Whether you decide to self-publish or are a first-time author with a traditional publishing house, you will be expected to do the bulk of your own marketing and publicity. One thing the vast number of new and emerging writers have in common is tiny budgets.
Social Media is a vital tool when it comes to publicity and building a fan-base. However, if you really want to launch your book, there are a number of invaluable free and low budget options that can help.
- Author Central: If your book can be bought through Amazon online, then you want to get your author portfolio organized and ready for the masses. People want to know who you are and this profile links directly to your book listing on Amazon. You can upload your bio, some pictures, your book trailer, YouTube spots, blog, and create links to your author homepage and Facebook page.
- Good Reads : By now you should have heard about the amazing benefits to authors listed with Good Reads. Like Author Central you get to build a portfolio page all about you and your work and then some. Authors can offer giveaways to help spread the word about their book and pay for targeted advertising. The targeted advertising limit/amount is set by you, the author. It works on a per-click basis: you put $25 into the pot and Good Reads deducts .50 cents for every click on your ad (these clicks can lead to your author website or the best source of distribution for purchasing your book). When the money runs out, you refill the pot (if you want to – there’s no obligation). It’s entirely up to you how much or how little money you want to spend on advertising. When readers go looking for books in your genre, your ad will pop up on the page. You get to chose up to 5 genres where your book works best and/or you can have your ad appear when certain known authors are searched for on site. So if your book is a lot like Stephen King’s writings, if a reader searches for King your ad will appear on the listing page. Now that’s targeting your market.
- Indies Unlimited : This site is specifically aimed at self-published authors. Be forewarned, though, unless you pass their rigorous book screening you will not be invited to publicize or market on this site. Indies Unlimited prides itself on providing top quality self-published options to its readers. This means your book has been thoroughly edited, follows proper print and Ebook formatting guidelines, and reads well. Once you’ve been pre-approved, sky’s the limits with this site. Their free promotional opportunities include announcements, video trailers, guest posts, “sneak-peek” book excerpts, Thrifty Thursdays, Freebie Fridays, a weekly flash fiction challenge, and author interviews. What’s even better is that their pay advertising is just as varied, ranging from $5 to $36 depending on what you’re looking for and how much you have to spend.
- Digital Book Today: Most publishers offer Ebook distribution for book titles whether they are traditional or self-published. Digital Book Today is a fantastic resource for authors looking to gain quality publicity and marketing options. Please note though, that this is a Kindle-centric and ‘reader friendly’ site. What that means is guest blogs and other related materials will need to be focused on what the reader is interested in, not what other authors are. Most of the free options require authors to have a minimum number of Amazon reviews before being considered. Under the tab “Author Book Services” you will find a list of free and fee items.
- Author/Editor Blogs Finding the right blog with a large following and good site ranking with alexa.com, is not an easy task. Alexa.com is a search engine for people who want to know statistics about websites – what a site’s ranking is around the world and locally (the smaller the number the better the ranking – anything less than 200,000 is considered good or better). Below is an example of an author/editor blog that has both a good ranking and is extremely publicity friendly. Author Morgen Bailey: Based out of the UK, Morgen with an ‘e’ lives and breathes writing and anything to do with authors. In addition to writing chick lit, poetry, and short stories, she is a publicity powerhouse with a great Alexa ranking and a world-wide following. Of all her author services (guest blog, author spotlight, poetry days, flash fiction days, etc.) she only charges for interviews because it takes quality time to develop them – and her fee is minimal.
Not everyone has the time to be able to dig into the internet for viable publicity and marketing options. It is perhaps a bit easier to find a few choice blogs dedicated to your particular genre that will help immensely with targeting your audience, but what about the public at large? The resources listed above are proven and structured tools for getting the word out. And remember, the more people you tell about your book, the better your chances for making sales.
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M.J. Moores began her career as a high school English teacher with a passion for creative writing. Recently, she left the teaching profession to work as a freelance writer as she prepares her science fiction novel for publishing. Unimpressed with the lack of straightforward, simple (and free) resources available to new and emerging writers, she started her own online editing company and writers’ blog (Infinite Pathways) to help her fellow compatriots. M.J. is the author of Publicizing Yourself: A Beginners Guide to Author Marketing available through Smashwords. Visit her blog at: http://infinite-pathways.org
