sure everything is perfect before they act. In my experience, I find it best to do a responsible amount of research, act and then perfect the process along the way.

Ultimately, my advice would be to learn everything you can about KDP and how to be successful within that program.

 

[SCronk]

Start a blog and a website. I recommend Blogger for the blog as it's easy to start and user friendly to design and update. Plus, it's free. A website can be done through goDaddy.com, but there's a basic cost outlay for hosting the site. Get an account on Goodreads (also free) and add your books. Get author pages on Goodreads and Amazon. Get on Twitter and do occasional posts about your books, your writing, and make sure to put links in once in a while to your books. You can do an ad campaign on Goodreads for as little as $10. Set the per-click-rate at about 10-20 cents per click and your ad will run a while. Authors need to remember to send out press releases to newspapers, local and otherwise, each time they have a new book coming out. Be sure to format the press releases well. There are free samples of effective press releases online. You can also do press releases through KC Star's online portal here pressreleases.kcstar.com (no www in front of it) Press Release Central | The Kansas City Star. Set up a free account. I think it's for books that are out within 6 months or coming out. If you can afford one and have your state sales tax certificate where you live, get a booth at a local fair, flea market, or other event and be prepared to answer questions. Every state is different, so check with your state DOR site to find out what you need to do to get one. Set up a page on your blog and a PayPal acct where people can order your books through you directly if they want them autographed. Don't forget to send press releases to your local radio stations. Depending on their format, they will do interviews as local news items. Hope that helps.

Also, get a Facebook page for yourself. If you have a FB account, just create a page. It will have its own URL. You can make it just for promoting your writing or product.

 

[miss-a]

I'm going to try offering books to bookstores in tourist areas in my state on consignment. I'll be providing displays that state I am a local author. I'll let you know how this turns out.

 

[Goodbook]

Word of mouth, church libraries, blog, christian writing groups, website...some church newspapers you can send them your book and they will review it, radio..

 

[Jesus' Follower]

Social media is the thing nowadays; you can create posts and set the privacy to public.
It's worth speaking to some of your local bookshops too; they are always a good place to advertise.

 

[Natasha L. Polak]

There are several things to do to promote your "brand."

1. Create a website
2. Create a Facebook Author website. If you'd like to go all out on social media, use Instagram for posting images, Pinterest for website links and images, and Twitter for book releases and other updates.
3. Create an author profile on Goodreads and Bookbub and claim your (published) books
4. If you self-publish, claim your author profile on Amazon, or work with your publisher/editor to have one completed.
5. As far as book promotion per se, I find that it can be tough to really have good options that are worth it. Some are free, others are not, but not always best. I've had luck on ebookasaurus.com, FiveStarReads.com, ICraveFreebies.com, TheDigitalInkspot.com, indiebookoftheday.com, ebooklister.com, and Awesomegang.com. I have also heard good things about many others mentioned in this list:Best Ebook Promotion Sites

 

[Natasha L. Polak]

I happen to have a kindle countdown deal on a new release I published over the holidays. I've done a kindle freebie promotion before, with a lot of positive results, but haven't done a countdown deal before, so this will be interesting to see what it does to promote my work in that way!

 

[SkyWriting]

If you are a published author, can you please share you ideas on how you promoted your book.

The best way is to "build your tribe" and absorb what your tribe is looking for. Then you can offer the book to them and people they recommend to read it.

So when your ready to launch, you have a waiting audience to buy it.
The big surge at launch is what's you in the circles where influencers
will interview you for their own tribe. This feeds on itself and the promotion
grows to more people.

The chicken soup for the soul series was turned down by 100's of publishers.
But the writers continued to push even after it was published. They did more
interviews than you can imagine knowing that they had a good idea.