Marketing Your Ebook

I've had quite a few people ask me how I marketed my book.  Since this comes up a lot, I thought I would spill all of my secrets.  Here goes:

When I first clicked "Publish" on my book, I honestly had one marketing lead, and that was Kindleboards.com.  I had read JA Konrath's blog, and Karen McQuestion said she got her first sales by joining the Kindleboards.  So that's where I started.  I joined and introduced myself, and read the rules about advertising my book.

I quickly learned that the wonderful people over on the Kindleboards don't appreciate authors who post an ad once a week and never stick around to socialize.  Those get ignored.  I found that the best way to draw attention to my book was to put my book cover in my signature line with a link to the Kindle version, and then get to know people.  I posted on the threads that I was interested in.  I joined in the conversations.  I tried to be polite.  I also tried to make sure my posts weren't filled with grammatical errors or typos.  (Firefox is nice for this, it underlines my spelling errors in red so I can correct them before I click "post.")

Now, Kindleboards.com is a fantastic place for authors to mingle with readers.  But it's also a wonderful place for authors to network with each other.  When any author was looking for another author to interview, I signed up.  When a new person was starting a review blog, I submitted my book.  I found out a lot of ways to promote by reading the posts in the Writer's Cafe.

Here are some things I tried to help promote my book:

1. Giveaways.  Goodreads.com is a great place to give away paper copies.  If you're giving away Kindle books, try posting about it on the Amazon Kindle facebook page.  Just have people send you their email in a private message.  Doing giveaways on your own facebook fan page is a good way to get more followers.  I also did a giveaway on this blog.

2. Book Bloggers.  Submit your book for review to some book bloggers, but make sure your genre matches their guidelines.  To find book bloggers, try searching "book reviews" on Kindleboards using the search box.  There have been many helpful threads with links to different book review blogs.

3. Forums.  Being active on a forum is important for your internet presence.  Kindleboards.com, Amazon's forum, mobileread.com, and Goodreads.com are all good places to chat with readers.  Just be sure to read the guidelines for posting, and get familiar with the site before posting.  And don't spam posts about your book.  The purpose of joining a forum is to get to know people, who will then want to know more about your book.  Don't be one of those annoying authors who post inappropriate ads for their books.

4. Paid advertising.  I am very careful with my money, but I did pay for two ads.  One with Kindle Nation Daily, and the other was an ad on Red Adept's review blog.  Before paying for advertising, I would highly suggest watching books that are being featured and noticing what happens to their rank.  You can also ask people what advertising did work for them.  The authors I chat with are very open about sharing information.

Last, but not least, I watched and listened.  If you look at what other authors are doing, and notice what works and what doesn't, it will give you important information.  Don't be afraid to try some different things out.  When you find something that works, stick with it.

If you have a promotional idea that worked for you, feel free to post it in the comments section!

Vicki