Extract from Publish it! available from Amazon
You've
written it, you've published it, you now need to sell it! Any published writer
will tell you that making your book available to the public does not equal
sales. You need to actively promote your book on an ongoing basis to maximise
sales and income. At this stage readers do not know who you are or even that
your book exists; you must tell them.
If you are publishing your ebook exclusively on Amazon Kindle then enroll onto KDP Select and make use of the five promotion days. During this period your book will be made available as free to download. Now you might think that giving your book away is not a good idea, how are you ever going to make money if you charge nothing. Give it away and you will get significant downloads across all Amazon sites, this increases the chances of getting reviews, your ranking will go up, when a reader looks at a similar book they will see your book in the “customers also bought” section, and your book may be promoted on an “Amazon recommends” email. The key to making sales on Amazon is to increase all sales whether paid for or free. There are many websites that will promote your book as a free download, some require a few days notice and others will only accept books that already have good reviews.
Many self-publishing companies that offer retail and distribution as part of their service provide additional promotional tools for the writer because the more sales you make the more money they make. One of these tools is the author page, make best use of this to publicize yourself as well as your books. These are used by readers and therefore offer you a valuable marketing tool.
Create a website - you can do this for free and websites can be really easy to set up and maintain. Update regularly to ensure your potential readers come back time and time again. Offer incentives such as a free download related to your subject area. Many writers capture email addresses; if you do this ensure you send emails regularly and only send emails/newsletters that contain relevant and useful information.
Promote yourself on other websites – if you have written a book about steam engines then maybe there are website owners that would welcome an article or blog from you.
Write a blog - this can be on anything that is of interest to you and your readers. It could be about your writing day including any frustrations and successes. It could be on anything that is going on in the world. It could include reviews of books you have read. The main point is blog regularly, once a fortnight at a minimum.
Use social media - Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest all provide platforms that enable you to engage with your readers. Sometimes it is suggested that you should not openly promote your wares on social media; you can however say “really excited about publishing my new book title on Amazon today.” or “received an excellent review.” Manage your time carefully when you engage with any Internet activity as you can soon find that five minutes has become an hour.
Consider setting up a social media or website page in the name of your book character; ensure you make it clear this is a fictional character; this can be particularly useful if you are writing a series. Again update regularly.
Create opportunities to promote your book to groups of people – give a talk to an interest group, arrange book signings, do a reading, volunteer, or offer your book as a prize in a raffle. Make use of any opportunity to raise the profile of yourself and your book.
Local radio stations and newspapers - they are only too happy to interview local people with something interesting to say. Think about what you want to say; will it be about the characters in your book, your previous life, why you write or what are you working on now.
Advertise - this can be expensive with limited payback so look for reasonably priced or free advertising opportunities in locations that are frequented by your potential readers. This might include buying cheap online space or using a small local newsletter.
Contact your local shop – if your book has local interest, don't forget you are a local writer, ask your local shop to stock your book on a sale or return basis; create a poster or leaflet to promote both the book and the shop.
Contact historical sites and tourist attraction – if your book includes a location of historical interest, e.g. a manor house, perhaps they will stock it on a sale or return basis.
As you can see you have many opportunities to promote your printed or ebook, create your strategy today and start increasing your sales.
Happy writing.
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