Your eBook and paperback are published – congratulations! But how do readers find out about it now? How do they convince themselves that it’s exactly this eBook or paperback that they should read next? Unfortunately, it does not sell on its own and the marketing usually does not take away from a self-publisher. There is also no one-size-fits-all guide on how to make your eBook a guaranteed bestseller; what worked for one author last year may not be of any use to the other author today.
That’s why we have collected marketing ideas here, aside from building a 백링크 사이트 (backlink site) to boost your SEO, which on the one hand makes fundamental sense in order to build up a readership, and on the other hand, can at least be tried out.
1. Be present as an author on the Internet
Offer the reader a contact option on the Internet, where he can learn more about you and your books and contact you. You don’t have to get too personal – present yourself professionally as an author and as such offer your readers to exchange ideas with you.
Involve readers – for example, by asking them for their opinion when it comes to your covers. Or your titles. This will give you valuable feedback and create a bond (if you do something like this regularly).
In the best case, this is your own website (which can also be a blog), which can be designed with WordPress, for example. A Facebook page is also a good option. In order to be independent, we always recommend your own website with your own domain, even if it costs a few euros a year.
2. Collect the email addresses of your fans
If a reader like your book, they will certainly want to read your next book. But to do this, he has to find out when your next book will be published! How likely is it that he stumbles upon it by chance?
Therefore, offer your readers the opportunity to sign up for your newsletter with their e-mail addresses. The newsletter is a circular mail that you send to all your fans as soon as you have written something new. Either you do it by hand and collect all the e-mail addresses that you write to individually when the time comes. It is important that you have express permission to write to these e-mail addresses.
Or you can use a free (English-speaking) provider like MailChimp, which allows you to create newsletter forms for your website and Facebook page. Readers can automatically add themselves to your mail list and you can easily send sent newsletters via MailChimp. If you no longer want to receive the newsletter in the future, you can unsubscribe yourself again.
3. Offer your fans exclusive extras
There are so many authors and even more books that a reader can read. Why should the reader also sign up for your newsletter or visit your website? The answer: Because he gets more there than just at Amazon or other eBook shops. Publish short stories, anecdotes, or anything else that will delight your readers. Some of it you can put directly on your website. Other things you can send or offer for download to those who sign up for your newsletter.
4. Take part in readings
Get out of your comfort zone! In many cities, there are open reading stages, poetry slams, or other events where you can register to perform texts. Research what there is in your environment, what texts are common there, and whether you fit in. Maybe not with a sample from your book – you may need to write a new text that is better suited for lecturing.
If you don’t dare, you won’t win. Don’t worry: there are so many bad texts that are poorly presented in public. You basically have nothing to lose. 😉 But you already have something to gain: namely possibly interested readers. So, for example, take business cards or flyers with you so that visitors can find your website when they go back home. There they will find out what you have already written, get a few more text samples, and can also sign up for your newsletter right away.
5. Write to blogs that feature eBooks
There are various websites and blogs that introduce eBooks. Some cost something, some don’t.
As an example, we mention our own eBook blog: the eBookNinja. If you’re doing a price promotion for your eBook on Amazon – so it’s reduced for a short time – then you can fill out the eBook form, and the eBookNinja will be happy to present your eBook to its readers. And not only on his blog but mostly also on Facebook, Twitter, Lovelybooks, and Goodreads.
6. Write to regional newspapers
Getting an article in a small, regional newspaper is quite easy. By having something interesting to tell and doing most of the work for the editors – delivering a ready-to-serve article for free, so to speak. Author Hannah Siebern has already written us a guest article about this.
Write an article about yourself as an author, just as an editor would write it. It’s best to look at a typical article beforehand to get a linguistic feeling for it. And then come up with a headline, introduction, and text.
But it shouldn’t be primarily about the book in terms of content – you don’t want to place an advertisement (for which the newspaper then makes money). Tell a funny anecdote about how you came to writing, what makes you an author, or how the book came about. Finally, you can mention some information about the book, such as the title, page number, and price. And of course: your website!
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7. Write to journals
If an article about you has already appeared in a smaller newspaper, you can venture into the bigger fish: Pick out magazines that introduce books and that fit you and your own books thematically. For example, go to the library and leaf through the journals for free, and write down the contact details. At kiosks and supermarkets, this is not so welcome if you first leaf through everything and then do not buy any of the magazines. 😉
Here you can proceed in the same way as with the regional newspapers: Write an article and keep the style of the magazine. Be sure to include the article from the regional newspaper!
It is even better if you send a paperback by post, as a review copy. Then it is only to hope that an article or at least a book review will appear.
8. Advertising in other books
Is there an author who appeals to the same target group as you? Get in touch with him or her: Maybe you can give each other a reading tip at the back of your books and eBooks?
9. Publish smaller stories + excerpt
If you’re extremely productive, you may have other stories besides your current book and the extras for your newsletter subscribers and website visitors. Publish it as an eBook – and insert a sample of your great novel at the back.
You offer the eBook to your readers as cheaply as possible. Because it is primarily there to find new fans and not to make money. On Amazon, that’s 89 cents, and if you sign it up for KDP Select, you can offer it for free for 5 days every 90 days.
In the product description and on the cover, it makes sense to clearly emphasize that there is not only a short story here but also a bonus.
10. Start a reading session
There is the possibility to start reading rounds in various forums and e.g. on Lovelybooks and Whatchareadin. This means that you read the book together with other readers and discuss it chapter by chapter. As an author, you receive a lot of constructive feedback, maintain your bond with potential fans, and may also get a few new reviews for the book afterward.
11. Create a book trailer
People love to look at funny pictures on the Internet. However, there are already quite a few of them on social media channels – to stand out from the mass of funny pictures, you can go one step further and make a funny video: a book trailer. In the best case, it is not a pure advertising film, but really entertaining, so watching the video alone is fun. This is easier said than done, but well worth thinking about!
There are no limits to creativity: record scenes with the video camera, make and scan collages or take photos and refine all this afterward with a video program such as .dem Movie Maker. Of course, you can’t just take your favorite MP3 as background music! However, you can buy music licenses cheaply, e.g. from audiojungle.net. In this case, the composer should always be mentioned in the video description. If you upload the video to YouTube, you can insert a specially made graphic as a start image (“thumbnail”). In addition, a headline and a description, which of course refers to the website.
12. Create an Amazon author page
Once you’ve published a book or eBook, you can sign up on authorcentral.amazon.de. There you create your own author page; this is the section that appears on the Amazon product pages under “More about the author”.
Tell us something about yourself under “Biography” and be sure to return to your website where you can learn more about yourself and your books. Upload your chic author photo. If necessary, add your Twitter account so that they can find you there as well. And if you have a book trailer, you can also embed it here. This also applies to videos of a different kind, e.g. a welcome from you. The main thing is that it is no longer than 10 minutes, no larger than 500 MB and all rights to the video are yours.