If you’re a traditionally published author, most of your heavy lifting ends once it’s in the hands of the publishers. Editing, cover design, and promotion will all be overseen by your publishing house and literary agent. But what if you’re self-published?
If you’re a self-published author, then you probably know that the journey hasn’t ended once you’ve hit “publish.” Once it’s out there, you won’t have a team of marketing strategists to promote your work for you. It’s all up to you!
But how can a one-person team promote a book like a pro if it’s been self-published? Now more than ever, the book market is flooded with competition, especially with the advent of free self-publishing online. Feel like you’re drowning?
No worries, dear scribes, we have a life saver for you. Keep reading for a guide to help you promote your new book online like a pro to help increase your fanbase as well as sales!
Choose platforms that help promote your work
Not all platforms are the same. Amazon is a suitable place to publish, but they won’t help promote your book on socials or other websites. Many websites have promotion tools, contests, and in-house social media managers that will promote your work across socials, saving you time and extending your reach.
Fictionate.Me: This free self-publishing fiction platform promotes trending and other top works from the site across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. They also host contests and heavily promote the winners on their site as well as on socials, helping burgeoning authors reach new readers. Fictionate.Me also partners with Top Web Fiction (a community-run listing of the top indie fiction and serials on the web) to help boost your work even more.
Smashwords: This popular fiction platform has a plethora of tools for authors to help promote their work. One major facet of this site is that it is also a global aggregator, not just a publisher, meaning they can connect you with some of the top global eBook distributors like Apple Books and Barnes & Noble, as well as public libraries all over the country.
Smashwords has marketing tools like Smashwords Interviews and author podcasts, which put you, the indie author, in the spotlight! They also have an FAQ section to help you publish and promote like a pro.
Royal Road: This fiction platform has advertising tools built into the site, so after you publish your book for free, you can immediately begin promoting it. Create your own advertising campaign with your personalized advertising dashboard. Design your own ad with on site tools, or for an extra cost, Royal Road’s ad execs will create a stunning ad for you. The process is automated, so you can schedule your ads, set it, and forget it.
This is a paid service, however. Pricing starts at $50 for 333K impressions and goes up from there (the max price is $250). If you have the extra cash, this may be a great way to promote your work and grow your audience.
Create an author website
As a professional author, even if you aren’t traditionally published, you need a website. This will help your readers connect to you as an author. Promote your works, give behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, publish blogs, and let your readers get a glimpse behind the curtain of you who are as a person. You can learn some SEO tricks to help get your content boosted by Google, another excellent way to get your new self-published book promoted.
It looks more professional to have links on social media point to your website, instead of just an Amazon link, or wherever your books are sold. You can also grow a personalized email list in which you can offer free content (like free eBooks or stories) or coupon codes, helping you attract and keep a steady following of loyal readers.
Create or join a Facebook group
But not just any Facebook group. Find or create one in your niche. Writing a space opera romance? Find that group, instead of joining a generic fiction writers’ group. Niche it down as much as possible. The promotion value in Facebook groups has proven to be priceless for some authors. If you have a small following right now, start by joining a group, and as your following grows, you can create your own once you have a good fanbase.
However, before you join a group, read their description first. Some writing groups are adamant about their no promotion policies.
But never fear, here are a few groups to get you started that will allow you to promote your work:
A Novel Connection: A group for authors that lets you promote your work and post anything literature related in a supportive environment.
The Three Bookateers: Book Promotion: This group allows you promote your book once a day (if you have multiple books, you can promote each, but only once). Fans can also share their favorites here, so you can ask friends and readers to help promote your book here as well.
$2.99 ebook Promotion: This group wants you to promote your ebook if it’s $2.99 or under, but no erotica is allowed.
Get reviews for your books
One terrific way to promote your book? Reviews! Readers will be more likely to buy your book if you have great reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and other fiction platforms. A book with five stars, even if only reviewed by a few people, will catch the eye of a reader quicker than one with no reviews at all.
Don’t be shy, ask friends, family, and of course, your readers who have purchased your book to leave a kind review for you. Some readers and professional reviewers will gladly evaluate your novel in exchange for a free book.
Utilize Goodreads
As a social media platform especially for authors and book lovers, this is an important piece of your promotion puzzle. After creating an author page, you can use Goodread’s promotion tools to help get you new readers and top-notch reviews. You can host giveaways, post articles about your books and upcoming releases, and use Goodreads’ inexpensive ad service to get the word out about your amazing new book!
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