When I decided my book was worth allowing the public to enjoy, I researched what kind of budget I would need for the process. I chose to self-publish, because it was the cheapest route for me. I am a stay at home mother of two with a budget that is slim to nothing. I realized early on in my research that it was going to take some pretty serious dollar signs to promote my book. Instead of getting discouraged that my budget had depleted during publishing, I set my sights once again on researching. What I found was five ways to promote my book without a spending single dollar. I’m not going to lie and tell you that it is the easiest way, it is hard work. However, with a lot of determination and a decent amount of creativity, all things are possible. Here are the five free ways I’ve found that have helped me promote my book:
Social media has become the quickest and most popular way to get the word out. I strongly urge all Indie Publishers to turn to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. to promote their work.
Facebook: Facebook allows writers to create pages, which is perfect for creating an ‘Author Page’. Writers can use this page to host and promote events such as book signings, and book giveaways. Book giveaways are the easiest way to get people to spread the word about your work. The first one I hosted boosted my likes from 25 to almost 150 which then lead to my first 50 sales.
Twitter: Once you’ve set up a Twitter account you can use it to get the word out about your author page. By following other writers on Twitter, I have found a way to help my fellow writers and drive more traffic to their sites as well. You can also link your Twitter account to just about every other site you establish. By doing that, you send out automatic tweets each time you post on any of the other sites, which cuts down on how many things you have to pay attention to.
Pinterest: Pinterest is a new and unique form of social media. Its main way of grabbing the attention of viewers is through photographs. With Pinterest, you have to get a little more creative to gain ‘pinners’ which are the folks that will follow you and spread your pins. I created a board I call “Storyboard”. I pin pictures that inspire the things that I write, and leave little excerpts of my books tagged to them. The best part? You can tag a link to your books for sale, and every time that pin is repinned, your link follows it!
Reviewer Copies: It’s also a good idea to purchase some of your own books and hand them out to people you know. I did this, too. I purchased 25 copies of my novel. Inside of each copy I wrote down all of the sites that I am posted on and left a polite message for each reader to pass the copy along to a friend when they’ve finished reading. I don’t mean for you to give these copies to just anyone. I passed mine out to previous college professors, small business owners that I have befriended along the way, and trusted friends. Whatever you do, DO NOT autograph these copies. People will be less likely to pass them along if they think you might actually make it in the business!
Official Site: It’s important for all writers to establish an official author site. Many of these sites are costly because they advertise for you if you pay them. If you are working without money to spend on these things, word of mouth is key. I found this site to be helpful:
You don’t have to be a design guru to click, drag, drop and upload images. This site makes it easy and less stressful to create one, and then connect it to your social media sites. Promote it daily to drive traffic to your site. Later on, when you’ve sold books and can afford to pay for the site, their rates are cheap and their advertising is great.
About the Author: Amanda Wakefield is a self published author of a new genre in horror.
