Thousands of writers’ are frantically tapping away at their keyboards this November in the hope to complete the first draft of their novel, but what will those dedicated writers’ do with their manuscript once they reach the finish line?
Last week I shared a guest post from Susan at Perfect Prose Services; Top Ten Tips for NaNoWriMo from an Editor’s Perspective, where she talked us through the editing process for your NaNo draft – you can read that post HERE.
Once that novel is complete and edited, then the next logical step would be to publish. Today, I’m sharing another guest post from Kelly Smith, a passionate writer who works at CourseFinder, an Australian online education resource. Kelly is sharing her tips on promoting your self-published eBook. Over to Kelly…
How to promote your self-published eBook
When you self-publish an eBook, you are in control of everything. Most people see this as a great benefit, but it also means that you are in charge of everything! This includes promotion, which you have to do if you want your book to sell well. Here are some steps that you can take to ensure that your eBook becomes successful:
Tell everyone
The first thing that you should be doing is making sure that everyone knows you have a new book coming out. Your friends and family are a logical first choice. Not only are they already paying attention to what you have to say, but let’s be honest –they’re also somewhat obliged to make a purchase. This means that you can kick off your sales with some easy figures. You should tell people over email or text, as well as in person. Don’t forget to post on your personal social media pages as well with a link to the sales page. Ask for reviews from the early purchasers, as this can make your book seem like a good choice to anyone else who stumbles on it.
Create social media pages
You should ideally set up social media pages for yourself as an author long before you consider launching your book. This is a great way to get the word out to your fans, or potential fans. Get as many fans and followers as possible by posting updates on the process. Get them excited for the news that your book is coming out soon. If you haven’t done so already, set the pages up as quickly as possible now. Good options include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Once you have these pages set up, post about your new book as often as possible.
Get reviewers on board
There are lots of professional reviewers out there. These reviewers will accept a free copy of your book in exchange for a review. They are usually happy to post this on the site(s) where you are selling your book. Some also run book blogs where they can write about your book as a special service. This will attract more attention for your book from an outside source. It will also help to encourage buyers when they see the good reviews. Make sure that reviewers disclose that they received a free copy in their comments. Some sites, such as Amazon, won’t allow reviews that are biased in any way, and they will take the review down if they suspect that you gave them a free book without disclosing it.
Offer a discount
One of the best ways to get people to buy a book is to offer it at a discounted price for a short period of time. This can be done easily through Amazon and other booksellers. All you need to do is take down the price by half, or something similarly significant, then post about it everywhere. Tell everyone about this fantastic deal. Because it is a limited-time offer, people will feel more urgency to buy. Be sure to let them know the deadline to ensure that they make the purchase! Return it to full price after this discount period and don’t be tempted to run another one too soon. Let some full price purchases come in first!
With these tips, you should be able to successfully promote your eBook. The good news is that with this structure in place, your next launch will be even easier. You may already have your fans waiting for the next book. You will even know where to find good reviewers. This is a fantastic long-term strategy!
Kelly Smith works at CourseFinder, an Australian online education resource. She is passionate about writing and innovations in the digital world.
You can connect with me on Twitter @ShelleyWilson72, Instagram @authorslwilson or check out my Facebook pages http://www.facebook.com/FantasyAuthorSLWilson and http://www.facebook.com/resolutionchallenge. You can also find me on Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/singlemum101
Shelley Wilson Author 
Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie.
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Thanks for the reblog xx
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my pleasure…
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I’m sorry, Kelly and Shelley, I was debating whether to say anything or not, but I think this article is a misleading for the new writer ~ doing these things won’t ensure your ebook is successful, not these days. Maybe 5 or 6 years ago, but now thousands and thousands of self pub writers are doing all this and much more, already, with established platforms. As for getting reviews from ‘professionals’ – forget it. Even the smallest book blog is snowed under with submissions, and the only way to guarantee they’ll take your book is having an existing relationship with them. The advice to post about your book as often as possible on newly set up social media accounts is actually a BAD idea – you need to vary your posts, interact, not just bang on about your book all the time. Even with a free or discounted book, you need to pay for advertising to make the promotion a big success – again, 5 or 6 years ago all you had to do was take the price down and tell everyone, but now there are MILLIONS of discounted and free ebooks available, every day.
A nice, positive post, but I really do think that any new writers who take this on board and think it’s all they need to do will be sorely disappointed. Sorry! I won’t be offended if you take this comment down, but I was concerned that if Kelly is giving this advice on courses it perhaps needs updating. Hope you’ll think of this as writers do a bad review, and take some of the advice on board.
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Thank you so much for your comment, Terry. Of course I won’t take it down, everything you said is hugely valid and of great importance to a newbie writer. I’ve only been in this game for coming up to 5 years and I’ve seen massive changes in how promotion works. I agree with you on the dangers of posting your book too often, as I now scroll straight past the regurgitated ‘buy my book’ posts without even glancing at them. I’m sure Kelly will take all your comments on board and adapt them to fit her needs. The publishing industry changes so quickly and you need to keep up with how it works, both traditionally, and independently. I was talking with my publisher yesterday and discussing the increase in eBook costs as the big five try to push paperback sales – yet another change and we need to follow this closely so we can continue to project a professional brand in line with the traditional publishers. After all, this is business, not a hobby. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, Terry. You are always welcome on my blog x
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I’m afraid I have to agree with Terry. Building relationships with readers is key. Twitter is brilliant for this, but if you don’t have time to spend on Twitter during the day, then join Facebook groups that are relevant to the types of readers your books will have. For example, I belong to We Love Memoirs on FB and I interact a lot with people there. In time, your personal friends are not going to care about your books and in my experience, family are the last people to bother, so working at relationship building with potential readers is really important. And..haha…commmenting on blogs helps too 😉
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Thanks for your comment, Val. I think you are both spot on. Promotion is all about engaging with others that are outside your friends and family circle – after all, they tend to expect freebies just because you’re blood related!! What’s all that about haha 😉
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Glad to see my comment didn’t go down too badly – I think Kelly needs to be alerted to the fact that her advice is years out of date. I just read the social media advice again; it’s seriously bad, as Val suggests. You don’t get fans and followers for a book that hasn’t come out by posting about the process. No one cares that much, now that the world and his wife are self-publishing. People only get excited about a new book by an author they already love. I remember a while back one writer doing the whole ‘my path to self publication’ blog (which is so OVER now), week after week, detailing every stage. The book came out, and it didn’t sell much or get loads of great reviews. It’s much easier to comment on a blog and say “Wishing you every success” than it is to actually buy the book and review it. And, if the first book is not very good, the launch of the next one will be harder, not easier.
As you so rightly say, it’s a business. You can choose whether you want to make your objective earning money or fulfilling your own creative needs, but, alas, the two don’t often go together.
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