Market a self-published book online

 I have recently self-published my book and looked into how to market a self-published book online, which I know a little about anyway but I thought the research wouldn’t hurt, and I discovered that marketing a book online is in no way different to marketing anything else – a business, a product, an affiliate product etc.

So I thought I would put together some useful information on how to market a self-published book online that you might find useful:

Publishers Weekly recommends you build a web presence and mailing list. They also recommend you target blogs and prominent sites who discuss the topics outlined in your book. If your book is a story that focuses on getting over divorce, for example, they will be many bloggers who write about that topic who may be willing to review your book (if you send them a free copy) or you may be able to buy advertising space on their blog if they offer that.

The book Designer – recommends you build an author platform and that you start marketing your book before you start writing it.

To build a web presence/author platform you need a WordPress website that you use to attract attention to your writing and build a  mailing list plus a social media presence so you can get people off those sites and onto your own. You can add your mailing list form to a Facebook page but if you use your profile to share your work and you use Twitter it is important they click onto your own site and register using your mailing list software. Most people use mailchimp. I like to use feedburner and some use Aweber. There is choice out there.

Get reviews for your book

This was another piece of valuable wisdom. Whatever site you use to promote and sell your book ask readers for a review. Hopefully, people will want to leave one for you. Research has shown that reviews are valuable for gaining new customers. I know myself that I always read reviews before hitting the BUY button. Not just for books but for just about everything I buy online.

Provide different buying options

You may decided to sell your book from your WordPress website but that doesn’t mean you can’t have it up anywhere else. You might want to also sell it through eBook selling sites, or add it to places like Amazon kindle. Maybe even make an audio version available too. Provide different options for your potential readers because that also gives you many different selling options too. Depending on your book you may even be able to put it up on a popular auction site and sell it that way. Books were banned for a while but I have noticed them for sale on a poplar  auction site.

Use the tools you are given

If your book does end up on sites like Amazon make sure you add tags and use their tools so that you are found by people searching for your topic/genre. Bidinotto recommend you carefully craft compelling copy.

 Use your network of friends and family

They may need to be reminded a few times but why not make use of them. Encourage them to like and tweet your links, ask them to tell their friends/family about your book, do what you can to make use of the network you already have.

Use an online press release site

If you have the money to pay for press releases they can do a lot to help you market a self-published book online and provide links back to your website or blog. The most popular one is PRWeb and there are also some free press release sites too. You will find that some bloggers will also take the press release and place it on their blog, which provides them with some content and you will an additional link from them to you. Even more important to ensure that you have set up a way for  visitors to register and stay in touch.

There was more strategic advice like being aware of who your readers is, branding yourself in a particular genre, making sure your editing/proof reading has been done so that your work is professional and doing a little bit every day. Marketing myself on a regular basis is how I hope to succeed with my own self-published book. I have my blog up – Pen and I – I share my flash fiction stories and I promote my first book The Last Hut, which I released in October 2013.

Another tip I found useful is to have plenty of books to sell. 

 If you have any other tips that might help us newbie self-published / indie authors market a self-published book online please let us know in the comments below before they close.

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