How To Promote Your Book? Help? Tips, Advice, Thoughts!

[chinastefani]

It is really time consuming to do social media promotions. I personally hate it but I just started it and I hope it goes well. Though the only thing is, I don't know anyone at all. But regardless I'm still working on my series and hoping by the time its finished I will have followers. First book is already written but needs editing.

 

[kwanloo]

Social networking - FB and Twitter seem to be things I see a lot in those advice type articles.

There is tons and tons of advice out there on the net on how to promote your book. I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread for any one to offer their own tips and advice on how to do it. Or comment, or just venture an opinion

My first tip is #2 on this list (http://www.writersstore.com/15-do-it-yourself-tools-to-promote-your-book/ ) and I thought it particularly appropriate advice for this section of the forum.

2. Contribute to Web Forums

Every field has at least one or two forums that people interested in your subject know and read. Find and join these forums.

Contribute to them freely. Give advice and reach out. Offer to help others. Put a link to your blog or website in your signature line. When you have a book title, add the title to your signature line.
​

If you have any other tips, advice, or thoughts please contribute them here.

 

[Raúl Sánchez Gilo]

Hi, all. Thanks for the advices. I would like to add: I´ve just found that other interesting place to promote your book is in Pinterest. It is mainly focused on photos, but since for each photo you can edit an external link, it is easy to upload and link all the places where your book can be found/purchased, etc. Hope it helps you.

 

[Sally Connors]

Take advantage of all free sites that will allow you to share who you are and about your book. The more you are willing to put yourself out there and be accessible to people.

Carlos do you know where I can find a list of those sites?

 

[Stella Stoker]

Social Media really is key. Having a great website where readers can connect with you also helps with your professional appearance as well. But the great news is, there's plenty of different platforms for you to try a variety of ways to connect. Facebook is simple. Short text posts about your life, writing etc. Maybe a cute photo of your dog, your hike, whatever. Just something to let readers know what you're up to. Personally, I post short writing snippets of my work on there to get people interested. It's what got me into my latest project since I decided to serialize a novel because of it and I'm updating parts of it weekly on amazon. So that's content right there.
Other options include youtube. You could create your own channel if you are comfortable with it to talk about craft, etc. but if you aren't there is actually a THRIVING community on there called booktube with plenty of people willing to read/review books for their channel. Bookstagram is also a thing, which includes accounts on instagram solely dedicated to books.
Also, with Twitter, hashtags are key. Things like #amwriting or #freeebooks allow users talking about similar topics to find you. It's a great way to connect.
Besides which, if you're just starting out, be sure to check book bloggers. They're a great resource for reviews but also author interviews, giveaways, etc. Some book bloggers even allow advertising which gives you access to readers right away. Advertisements can run anywhere from $5 to $50 depending on the blogs popularity and size of the ad.
Also join goodreads and utilize that. Again, it's a huge resource for readers and a great place to get possible reviewers for your book. On the subject of reviewers: check similar books on amazon to see who has reviewed them and use that as a way to get reviews for your own product. Sorry if this is really long but I've been collecting a lot of info on the subject for my own benefit, so I thought I'd share my findings. -Stella

 

[Raúl Sánchez Gilo]

Here you can find a big list of promo sites:
http://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/101-ebook-listing-and-book-review-websites/

hope it helps you in your promotion work!

 

[leticea]

Have a website not just for your book but for you, as an author. People are gonna be looking up the book and you want to have website of your own to establish your authority as an author. If you have a small budget, use a website builder like hPage.com which will save you hundreds of dollars from hiring a website designer or website developer. Your website also acts as a place where people can access other links like your social media pages, book reviews, where to purchase your books, about the author, your other books, interacting with readers though comments, etc.

 

[Leon Stevens]

I have been finding that it is a lot of trial and error as well. Searching out which websites and forums will best suit you and your potential readers needs takes a while, even when you find advice threads like this one. I'll throw in my 2 cents:

1. Website: Do this first so that you can work out the kinks asap.
2. Join author/reader/book sites: It took me a while to find this one, but the main ones are: Goodreads, AllAuthor, Wattpad. Then there are the many other forums - bookandreader, Booktalk, etc.
3. Reviews: Reach out to as many as possible (friends and family count). I contacted 60+ reviewers/bloggers and received 4 replies.
4. Don't sign up and disappearbut don't be annoying either.
5. Writing is the easy part.

I'm still learning.

Leon

 

[Annette Austin]

Hello everyone. I have just been going through some of the posts. Some great advice. Thank you for the promo list, Stella. I have already bookmarked it. 235 different websites to promote your book. Never seen a list that big before but I will go through it. Promotion is the hardest thing for authors to get right, but I'm going to keep trying until I do. After almost two years, I am still learning about promotion.
I do think having a website is key which is why I'm going to try to set one up. I am a little wary about it as technology is not my thing, but I'm going to give it a go.

 

[Leon Stevens]

Annette,
There are many (too many) options out there for website creation, and most of them are pretty user friendly. I did quite a bit of research before I choose who to go with but I think that it is important to have a website these days.

If you have any question let me know- you can learn from my mistakes.

Leon

 

[Annette Austin]

Hello Leon. Thank you so much. You are so kind. I have decided which platform to create my website on and I have some instructions as to how to set up a website on that platform so I am hoping everything will go smoothly. If it doesn't, which is likely, I will come back and let you know.
Thanks again.

 

[Leon Stevens]

Once you get it up and running, send me the link. It helps to have someone else look at it while you are tweaking.
Mine is: www.linesbyleon.com if you want to check it out. Not perfect-I'm always rejigging.

 

[Annette Austin]

Once you get it up and running, send me the link. It helps to have someone else look at it while you are tweaking.
Mine is: www.linesbyleon.com if you want to check it out. Not perfect-I'm always rejigging.

I had a brief look at your website. I couldn't see all of it as it is password protected, but I did view your Book Trailer. I liked it and I read your bio, which is much more interesting than mine. I've already re-written mine because it was dull and I read somewhere that it should be written in the third person, although I think you should write the bio in whatever way that's comfortable to you.
Once I have finished the website, I'll post a link to it.

 

[Leon Stevens]

Could you do me a favor and tell me which pages were passprotected?
There should be : main page, About the book (I just changed that to public), The Miniscules, Merch, poems, and Blog.

Appreciate it.

 

[Annette Austin]

Could you do me a favor and tell me which pages were passprotected?
There should be : main page, About the book (I just changed that to public), The Miniscules, Merch, poems, and Blog.

Appreciate it.

 

[Annette Austin]

It was the Home Page. I've just checked it again and all the links on the Home Page are working now.

 

[Leon Stevens]

It was the Home Page. I've just checked it again and all the links on the Home Page are working now.

Yea! Thanks!