Here's the final installment in the Kindle Primer series by author Ruth Francisco. These points are about where to promote your book and get it reviewed:
PROMOTION: The most difficult part about selling ebooks is getting the word out about them.
For "Amsterdam 2012", I mentioned it on the Amazon Kindle forum and on Kindleboards.com. That was it. And it took off. Most of the promotion is word of mouth--doing guest postings on other writers' blogs, finding interest groups and pitching your book (e.g., if you have a book about dogs, pitching it to websites for dog lovers), participating in various writers groups, reviewing other writers' works. The self-promotion is time-intensive, and, yes, annoying. But even traditional publishers insist their writers do a lot of self-promotion on their own (my last publisher asked me to hire a publicist!) There are some websites that review ebooks only. Soon there will be established review venues. Right now everyone is kind of flying by the seat of their britches.
AUTHOR COMMUNITIES to Join and to Promote Your Books:
- Kindleboards.com. Sign up and promote your book on the Writer's Book Bazaar forum. Participate in as many discussions as you have time for. Post questions if you want. Everyone is very helpful. These boards list a lot of other venues where you can advertise your book.
-Amazon Kindle, Discussions, Kindle Forum. There are several threads where you can plug your book. Let friends know about where you’ve plugged your book, so they can comment on your remark and keep it on the first page of comments. This helps enormously in sales. I do not recommend posting a new thread about your book, although many do. Several “trolls” are very harsh to writers who “hog” the forum for self-promotion. Use this venue with caution.
-Goodreads.com. Become a member and promote your book. If you spend time on their discussion boards and make "friends", they can be really helpful.
-Nookboards.com. Become a member and promote your book.
-Soundings:Puget Sound Speaks. Promote on Board Index, Independent authors
-Mobileread.com. Become a member and promote your book on the authors’ promotion thread.
-Librarything.com. Become a member and promote your book.
-Redroom.com.
AUTHOR BLOGS Where You Can Ask to Have Your Book Reviewed or be a Guest Blogger:
http://theindiespotlight.blogspot.com/ (Fill out their author's interview questionnaire. They will post your book in about 3 weeks.)
http://indiebooksblog.blogspot.com/
http://kindlehomepage.blogspot.com/
http://spaldings-racket.blogspot.com/
http://paperbackdolls.blogspot.com
http://www.kindleobsessed.com/
http://kindlecheapreads.com/
http://redadept.com
http://thecajunbooklady.com
http://theunreadreader.com
http://dailycheapreads.com
http://spaldingsracket.com
http://candysraves.com
http://trishasbookshelf.blogshopt.com
http://kindle-author.blogspot.com
http://kindlereader.blogspot.com
http://twoendsofthepen.blogspot.com
http://tenasbookreview.com
http://rexreadingrobot.com
http://novelcritic.com
http://kindleobsessed.com
http://thefrugalkindle.blogspot.com
http://kindlehomepage.blogspot.com Kindle Nation Daily, a promotional site. Promotional blitzes start at $79.
-There are many, many more. Many are mentioned on Kindleboards.com from time to time. It is a question of networking and favors, but this shared promotion is invaluable.
Other Promotional Tools to Know About
- Tagging. On your book page on Amazon, there is a place where you can list "tags" or key words that help people find your book. Add tags, then go to Kindleboards and ask fellow writers to tag your book. This will get your book up on the rankings for specific types of books. Very important.
- Author Page on Amazon. Amazon now gives you an author page where you can write about anything you want to promote yourself. Put up a picture and stuff about yourself. You need to set up a separate page for Amazon UK.
-Facebook and Twitter. Lots of writers use Facebook to promote their books. Become a fan of other writers on FB, and they will do the same.
Many, many thanks to Ruth Francisco for compiling this information and graciously allowing me to share some of it.
Happy publishing,
Gemi
5 comments:
excellent post
A great collection of info! Thanks, Ruth and Gemi.
By the way, although things might sometimes get bizarre, it's actually called the Book Bazaar. :-)
Geesh, I must've read that two or three times and not caught the typo. I'm sure Ruth won't mind me correcting it.
Thanks for stopping by, Shayne and Mac!
Excellent - I'll be using this page soon. Glad to see you're published and helping the rest of us...
Fantastic list. I've been looking for places to promote my books as well as my editing services, and these will certainly give me a place to start. Thanks so much!
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