Hey there writers and readers. I swear if someone had told me that I would have to promote my own book after self-publishing it, I probably would’ve given up writing. Yes, it’s hard to do it yourself. But it’s not impossible. There are a lot of websites that offer promotion of your book. Some are paid and some are free. I have compiled a short list of sites that you may or may not have heard of in order to save you some time.
Here they are:
- Onlinebookclub
- Earlybirdbooks
- Bookbutterfly
- Reedsy
- Bookdealio
- Redhotandromantic
- Bookdoggy
- Shifterreads
- Bookrebel
- Bookadrenaline
- Indiebooklounge
- Indieunlimited
- Bookhippo
- Bookbongo
If you plan to go with traditional publishing, you won’t have to worry too much about self-promotion and advertising. The publishing house will take care of that for you by creating ad campaigns, setting up book signings and interviews etc. But we all know that getting your book traditionally published can be difficult to do and once you do get a deal, it can be a long and drawn out process. But it is still the best option for making the most money and getting widespread attention as an author.
If you really want to market your books yourself, you have to do a lot of homework. There may not seem like there’s a lot of avenues to take but they are out there. Many of the websites that I listed above require your book to be either free or discounted. I had a hard time finding any that will promote your book while it’s for sale. I don’t know why that is. Because most of us as Authors are not really trying to give our books away for free. We are trying to make some kind of profit for all of our hard work and dedication. Many of us would like to quit our day jobs and become full-time Authors so we need more opportunities to promote our books immediately after publishing.
Don’t overlook the obvious places to promote your book such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, youtube, and using book trailers as well as your own personal websites. Not to mention just plain old word of mouth. Unfortunately, books are not as high in demand as movies, music, and video games. But in my opinion, they are just as relevant. Sadly, they just aren’t given as much publicity as those other forms of entertainment. If they were, I am sure more people would be reading. How often do you see a young person with a book in their hand actually reading it and enjoying it?
Please forgive me for this shameless plug for books but I just can’t help myself, I’m an Author. I wish that people did more reading nowadays and just explore the wonderful stories and adventures that you can experience in books. Because unlike films and video games, books will bring you into a character’s mind, heart and soul. Movies and games are great, but they only show the action of a character, but you never really get to find out what that character is thinking or how they really feel deep down. Books show you everything which is far more intriguing.
Until next time…
Eshelle H. Butler 