Book Promotional Strategies
Are you a writer, author, self-publisher, or anyone who wants to promote your books online?
Because maybe you spend countless hours, days, months and even years writing awesome books, but then you never get around to actually promoting?
That’s why I’d love to spend some time brainstorming a bunch of cool ways that you can promote your books online, even if your online budget isn’t the biggest in the world.
Book Promotion Idea # 1 – Kindle Direct Publishing
Kindle Direct Publishing is arguably the single biggest and best digital marketplace on the planet.
So if you want to get the word out about your book, then Amazon Kindle is probably the single best digital marketplace that you can use to promote your books.
I’ve published a bunch of books on Kindle, and these days the features are so simple, that if you can read this blog post then you easily have the skills required to publish your book on Kindle.
There are a few major benefits to publishing on Kindle.
The first and biggest benefit, is that anyone can publish books there and you don’t have to pay a single red cent to get your amazon book published to the entire Amazon marketplace.
Usually when I publish a manuscript on Kindle, it only takes 24 hours (or less) to get the book approved, and then the publishing process works shortly thereafter.
The process of uploading your manuscript to Kindle is very easy, and the only thing you really need is a .doc format of your book, so if you loathe the idea of tech stuff (lol I can relate) then Kindle makes everything very easy and user friendly.
Book Promotion Idea # 2 – Barnes & Noble Press
Barnes & Noble Press makes it super easy for you to publish your digital books and physical books right on their online platform.
There’s one huge reason that I love Barnes & Noble, and that reason is because they’re one of the last few remaining major PHYSICAL (brick and mortar) bookstores in the USA!
For that reason, I think that all authors and writers of all industries should at least consider checking out Barnes & Noble Press.
Barnes And Noble is therefore one of my favorite publishing platforms, and they make it very easy to get your book listed on BN.com in digital format, and they even have options for publishing your physical book, so they are a great company to work with.
(Please support your local bookstores, and bookstore chains because they are a rarity these days!)
Book Promotion Idea # 3 – Your Own Book Funnel
Having your own book funnel can be one of the single best ways to promote your book.
There are so many powerful reasons why you might want to use a book funnel, as they have many powerful and nifty benefits.
Arguably the main reason why a book funnel rocks, is because it allows you to control your book, the way you sell your book, and the way you promote your book on your own terms.
A solid book funnel will also allow you to build your email list, which, in my opinion, is one of the single most powerful assets for writers of all styles.
(And, of course, email marketing can be a tremendously powerful way to build authority, and to of course sell more of your books).
Another huge benefit to having your own book funnel, is that you can include one time upsells within your funnel, so if you have other books, courses, services, or products that you sell, then a book funnel can be an excellent opportunity to cross promote your other stuff.
Even if you don’t have products or services of your own that you would like to cross sell, a book funnel can still be an excellent way to promote affiliate marketing offers. (An automated webinar can be an awesome thing to promote on your book download page!)
Book Promotion Idea # 4 – BookBub
BookBub is an awesome service that’s designed specifically for readers who love books!
Readers visit BookBub to get great deals on their books, to find new books to read, and to get updates for their favorite authors.
BookBub also offers an opportunity for Authors to list their books in a neat and handy format. If you’re an author, then you can apply for a partners membership on BookBub which will allow you to build your own teacher profile and list all of your books.
If you’re an author, and if you want to create an awesome online profile showcasing your latest updates and books, then definitely check out BookBub because they make it really easy to build a pretty cool looking collection of your published work.
BookBub also offers a tremendous wealth of cool advertising and promotional features that will allow you to promote your book launch, purchase advertising, or gameplan your book promotional strategy.
Book Promotion Idea # 5 – Goodreads
Goodreads is another awesome service where readers go to read and write reviews for different books.
Goodreads is massive and as of the date of me publishing this they boast over many millions of pageviews per month.
The audience of Goodreads is quite massive, and includes a bountiful basket of readers spanning across all genres and readers who love all styles of books.
Goodreads also offers a ton of powerful features for authors, such as the ability to list your books in an organized and convenient central hub.
Goodreads also offers advertising, so if you want to promote your book launch then Goodreads is totally worth checking out.
If you’re an Author of any genre, and if you want to list your books in front of a potentially entirely new audience, then definitely check out Goodreads.
Another really cool benefit of Goodreads, is that you can attach the RSS feed of your blog there, so you can create a really rich and dynamic profile that showcases your books, and also your latest blog updates.
Book Promotion Idea # 6 – ClickBank
ClickBank is a super old school digital marketplace that’s been around for a very long time.
Some truly massive product launches have occurred right on ClickBank over the years, and after all of this time they’re still in business and ticking along strong.
As a book seller, and in the most practical sense, ClickBank at the very least offers you a really cool and secure shopping cart and payment processor so you can handle book purchases on your own website.
(In other words, if you’ve ever been frustrated because you have no clue how to implement the dreaded “Add To Cart” button on your website, ClickBank can help you with this).
There are a few other reasons that I think ClickBank is cool.
One thing that’s cool about ClickBank is that they’re very newbie friendly, and are therefore always happy to consider your products for their marketplace.
Another very massive benefit to publishing on ClickBank is that all approved products are also automatically included into the ClickBank affiliate marketplace.
To summarize ClickBank — If you want to design your own Book Funnel, or if you simply wish to sell your books on your own websites, and if you’re looking for a cool payment gateway to use to help sell your books, then ClickBank can be an effective payment processor to use; so if you wish to sell your books on your own terms, then ClickBank is unique and is worth learning more about.
Book Promotion Idea # 7 – Smashwords
Smashwords is a ridiculously unique book store and also a service for authors who want to promote their books online.
The coolest thing about Smashwords, is that they centralize a massive list of online publishing platforms.
So not only can you sell your books right on the Smashwords bookstore, but they also connect you to other popular digital bookstores such as Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Scribd, OverDrive, plus a bunch of other book marketplaces.
If you love the idea of disseminating your books as much as possible in a wide variety of digital marketplaces, but you loathe the idea of dealing with all of these digital marketplaces individually (lol), then Smashwords is an excellent arrow in your publishing quiver because you can publish from many different locations from a centralized hub.
Thank You So Much For Reading, You Rock!
I honestly think that self-publishing is awesome these days and there are so many cool options for authors.
This humble blog post showcased some of my favorite methods to promote your online books, and I truly hope that these ideas were at the very least entertaining for you.
Until next time, please have an amazing day.
Cordially and humbly…
Mike “The Author” DeVincent
MrComputerScience.com